Delhi 6

' saans gari deve, devarji samjha leve, saiyaji chhed deve, sasural genda phool'

One thing that comes across very strongly is that it is an immensely layered movie. It may seem quite chaotic to some but I personally really liked that treatment, it’s unfocused, confused, too many plots and stories within stories, because that is what the Indian ethos is all about! It might not be successful enough to become one of the legends or compared to the older myths but, it in a way is not trying to do/achieve anything like that. Very traditional and yet very very contemporary in its treatment. It has metaphors embedded at each and every level.

I also liked the color palette that they have used and the way they have captured the essence of Delhi culture and its spaces. Even with its very localized treatment, it is so global in its appeal and context; I had gone with a French friend, who didn’t understand Hindi but she didn’t miss a thing as the treatment of the film is so highly visual in effect.

It explores deep into the Indian psyche and very successfully balances with the hypocrite as well as strongly rooted mind of a modern Indian. Each and every character is a story within himself. The metaphor of the stupid monkey and the shift from the real to mythological (ramlila) creates an impact, though I feel it becomes too direct at times and hence loses its very purpose.

I especially liked the imagery that is created in the song where the Indian environment is created on the streets of New York, Hanuman replacing superman…and many such small things…I think it was an interesting and very creative interpretation which created shock and humor simultaneously.

In the end I would say that although I earlier defended the chaos interwoven, I feel at points it could have been better controlled as one wants to talk about everything from humanity to religion to love to mysticism (that fakir with mirror) to that stupid afterlife scene with Amitabh Bachchan to the story of rishi kapoor and this ailing grandmother, two eternally fighting brothers, politician, monkey rumour, and sonam kapoor’s dual personality, prem chopra and that photographer…..ohhhh….it just doesn’t end…..somewhere within all the chaos there was a desperate need to limit and control to justify and create an impact. Somewhere these unending characters make the story lose its impact and focus and seems too loosely spilling all over.

Even the music, which is definitely very good, is so varied in its content and expression. They’ve made a khichdi of classical to semi classical to Sufi song to melodies and western rock….ahh..everything that came on hand I guess!

But somewhere along the line, I started liking and relating to this confusion expressed. It’s very Indian in essence...isn’t it?

In the end, there is definitely a strong impact on the mind. You keep thinking of the movie long after you’ve left the theatre halls!