Delhi-6 (2009)

You get the feeling that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra just wanted to pay tribute to Old Delhi, but then he also wanted to educate you about religious intolerance, corruption, police brutality, superstitions and the elusive 'kaala bandar' (black monkey). What you get in the end, is a film that hopes that it had a plot to start with, but wakes up somewhere in the middle and hastily puts together some problems that need to be solved by the protagonist.

The story of an NRI who comes to India to discover things about the country have been dealt with in numerous films. 'Swades' being one of them. The objective has ranged from taking care of an old person to finding a desi bride for oneself. Such films always provide an outside-in view of Indian society and kind of provide us a mirror in which we see and judge our self. Not all of them are effective though and often slip into the preachy pedantic realm. Delhi-6 doesn't escape this trap.

The film is best appreciated as a series of anecdotes bringing out interesting characters, view points and practices in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. Mehra follows his 'Rang De Basanti' approach to intersperse the flow of the story with the staging of The Ramayan with the talented Raghuvir Yadav rendering the epic expertly with his raw voice. Mehra's obsession with the black monkey attacks in Old Delhi a few years ago goes a bit too far with the black monkey becoming a symbol of malicious mischief in all of us. That’s when the preachy side of the story takes over and the viewer has this 'oh no not again' feeling.

The film benefits from an ensemble cast comprising good character actors, who slip into the Delhi-wallah roles with ease. This makes the job easier on newbie Sonam Kapoor who demonstrates a sensitivity beyond her acting years and Abhishek Bachchan, who combines his trademark intensity with some 'yo khoooul' attitude to effectively portray the foreign-return. A R Rehman's music adds to the rustic feel.

If Mehra had restrained himself in the second half by not involving too many dimensions into the plot, the film would have ended better. But he gets too ambitious towards the climax and essentially ruins the docu-drama feel to the movie by making it seem like a movie with a message.

'Delhi-6' is worth a watch as a sociological portrayal of life in a certain part of the world. It could have been better served with a lesser ambitious approach from its maker.

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