Delhi-6: What I think of it

After the massively successful "Rang De Basanti", Delhi-6 is the new film by director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. As was expected, a lot of expectations was riding on the film. With a strong cast consisting of Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Om Puri and Divya Dutta (among others), the movie was eagerly awaited and anticipated by the public and critics alike. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra himself said, "If RDB was my class 10 exam, then with Delhi-6 I've attempted to clear my college".

The film basically is about an NRI boy (Abhishek Bachchan) and his story based in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. That area is Delhi-6. It tells the life of how Abhishek's character gets his ailing grandmother (Waheeda Rehman) back to her home in Chandni Chowk from America, as the grandmother has a last wish of dying in her homeland than anywhere else. The movie moves along the storyline of Roshan (name of Abhishek's character) landing in Delhi, getting used to the sights and sounds of the place, the hustle and bustle, and getting to like it. Along the way he befriends the people of the place, the kids, and Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) who dreams of being the Indian Idol.

However, all these characters are mere pawns - the main character for me was the notorious "Kaalaa Bandar", meaning "Black Monkey". The director has very subtly and beautifully picturized this theme into the movie. The Kaalaa Bandar comes everywhere, has everyone scared to the bones, has rumours and urban legends to its credit, and people have its fear etched deep in their minds. The movie brilliantly shows how this fear leads the peace loving and harmonially living society of Delhi-6, which knew no caste difference, where Muslims attended Ram Leela and where Hindus prayed at the Masjid, where picture frames of Koran verses and Lord Hanuman were hung side by side in shops - the transformation of that community to one where communal riots take place abundantly, where people are known not by their name but by their religion. Such is the transformation that the fear of "Kaalaa Bandar" brings about to the society of Delhi-6. And Roshan is a key part of this transformation.

What I loved about this movie was the metaphor. Kaalaa Bandar was just a placeholder - it represented the fear, the unknown, the cause and the reason. It is something that is present in each one of us - how we handle it and what it can do is what the movie shows.

I liked the movie because it made me think. I liked the movie because it was very subtle and very metaphorical.

However, the film does stretch a little too much at times, especially the Ram Leela scenes which keep popping up ever so frequently. I personally feel that in his pursuit for abstraction, Raykesh Omprakash Mehra might have overdone it a bit there.

A lot of people whom I know ended up comparing this movie with RDB, and of course, drew a flak because both these movies are perceptually very different from each other. While RDB is vibrant and kind of point blank, Delhi-6 is methodical and metaphorical.

Watch this movie if you like movies that make your mind work. Otherwise, this will be a movie that you will just get bored of before you reach the intermission.