COMMENTS
Bang on! I was expecting you to write a good review on this movie unlike all those paid reviewers on Rediff, TOI, IBN 7. Before adding to the list of good things about this movie feel pity for all those reviewers who rated RNBDJ, Ghajini, Love aaj Kal better then this.
Delhi 6 i waited a complete year for this movie to get released and it was just perfect. Kala bandar the concept was a little late to be potrayed as it happened 4-5 years ago, but what difference could this have made even if the movie was released 10 years from now, i mean it was evil which rakeysh tried to portray and it could have been Kala bandar or any other form.
how can one just ignore the jalebi wala
and the pain in his eyes, Om puri as always just perfect, pawan malhotra, rishi kapoor everyone just falling into place soo very smoothly. Rishi kapoor tells abhishek about his love for his mother.. the scene when Prem chopra and the maulvi pissing in the dark gali after all those fights and riots. Kids asking
"humein mard bana do" and many other things that are hard to ignore.
Music is unbeatable, AR at his best(Which is not very frequent nowdays).
Special mention prasoon joshi for writing rehna tu and maula,
impeccable. The list can go on ... like it can for sarfarosh and RDB :)
Hey! it was a delight to read your article. Astute observation on the Tulsi plant thing!
@Vaibhbav: Thanks a lot Mots, for 'completing' this article. This list can actually go on...
@Raghu: With the whole 'Tulsi' deal, I just meant to convey that my minute observation is 'neater' than the director's minute detailing. ;)
I didn't like the movie when I saw it on the big screen the first week of its release...and I never wanted to watch it again...but after reading your post, I cudn't agree more to each of the points...wonder why...may be the reason for me not to like it at the 1st shot was the high expectation it had set thru its promos...and ofcrs after RDB, you can't blame me to expect a lot from Mr.ROM
I just Can not Resist From Writing this:
Zarre zarre mein uska noor hai,
Jhaank khud mein wo naa tujhse door hai,
Ishq hai usse to sabse ishq kar,
Ishq hai usse to sabse ishq kar,
Iss ibaadat ka yahi dastoor hai,
Ismein usmein aur usmein hai wo hi,
Ismein usmein aur usmein hai wo hi,
Yaar mera har taraf bharpoor hai…
@Audi: The real reward would be to watch it one more time. ;) I agree with the hyped promos and the raised expectation (thanks to RDB), it had more the reasons to disappoint. Probably I loved because I was open to director's experiments - which eventually clicked to me.
@Mots: For once, I started wondering if you had written it... ;)
I really enjoyed the first half of Delhi-6 but hated the second half. (It starts going downhill right after that Masakkali song). Aditya said it best on his blog Urge to Fly (link below the quote):
"Like all good things must come to an end, Rakeysh Mehra’s exquisite tapestry comes horribly undone towards the end of the film. Almost as if the writers developed cold feet about going all the way with a plot-less movie, so much so that they quickly introduce an element of a plot and bring it to such a hurried and messy conclusion that I just didn’t know where to look. The layers and subtlety of the film thus far, suddenly starts getting spelled out in a ridiculously literal way. The whole metaphorical significance of the mirror and the kala-bandar suddenly loses all its value once the characters start literalizing it by mouthing dialogues garnished by such heavy doses of corn and cheese that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Much like a deliciously flavoured biryani that is being cooked slowly on a dum suddenly ends up tasting like instant khichdi. Add to that the unpardonable transformation into a pedantic message movie."
I couldn't agree more!
http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2009/02/22/delhi-6-review.html#comments
Oops! Someone's not happy. :D
Probably, I'm not able to look at the movie from that angle and agree to it, more because I’m dumbfounded by its technicality. For years we all have watched and accepted Hindi Movies with their limitations, some basic flaws, and still appreciated (read loved) them. Finally, in the recent years, our new age directors have come over the edge and we now have movies that I like calling ‘well executed’.
I personally had a similar opinion for ‘Lagaan’ as a plotless movie stretched for almost four hours. And then, one of my closest friends – Raghu explained to me how it would change my perspective if I looked and thought neutrally – without any prejudice or presumptions. We have to see a movie within the scope of the director/writer’s projection. It could’ve been better if there was no gun-shooting scene at the end, say. But that’s what we would’ve liked seeing, not what the director wanted to show us.
In fact, I strongly feel this movie was targeted for the class (and not the mass) that you (and I and Aditya) belong to – viewers who can understand and appreciate the director’s view. No wonder it didn’t do great at box-office. ROM probably didn’t have to balance the class and the commercial aspect of the movie, which failed him on come critic-expectations. But hey, it’s often because we expect, we are disappointed.
Quite a coincidence, that I’ve often compared liking Delhi 6 with atheist (that I know you are @Vishal) to believe in God. Point is not to stop believing in one thing and start that in the other. It’s about going way to down to the neutrality – and then allowing the ‘right’ thought to take over.
Coming to my opinion for Delhi 6, I’ve loved and looked at only the good part of the movie. And that to an extent, that I could never notice any shortcoming. No other logic, whatsoever!
PS: I loved Rakesh’s article ‘Delhi 6 - Ode to a City’ (http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2009/02/22/delhi-6-review.html). He’s definitely done better justice to the film’s review. And yeah, I really need to improve my vocabulary. :D
I, too, don't think that having a plot is a requisite element of a movie. There are some movies that just revolve around one point/character/situation and don't really move towards a specific climax as the movie progresses. (Raincoat comes to mind.) Delhi-6 is like that... for the most part. The director is so intoxicated with the bylanes of Old Delhi and the way it is the microcosm of the nation, that he just let the camera and actors wander around the crowd, mulling around old monuments, minarets, and muhallas, savoring each and every nook and cranny of Old Delhi, without worrying about a need for a destination.
I loved that careless, aimless, nostalgic stroll down the lanes of one of the oldest cities in the world.
The problem arose when the director suddenly shook himself off from the holds of that euphoric charm, and stumbled hurriedly to satisfy the 'mass' with a climax.
One, there was no need to tie any loose ends - there just weren't any. And two, the post-interval rush was quite conspicuous. Right after the Masakkali song, as I've mentioned before, you can clearly see an artist retreating, and a craftsman emerging.
This is one of the dilemmas that - I think - conscientious directors always face: to achieve a balance between craft and art. Most of the time, the craft ends up over-shadowing the art. But very rarely, we see art taking the front seat. I marveled at the artistic & poetic trance that dominated the first half of Delhi-6... here's a director that doesn't care about what the audience will like, and just expressing his own appreciation, love and passion for the city where he grew up. Pure art! But then, along came the climax. The forthright, quasi-paternalistic, spelled-out, not-at-all-subtle message totally killed the magic for me.
P.S. I am sucker for neutrality. I avoid reading reviews before watching (most of the) movies, so that I can go there with _a blank slate_ without any prejudices and pre-conceived notions -- and let the director "speak to me directly"... let the story reveal itself in the way the director envisioned.
P.P.S. Interesting analogy with regard to the atheists!
I agree, there was no need to tie any loose ends. This movie itself is a message; nobody needs to ‘tell’ it. I guess that’s the learning opportunity, and we can hope to see an even-better creation from ROM – someday soon!
PS: I already love the whole ‘a blank slate’ concept. With your comments, I’m just getting to know it better…