The same old story keeps on repeating - tell don't show. Delhi 6 suffers from same and another major issue - protagonist being passive. The film trying to be well-meaning becomes preachy and tries to be too cute for its own good.
A young American Indian, Roshan brings her grandmother back to Delhi since she wishes to die in her 'home'. And the cliche pour all over - aunties doting on the man, men being the masters, a girl not wanting to be tied down to marriage, the angel (and poet) of a man being the mentor for Roshan and Hindu-Muslim living together having fun, till...some thing strikes!
It's not bad to have such a 'picture', however the point is - what's the story? What does Roshan want? He is happy observing things and of course they are all 'cute' stuff - the bane of Indian films, and of course, he falls in love but...the momentum builds in late second half. Till then the world is supposed to be a wonder, sometimes negative too and we are supposed to be go all along with the story.
But the point is - where's the story?! The film endeavors to do too many things - trying to show different characteristics (of Delhi presuambly), however it doesn't flow; the focus is missing. You have an alien entering a new world. You have an ambitious girl in a traditional dad-dominant family. And...religion to play around with. Sure there are cliches but they could have been dealt with much better if the conflict was pronounced, if we could relate to the characters.
Delhi 6 is a brilliant example - no actor can save a film. It has a great assortment of 'character'-actors, who are highly skilled and...do a great job, but...if the story is supposed to be funny courtesy their antics, sorry, it can't flow. 'A protagonist wants something, takes action, meets with conflict...' - This is the mantra of a good story; a character maybe inherently passive, but...he needs to 'act', not be an observer and feel 'good' about it. Characters are made interesting by the story, not the other way around.
What was unbelievable is the music scene used in the climax - it is the same climax music of Insider. Coming from Rahman and Mehra this was least expected, but just goes to show the ways of the world. It tries to play on metaphors (the big one - monkey-man scare Delhi story) and typically explain it, a drilling-down that's again a norm.
The principle is - our audience needs to be explained things lest they do not understand. But...one should really wonder if the audience is as dumb as the characters portrayed in our films. And the other side is - it's always tougher to show things visually; it's always easier to mouth dialogues and preach - tell don't show.
Writers: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Rating **
[Max ****]
[Viewed at home on 29th March, on laptop over two days]
I think this was an okay film, not Rakesh Mehra best but it was still watchable.
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