One of the quickest and easily accessible snack is the Bhel puri which you get at your roadside tapri.Its ready in 5 minutes with all the ingredients being put into a vessel with some masalas rolled churned and voila Your Bhel is ready!!. Delhi-6, unfortunately is like your Bhel which is nothing but a concoction of too many characters,too much of message ranting and leaves you with a taste which prompts you to ask the Bhelwala(director), “Bhaiya, isme thoda aur chutney daal do”
The chutney (read as plot) is the weakest link in the movie. In fact, up to the intermission you are greeted to a series of characters each hogging a 2 minute limelight. You are also given a decent view into the interiors of Delhi-6 and of course the nagging Ram-Leela.Im sure after watching this movie, Ram-Leelas are going to lose much of their popularity. The problem with these innumerable characters is that you hardly identify or emotionally connect with anyone of them leaving you completely confused and bewildered as to what is the underlying premise of this movie(if there was any in the first place!)
To add to the agony, you have a mysterious Kala Bandar who believe it or not, causes Hindu Muslim riots, is labelled as a Muslim terrorist and is creating Breaking News even on CNN (Yes CNN) And if that is not enough, the director goes into public service mode towards the end of the movie by making us believe that we all have a Kala Bandar within us and we need to look within. Ok! Nice message but the portrayal of this message and the scenes which depict the Hindu Muslin divide are anything but convincing and fail miserably to strike a chord.Rang De Basanti gave us that connection when the agitated youngster spoke out on AIR during those heart-rendering moments of the movie. But somewhere in trying to fit in the mannerisms and traditions of Delhi and Chandani Chowk in particular, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has probably lost the fact that the movie needs more than just images. It needs a plot !
Moving onto the performances,Abhishek Bachann is strictly ok but hey just because you are an NRI you need not put on an accent and if you cannot carry it off well, it looks all the more stupid.Shahrukh was also an America return in Swades, but you didn’t need to him to put on accent did you? And there is a Swadesish moment in the movie when AB jr. suddenly decides not go back to America. Although the idea is good, you still don’t empathize with this confused NRI. And again it’s simply because there aren’t enough soft moments in the movie to make you feel that way!
Among the good but wasted performances are A.R Rahman and Sohnam Kapoor. We all know Sohnam Kapoor can act and although she displays flashes of brilliance in her meaty role, its too small to hold the movie together. Another big flaw in the movie is the poor chemistry between Abhishek and Sohnam.Yes,towards the end of the movie they do fall in love, but the journey in love is always more beautiful than the destination which once again our Bhelwala surprisingly ignores.Sohnam could have been the saving grace of this movie but its too-little-too late to keep you enthralled.A R Rahman on the other hand has created a wonderful soundtrack but barring the Masakali track, all the songs are too cramped up in the first half. As if to add insult to injury, they have not been picturized completely as well with most of the songs culminating to an abrupt end after the first antra.I hope A R Rahman hasn’t seen the movie, or he would surely have felt cheated for his efforts.
The support cast consists of big names like Waheeda Rehman,Om Puri, Atul Kulkarni,Divya Dutta. But with such a thin plot and lack of direction,the movie would have been better off without their presence.And what on earth is Amitabh Bachann doing sitting next to AB while he is happily relishing the jalebis ! Yeh Delhi-6 hain mere yaar !
All in all, the movie neither showcases Delhi-6 in its true sense nor do the host of characters and the underlying Kala Bandar propaganda provide for any heart rendering moments. Go buy the Audio Cd instead.Im sure it would cost less than this chutney-less Bhel-Puri !
