http://movies.indiatimes.com/moviereview/4153968.cms
Delhi-6 clearly isn’t an autobiographical take on Rakeysh Mehra’s childhood
days in the capital city. That’s because the story is set around the monkey-man
episode that made headlines in Delhi some years back and Mehra surely wasn’t a
child then. The treatment of the film, however, gets childishly corny at
places. Of course do not expect a thriller treatment with the monkey-man
chapter. Rather, Delhi-6 thematically apes the banner’s (UTV) own Swades (2004)
and remains a social drama all through.
So you have the purported protagonist Rohan Mehra (Abhishek Bachchan) coming to
India, though this time not to fetch his nanny, but to get his granny (Waheeda
Rehman) to Delhi gullies where she wants to spend the final phase of her life.
In the bylanes of Chandni Chowk in old Delhi, Rohan is introduced to customs,
conventions and relations alien to him. Meanwhile panic spreads in Delhi as
news of random attacks by a mysterious creature titled monkey-man makes
headlines.
Muddled up between the liking for his land and ladylove Bittu (Sonam Kapoor),
the movie progresses as monkey-man gives ways to discuss social and political
issues like the Hindu-Muslim and upper-lower class divide.
The movie makes an interesting start as it introduces multiple characters and
gets into multi-track storytelling. But soon the characters and the tracks
start jumbling up, giving way for continuity lapses in the multi-dimensional
narrative. It’s surprising that the same multi-layered storytelling that
Rakeysh Mehra exploited brilliantly in Rang De Basanti , intermittently
handicaps the narration in Delhi-6 .
Midways the movie, it’s still difficult to comprehend what’s the central lead
of the story amongst Rohan’s love for Bittu, Bittu’s quest for Indian Idol
independence, grandma’s loyalty towards motherland or a family feud (Om Puri –
Pawan Malhotra sibling rivalry). Unfortunately even the monkey-man track
doesn’t help connecting the individual installments and rather works only on
peripheral level. However, it resolves all above conflicts in a single-stroke
climax, in addition to an Ayodhya-Babri Masjid kind of issue it incites towards
the end.
The core theme bears a striking resemblance with Swades which is augmented by
the theatrical Ram Leela episodes and the cast-and-class concerns it tackles.
But while Ashutosh Gowariker had a direct approach of facing the issues of
India in Swades , Mehra handles it indirectly using the monkey-man metaphor.
While the screenplay remains cheerful in the first half, it doesn’t escape the
preachy trappings in the climax.
Some smart gems in the screenplay include the scene where a cow is delivering
amidst jam-packed main road traffic and being worshipped by every passerby. And
an abstract-cum-artistic sequence from the same screenplay includes an
Indo-American fusion fantasy song ‘ Dil Gira Dafatan ’ which confuses in
conveying its concept. There isn’t any conspicuous chemistry between the lead
pair of Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor. And Amitabh’s intangible appearance
in the last scene was absolutely avoidable.
The art direction decently recreates the Delhi set in Jaipur studio but is
confined to four lanes at the Chandni Chowk crossroads. Binod Pradhan employs
disturbing camera movements while Vaibhavi Merchant adds grace to Masakali
movements. Rahman’s soulful music lacks a befitting body though.
>From its eclectic cast, it’s startling to see that the supposed lead players
>Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor have very shallow characterizations and
>thereby weak screen-presence as well. With his existing image, it’s difficult
>to visualize Abhishek Bachchan as a NRI. It never comes across in his accent,
>attitude or outlook. Sonam Kapoor’s immature act isn’t impressive.
The better performances come from the character-artist cast of Deepak Dobriyal,
Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz, Pawan Malhotra and Om Puri. Rishi Kapoor is pleasing
but his character is too short-lived. Same for Divya Dutta, who is likeable in
her small role. Waheeda Rehman sounds stressed.
Comparison with Mehra’s last attempt is inevitable, thereby generating gigantic
expectations. Rakeysh Mehra seamlessly connected with the audiences through his
mesmerizing storytelling in Rang De Basanti . Sadly, Delhi-6 is quite
colourless in that contrast.
