First things first - the music and cinematography were beyond amazing. The use of music in the film is also mind blowing. Arziyan, is used particularly well throughout, when we hear its strains coming through Roshan's cell phone towards the end, the effect is goose bump inducing. The multi-layered narrative was beautifully, if slightly atypically, constructed. Most performances were incredible. Abhishek was perfect, cannot imagine anyone else in that role. Sonam Kapoor looked great but was unable, I feel, to grasp the nuances of her character. The supporting actors did such an incredible job, they made the film for me. Yet there was something missing.
Perhaps the lack of a clear narrative in the first half hampered the momentum of the film. The first half of the film depicts the lives of a number of residents of Dilli-6, and this part runs in a sort of a parallel narrative, with everyones lives unfolding side by side, without a strong linear thread connecting them. The story itself only develops in the second half when the tensions established in the first half finally come to a head. While the lack of a structured first half can be seen as a weakness, I enjoyed getting to know all the characters. The unorthodox storytelling also allowed the director to take his time introducing and fleshing out the characters, so when their lives are finally, to some extent, fractured towards the end it makes you, the viewer (or at least me, the viewer) feel all the more dejected about the situation. One of the best story arcs of the whole narrative was that of Mumdu, the Muslim halwai. From when we are first introduced to him as the pseudo-gatekeeper of the area - no one can enter Dilli 6 without tasting his sweets; to when he ties red cloth meant to represent Hanumanji's blessings to an ailing Waheeda Rehman's hand while his white skull cap is in plain view; to when to the residents turn against him, prompting his breakdown; to finally the culmination of his story in a heart wrenching sequence; Mumdu carries in him all the dichotomies of Dilli and his story is told with aplomb.
Speaking of dichotomies, it is fair to say that Dilli-6 is about the juxtaposition of the dichotomies and divides inherent in the structure of India. In the beginning the director establishes the dichotomies, proceeds to problematize them and finally reconciles them as a part of the way of life for India. They are the growing pains of an India that is moving rapidly towards modernization, globalization. The most telling representation of this movement was in the story of the Kaala Bandar and his impact on the lives of our community of dilli-wallahs (towards the end the Kalla Bandar trope did get a little annoying and it seemed like Mehra relied too much on it). At first we see him on the news. The media seems to love this story and is constantly covering it, while at the same time India is sending its first rocket into outer space. Later, the very physicality of the Kaala Bandar becomes a representation of the battle between a modern, technological India and a more superstitious, traditional India which has the ability to wholeheartedly believe in the existence of something like a Kaala Bandar who is apparently powered by a mother board attached to his chest.
Sonam Kapoor's character, Bittu, represents another of these dichotomies. The traditional middle-class girl aspiring to be a singer on Indian Idol. Who is one person at home, the dutiful, salwar kameez clad, daddy's girl and an entirely different person when she leaves the house, a mini skirt wearing, belly piercing toting, modern representation of a new, changing India. This narrative thread left me a little cold. Bittu is supposed to represent a sort of contemporary Indian woman, who embodies both the traditional and the new within herself. But, Sonam Kapoor brings the modern aspects of the character across only in her clothing and make-up. Her behaviour bothered me a lot. A modern Indian woman doesn't need a man to stand up for her rights. She doesn't need rescuing. She damn well shouldn't be running away from her family in order to fulfill her ambitions. Bittu does all of these things. She comes across as modern only very superficially and that was very, very frustrating. Plus, the love story was not very fleshed out, so that didn't help the perception of Bittu's character at all.
Moving on. The message the film was trying to convey is very strong and very necessary. However, it risked being lost in the meandering structure of the film. Towards the end, I felt Mehra was able to pull the narrative strands together to deliver the message in all its strength and secular impact (along with a little melodrama thrown in for good measure, of course). Yeah, India is messed up and stupid, backwards things - that are completely out of character of a country attempting to be a global giant - happen here, but it is also full of promise, hope and love. It is important to remind us of this especially now, when cynicism about the Indian socio-political situation is growing. There exist certain communal, divisional forces that threaten to rent apart our social fabric time and time again for their own personal power ambitions, but it is essential to keep fighting against these forces because they are not us. They are not representations of us, we are better than that and it is our duty to fight to never become them, to rise above that sort of crude, base instinct and to protect the secular ideology guiding our origin as a nation. What Delhi-6 teaches us is that it is easy to turn against one another in this rapidly changing world, but we shouldn't take the easier option, especially in this case.
Yeah, the film gets preachy towards the end, no surprise when the subject at hand lends itself well to preachiness. In this it is vastly different from Rang de Basanti, which also tackled an important subject of political apathy but was able to convey its message without resorting to long monologues by the protagonists. Not here. Here we get a speech from Abhishek which unfortunately ends up sounding a little disingenuous. This, I think, is the films greatest weakness. No one likes being preached to.
The more I think about the more layers come to the surface. For example, there is a whole host of implications associated with the fact that it is a tantric Shani baba who first articulates the primary, albeit manufactured, conflict of the film (the age old mandir being demolished to establish a masjid bullshit that seems to rile communities into a blood lust) which will eventually lead to clashes between the Hindus and Muslims, most of whom are Hanuman devotees. The implications mentioned above stem from the fact that in the Ramayan (another governing narrative principle of the film) Hanuman is said to have rescued Shani (the planet Saturn) from Ravana, thus prompting Shani to promise Hanuman that anyone who prayed to him would be free of the negative effects of Saturn. The irony and hypocrisy of religion in India today is expressed when the most visible devotee of Hanuman in the film, Mumdu, becomes the direct recipient of the ire generated by the words of the supposed representative of Shani. Yeah, that's the mythology geek in me speaking.
Overall, a very beautifully and cleverly made film about meri Dilli. In spite of all the problems and intolerance seemingly woven into the fabric of Dilli, I can't help but agree with Zauq - Kaun jaaye Zauq par Dilli ki galiyaan chhod kar?
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