Delhi 6 hits a six!

A bit late given the fact that I had been for the film the night it released i.e. the 20^th of February. So better late than never I am finally writing a review which I had been thinking of working on since the past one month. But as the saying goes, better late than never so here I am finally giving my review of the film – Delhi 6, a film which has been described by Rajeev Masand as a film with a heart. The film basically deals with Roshan’s (Abhishek Bachchan) journey from New York to one of the more chaotic areas of the country – Chandni Chowk whose pin code stands as ‘6’ and it is from here the title of the film comes from.

The film has a beautiful narrative wherein it is the leading protagonist who has a voiceover and tells the story. The story begins wherein Roshan cannot relate Chandni Chowk here is also symbolic of an average Indian residential community which has shades of real life characters – a corrupt policeman, egoist brothers who can’t stand each other, the mohalla idiot. Simple scenes like – Hindus and Muslims worshipping not just their own religious Gods but vice versa, the distribution of Prasad from both the mosque and the temple enjoyed by the mohallawalas, Roshan made to talk on the phone even at a time when he is waiting outside the rest room in very urgent state, the Muslims youth having a secret hideout where the practice all the material things like drinking or playing pool which is restricted by their religion, a Muslim tying devi maa ka kapda on the hands of Roshan’s grandmother down with a medical emergency, at the same time the scene of a cow giving birth to a calf on the middle of the street which cures the ailing grandmother and also re emphasizes that faith heals but my favourite of them remains the scene showing the image of Hanuman and Haj sharing the same wall in a Muslim shop which reasserts the uniqueness of Indian Muslims in a time when more and more Muslims from India are being influenced by jehadi ideas.

The beauty of the film lies in how artsy cinema has been blended so well with mainstream cinema. As ROM had rightly put it that if RDB was his passing out of school, D6 is his graduation. And is very true in what he means. There is a big stress on symbolisms – Masakali, the dove stands the individual’s curtailed right to freedom and being tied down by restrictions, the Ram leela and relevance of its chapters is time and again reflected whether it is the Shabari episode being shown as the same time wherein caste based discrimination exists in the audience or be it the burning o f Ravana symbolizing victory over external evil and last but not least Kaala Bandar which reflects the evil within which we have to see and correct by looking at the mirror.

The actors have perfectly fitted in the shoes of their characters - Abhishek Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Pawan Malhotra, Om Puri, Divya Dutta and all the other so called supporting actors have come up with some splendid performances of their lifetimes. A R Rehman has done a fabulous job as usual by blending the songs perfectly as per the requirements of the screenplay and by no means do look forcefully pushed into it.

The feel good emotion which the film carries with it is impressive summed in the dialogue “India works. The people make it work”. The only disappointment was the final guest entry as it looked very much forced up and really did not fit in the entire screenplay. But the overall goodness of the film overcomes this ignorable aspect. Delhi 6 is taking Indian cinema to a much higher level breaking away from the typical so called “filmy singing around the trees kind of story”. A realistic story on reel Delhi 6 is an effort which should be appreciated and will go down in the books as a milestone film in the league of Swades, Rang De Basanti, and many more. And yes, last but not least do not leave the theatres before the credits at the end of the film as it really is a wrap-up on the film as a whole and you don’t want to miss that.