Delhi 6 - A Review

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is the bravest "mainstream" film maker in Hindi cinema. He is skilled enough to venture into the so called parallel or indie cinema and make a no holds barred film. But he has chosen to sacrifice his art for the sake of improving the grammar of mainstream Hindi cinema itself. He wants to vanquish the idea of something called parallel cinema or mainstream cinema or NRI cinema.Cinema is after all cinema. Period.


Mehra is also a masochist. He casts big stars in his film and adopts the "big film" framework, the key ingredients of extreme self flagellation. But he understands that these ingredients are vital for achieving his objective. He is literally on a crusade and he is prepared to be a martyr for the cause. He is an idealist who sincerely believes that the solution to improving the grammar of Hindi cinema is not by creating a "parallel" cinema. That experiment has been conducted once in Hindi cinema and it has failed. The true, and in fact, the correct solution is by making films which progressively expose the entire audience to ideas and techniques which they have never been exposed to. His objective is not to raise the bar for the average multiplex audience but to raise the bar for the entire audience. In this cause he needs help: from the so called "informed" audience. They need to understand his mission and be an active and integral part of it. And one day after his mission is accomplished, he will make that one film where he will fly, and for once won't care if anybody is flying with him.

In RDB he exposed the general audience to the ideas of a simple yet innovative screenplay, the unconventional use of music and ensemble acting. In Delhi 6 he goes a step further,not only in terms of the depth of ideas and techniques but also in the degree of restrictions he imposes upon himself. He first of all chooses a story which is full of big themes: Hindu-Muslim existence, caste system, poverty,corruption, Indian diaspora etc. Practically everything about the Indian experience is present in the film. Many films have tried to tackle all these ideas in one film and failed miserably. But this is where Mehra triumphs. He chooses to marry this completely conventional story with with the ideas and idioms of great film making.

The first half and the first 25 minutes of the second half of this film is officially the first Hindi film ,mainstream or indie, which employs "irreverence of the meter" (Oye Lucky and Dev D as I have mentioned in my posts on my blog still stuck to the meter). Mehra takes a blank canvas and spends his entire first half randomly painting broad brush strokes using different colors. The painting emerges in the latter part of the second half. By choosing an American born Indian protagonist who actually is curious about his heritage, rather than an NRI, Mehra could afford to tone down the emotional impact of all experiences (Indian heritage unfortunately for most NRI kids is the Yashraj/KJ/SRK Bollywood). This helps Mehra to get rid of the nostalgia and "cum shots" (thanks to Dibankar for this phrase) completely and focus more importantly on the confusion that an outsider experiences when he encounters the Indian life in full flow. Mehra does a wonderful job in all these sequences and portrays Roshan's emotional trajectory realistically (the Jaagran scene is the standout scene of the film)

Now the second idea we encounter in the film which also is the most talked about aspect of this film: Kala Bandar. The biggest casualties of the "thematic" genocide perpetrated by Hindi film makers in the last 40 years are : metaphor and surrealism. The system of dreams sequences and songs completely killed the development of these two themes. And in the process, the Indian cine goer has been completely numbed to their existence in the medium of cinema. Kala Bandar, The Mad Man with the Mirror and the linking of these metaphors through the Ram Leela is Mehra's attempt to reawaken the Indian cine goer to the idea of a metaphor in narrative art. While doing so, Mehra uses all his skill successfully to make sure that the film doesn't reduce to a play, or more importantly into a street play.

This is the only film I have seen till date which has captured the tenuousness of the existence of the idea of India itself. Mehra ensures that the all the big themes are lurking in the background. Once in a while, one of these themes suddenly jumps on the audience and makes a quick exit. That is exactly how life in India is. India hangs by a million threads, one of which snaps every once in a while, causing the whole country to go into a disarray. And yes, the cause for snapping could be as simple as a monkey.


The biggest grouse that the "informed audience" so far have had is the voice over and the detailed explanation of the metaphors. This is where they need to help Mehra and understand that he is helping the Indian cine goer to recover from the genocide. The good thing about this film is that the "informed" audience can clearly see where Mehra is flying and where he is in a crusader mode. None of his films will be perfect for the them but they need to get past these aspects of his films for the bigger cause. They need Mehra to succeed not for his sake but for their sake. He is, quite literally, the Obama of Hindi Cinema.