Posts Tagged ‘Vijay Raaz’

Delhi Belly: Shit happens! Tell me about it.. !!

Posted: July 4, 2011 in Uncategorized
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First things first.

Mom, if you are reading this, and since you wanted to know my thoughts on the film, to decide whether to watch the film or not, here’s the simple answer. You will not like it. There is no interval in the film, but you may walk out of the film, midway through it, anyway. Mainly on account of the constant flow of expletives, both in Hindi and in English!

Then again, you may not want to be in some agency offices either, and you may like to walk into some of the meetings in our office also, only after prior warning!!

Yes, so where Delhi Belly “shows” that reality, Buddha Hoga Tera Baap chooses to “beep-beep” it instead. Anyway, that’s a different story, and enough about BHTB already!

Coming back to Delhi Belly, their tagline is “Shit Happens”. And yes, there is a character who suffers from diarrhea all through the movie, and besides the language in the film, we are also subjected to viewing this “crap”!

That apart, this slice-of-life flick is fast paced, funny and contemporary. Very today!

3 bachelors surviving in a dungeon like flat in Delhi, doing jugaad to make life a little better, having girl friends, have their lives turned upside down. By accident. And they don’t even know what hit them, when one of them is strung to the ceiling with a tie around his neck!

And then follows the chase and their survival strategies!

The movie is originally made in English, with some spattering of Hindi. It has also been released in a full-Hindi version. Don’t know if it is just dubbed in Hindi. I saw the Hinglish one..

To that extent, it does appear to be a metro, multiplex audience targeted movie, then.

There is no interval too. And I thought, multiplexes did not really make money running, fully A/C theatre screens, to often, sparse audiences. It was the expensive popcorn and samosas that really made money for multiplexes. So how can they accept a movie without an interval. Would drop snacks purchases by at least 70%, if not more??!

So obviously, the society has got a lot more open and accepting of what were taboos, till sometime back. Heavy usage of four letter words, including the desi BCs-MCs, are par for course. Sex and heavy smooches, casual talk of homosexuality, are all also quite acceptable in this day and age now. Yes, they would shock many, still. Which is why I asked my Mom to not bother to waste her money. But for a lot of today’s society, these are acceptable facts of life. So there.

The acting is good. Imran excels. So do his two pals, and Vijay Raaz is special, as he always is. The women are also competent, and in spite of the short film, all characters are developed quite well. Aamir Khan’s special appearance at the end, for an item number, is kind of an icing to the cake.

So long as you don’t get shocked by the use of expletives, go watch it. Should be fun.

And all this talk about not watching with your family etc. is exaggerated. There isn’t much here, that you don’t see in a Hollywood flick that you could be watching together at home, or even on some of the sitcoms.. I watched the film with wife and daughter! And all of us enjoyed it. Except the wife was disgusted by all the shit that happened. On screen. Literally.. 🙂

Delhi 6: About the Performers

Posted: February 22, 2009 in Uncategorized
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There are some great performers in Delhi 6 – on-screen and behind it too. Before sharing my impressions on the film itself, I thought I would touch upon these.

On screen, Abhishek has the longest role, of course. But there is nothing much to write about him and his role. I mean, he does a competent job, but no huge scenes, nothing fantastic, considering that he was the absolute and complete hero!

Sonam Kapoor had a small role. But she did that well. And also came out looking extremely pleasant on screen. I repeat myself when I say that she looks like the Juhi Chawla. Especially that effervescent smile of hers. So much like Juhi’s. I would love to see her in longer and meatier roles in future.

I noticed that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra was born in the same year that I was born! I know a few people from our generation who have a Waheeda Rehman fixation. I don’t. But I know others who do. Perhaps Rakeysh has one too. Waheeda Rehman, for her age, puts in an extremely credible performance. She did that in Rang De Basanti too. I am sure she has maintained her health well, and she has put in hard work to execute the role.

Likewise, amongst the older folks who come for character roles every now and then, Rishi Kapoor is one who again manages to leave a mark, even in smaller roles. In Delhi 6, he has a very small role. And he does a good job of it again.

Three very talented actors make their presence felt in small essays here. Vijay Raaz (who can forget his Monsoon Weddings character?!), Divya Dutta and Atul Kulkarni. All of them have good characters written for them in Delhi 6, and perform well.

Om Puri, Supriya Pathak and others do a fair job.

Among the behind-the-scenes acts, there are 4 outstanding performers.

First of course, it’s the director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra himself. I have paid a separate tribute to him. That he has also written the film makes for special mention. The heart of the film is in the writing. And more of it, when I cover the film itself. But suffice it to say that it is a great job of writing and direction that Mehra has done.

Then there is the cinematography of one of India’s best cinematographers, Binod Pradhan. Coming from the Vidhu Vinod Chopra stable, Binod has fabulous works like 1942 a Love Story, Mission Kashmir, Parinda, Devdas, Munnabhai MBBS, Rang De Basanti and others to his credit.

In Delhi 6 also, Binod leaves his magical touch. The camera panned across a nearly 360 degrees to capture the Friday prayers at the Jumma Masjid is breathtaking. Even the scenes capturing nightime life and lights in old Delhi are very well captured.

Then, there is lyricist Prasoon Joshi. Who comes up with some great lines once again. Considering his advertising industry exploits, he must rank as one of the most creative and talented persons in India. Period.

And of course, finally, you have to salute the master, A. R. Rahman. By tomorrow morning, he might have become an Oscar winner too (he has 3 nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, and the Oscars happen in about 12 hours from now). In Delhi 6, he delivers some great numbers.

The best and most hummable is Masakali. Check it out here:

My other two favorites are Rehna Tu and the title song, Delhi.. or Dilli.. whatever!

Rakeysh has managed to get some great performers together and they have delivered a fine result in terms of Delhi 6!!