delhi 6

there is a scene in 'delhi 6' where the lead protagonists, roshan tries to explain why india works for him eventhough there are so many antagonistic issues at its core. he cant really get the exact reason but nevertheless concludes that india works and he wants to stay back. i wish i could say the same about rakesh omprakash mehra's latest venture. it would be unjust to compare it with the legendary 'rdb' but both of them have so many parallels that i couldn't help myself.
mehra has been known for a very different kind of cinema...he was bold enough to give us 'aks' and followed it up with a completely contradictory 'rdb'. but alas, thats where the buck stops...he tries the same tricks that worked in 'rdb' and fails miserably at it. no, it is not a film gone horribly wrong and it does have its moments but in the end it stands out as a mediocre affair.
the first half is where we get to see the director's brilliance...he doesnt move the story forward at all...he spends it defining his characters with aplomb. he knows his characters inside out...be it their accents, their mannerisms or their stories. when i watched it go by, i was amazed to see how well he had researched and thought of every role. it was a treat to watch all the actors potray their respective roles...they were very well cast and played out their scenes brilliantly. the big dissappointment for me was abhishek bacchan, it becomes amply clear that he hasnt worked hard on roshan, an american returned indian who is half muslim and half hindu. his accent is annoying at times and comes in the way of few intense scenes where he could have been terreffic. he does however end well...but it could have been a much better performance. sonam kapoor does very well as bittu...she gets her expressions ryte...is spot on with the dialogue delivery and most important of all is vivacious. om puri, atul kularni, divya dutta, pawan malhotra and vijay raaz are the backbone of the film and i cant imagine it without them. i really wanted to see more of rishi kapoor...he was tremendous...his acting is full of experience and does very very well.
so where does the film fail or to be more precise, what makes it fail? the answer to that is monkey man or kaala bandar. mehra tries to synchronise the symbol of the monkey, the ram leela with the storyline...something he did in 'rdb'. i dint appreciate it simply because it was unreal and implausible...it bordered ridiculousness and absurdity at times. the film would have been so much better if the monkey would have been replaced by another symbol.
the climax and the love story are the next week-links in 'delhi 6'...the love story is under-developed...he tries to develop it with the expressions of his lead actors but he fails to see that both are not experienced enough to carry that out and his overconfidence in them is misplaced. the climax is also very sour...there is no grip at all...it doesnt awaken you, doesnt affect you or doesnt change you...i think thats where the biggest drawback of the film lies...it was made to make us think...but nothing close to it happens.
'delhi 6' has a great heart...it has been written and directed with a lot of affection...but the director fails simply because of his presumption that people would take the symbol of the monkey very seriously. watch it for the first half...nothing more.
Rating - 2.5/5