Delhi 6 - Disappointing - * * *

To all those going for Delhi 6, expecting to witness the chemistry between “Massakali” –Sonam Kapoor and “Burger Chaap” – Junior Bacchhan, the trailers pretty much show all that there is. Delhi 6 is not a sweet romantic movie that the trailers mislead us into believing. It is satirical, symbolic, metaphoric but NOT romantic. Another bit of information – Sonam and Abhishek are only the second leads. The lead role is played by ‘Kala Bandar’.

The movie has a striking resemblance to Swades - When Roshan (AB) comes to drop his ailing grandmother, he realizes that there is more to India than he ever thought. As he starts to assimilate the Indian culture, he becomes a part of it. He also encounters the dark side - differences because of caste and religion, stone-age superstitions, undue pressure on girls to get married etc. He tries to be a part of the solution but faces resistance from every quarter. He is confused about his identity, and about whether to go back or stay on. Falling in love with Bittu(Sonam K) makes the decision even harder. But everything falls into place in the end. But unlike Swades, Delhi 6 hardly shows any scenes between Sonam and AB, that it almost seems a little forced when Roshan(AB) confesses that he is madly in love with(Bittu). Mehra uses most of the screen time in ‘Ram Lila’ and ‘Kala Bandar’. As the movie progresses, it metaphorically draws a parallel between incidents in the movie and Ram Lila. Similarly, Kala Bandar is used as a metaphor to showcase the dark side in all of us. One of the characters, supposedly demented, uses a mirror to symbolically show that there is God in all of us. There is a song that shows a mixed US and Chandni Chowk setting to metaphorically depict the identity crisis that Abhishek is going through. These metaphors and symbols are cleverly thought of. However, by constantly using them throughout the movie and with so many of them, Rakesh loses touch with reality. Only metaphors remain.

Rakesh uses a lot of screen time to meticulously delineate all the characters in the movie, all except that of Sonam and AB. There is a funny inspector Ranvijay, a demented Gobar, two brothers who are not in talking terms, their respective families, a certain untouchable Jalebi, Suresh the charlatan and several others. Although these characters take the movie forward, they do not leave any screen time for the characters of Abhishek and Sonam.

Rahman’s unreal music and Prasoon Joshi’s fancy lyrics enliven the first half. But having exhausted almost all songs, the second half stretches and drags for the lack of periodic Rahman interventions. It’s amazing what a Rahman can do to a movie. The movie probably has the best cinematography in recent times. The camera moves with as much ease as “Massakali” (Bittu) does in the streets of Chandni Chowk , or Abhishek jumps from one building to another. The interior shots of the galis and nukkads of Chandni Chowk bring a life into the whole setting so much so that it becomes an integral character in the movie.

The ending is probably the worst part of the movie. With a momentary heaven scene with Amitabh, and then Junior AB waking from the dead, Rakesh cannot get any worse.
And thus the viewer leaves the theatre with the shoddy ending imprinted fresh in the top layers of his mind, probably not even remembering the few good parts in the movie.

If you had a crazy week,and wanted to go for a light romantic movie with your better half, Delhi 6 is not for you. However if you are ready to rack your brain trying to link metaphors and symbols and then derive satisfaction out of doing so, Delhi 6 is watchable, at least once.