Dilli-3.5

After the first few reels I asked my friend...Who are all these people! Roshan(Abhishek Bacchan) has come to India with his ailing Grandma, and is forced to meet the entire Dilli-6 community. Everyone keep bumping in, greeting with a namaste or a hello. Then, you see Roshan visiting a temple first, and later a mosque. Again, a little unusual to the innocent audience. The characters start to unravel themselves. Bittu ( Ms. Kapoor) opens up from the salwar kameez to the babe, Cyrus Sahukar has a sneaky image, the brother-duo of Om Puri and Pawan malhotra have a wall dividing their houses. Some more gharelu issues which you really do not care about. But, there is a connect between these random people with Roshan.

To add to the neighbourhood issues is the kala bandar "breaking news". Roshan ends up using the rumor to solve his purpose and ends up getting involved in a big mess which is a lead up to disharmony and violence between the two communities. Clearly, Rakesh mehra excels in the communal/secular debate like in his previous flick, and the moment this angle appears, the movie is elevated. The seriousness is back and the purpose resolved.

High Points:
Dilli-6 community: Very bizaare, random, but you love all of them. The inspector (Vijay Raaz), or Pawan malhotra with his bright shirts, or the mimicry of the stocky muslim guy(I forgot his name),Rishi Kapoor and his umrao jaan style and of course the two kids. "jalebi, hume mard bana do!" They do not add any value to the proceedings, but who cares, you enjoy their presence.

Bittu: Sonam Kapoor is a revelation. She looks damn cute in the masakali number. However, the director does fail to provide a fulsome role to the lady. Her ambitions are somehow felt mid-way and ignored.

Picturization of Dil Gira Hai: This is clearly the highlight of the film. Innovative and one of the best representations of a dream.

Abhishek: Earnest and subtle.

Dialogues: The crisp communal tone, the urdu nawazish, or the Bittu-Roshan chit chat, all of them bring a fresh perspective.

Blah Blah:
The Amitabh-Abhishek sequence!! Clearly broke the seriousness of the climax!
The picturization of all the other songs left a lot to be desired.

On the whole, the movie was slightly on the slower side, bizarre at times, wayward too and intentionally subtle. But it had its heart in the right place. Kudos to Rakesh Mehra for trying out something intelligent and full marks for his subtely and the represention of his Chandni Chowk
I give it a 3.5/5

General bakwas

Some good songs these days...Im hooked on to Luck By Chance songs.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy (SEL) have continued their good work into 2009. They always seem to deliver for the Akhtar clan. My personal favs are Yeh Zindagi and Sapno se Bhare. Saw the movie on Friday.

Must say, Farhan Akhtar is a man possessed. He started as a rocking debut director with Dil Chahta Hai, consolidated himself with Lakshya and Don, crooned and acted his way into Rock On and now strengthening himself as a competition to the Hrithiks and the ABs. But frankly speaking, I felt it was a little too much of me, myself, Farhaan here. No doubt he is a decent actor, but you cant go over the top and play a fullon Bollywood hero with song n dance gimmicks and nearly 70% screen space in the movie. Im sure many wud agree Hrithik stole the show in a couple of scenes from the "kabhi director kabhi actor" dude.

Moving over to Slumdog Millionaire. I havent seen the movie yet, but im immensely proud of the fact that AR Rehman is getting due recognition for his talent. Its a moment of great pride. Infact, Jai Ho is that song of triumph, which emphasizes that fact.

Off the recent movies, I didnt really enjoy Rab Ne Bana Di...and hated Ghajini. I cudnt understand what was Amir trying to do there. Before I could blog about it, the movie grossed nearly 100 crs., so I thought I better keep my mouth shut or else people might send me hate mails :)
Of the other movies coming up this month, Delhi 6 should be great. I have no hopes out of Dev D. Its going to be freaky and dark!

Baaki to, its been a great start to 2009. I was in Bangalore for 2 weeks was indeed great fun catching up with Tau, Gopu, Jeet, Dhivya. Tau ka treat was indeed memorable (6k ka fatka). And then back home for the weekend, aha...Mumbai is Mumbai afterall. Missed out on the beach this time, but ended up paying a homage to the South Mumbai carnage sites. Felt a lump in my throat as I passed by The Taj, Leopold and the Trident. The cabbie wanted to show me nariman house as well, but meri itni fatti hui thi...that I skipped the by lanes and returned home.