Delhi 6 --- Movie Review

"It Happens only in India" , well this is the line that Govinda proudly danced to in some song in the Nineties but it is this same line that can very well make you feel ashamed if you can understand the sarcasm behind it . Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is one film maker who has never feared of experimenting and now he is back with his latest experiment , Delhi 6 , which again has a social message wrapped around all the entertainment . His last film created quite a stir and he suddenly shot into fame for his distinct style of film-making . This film is probably the closest to his heart because he explores Delhi in this film where he has grown up .

Delhi 6 basically has a simple story but what makes it special is the treatment and also its characters . Every and I mean every character of the film represents a different shade of our society and has a story of its own to tell . Looking a little deep into the characters one can find that every character deals with something which is directly or indirectly connected to our society . Right from the kids to the grandma and from a sweeper to a NRI , every one of them represent some or the other reality of our society . These characters are very real and can be found anywhere in a typical Indian locality . In this case Chandni Chowk is that locality which in a way represents the overall Indian society . Rakesh has very well picked up a real life instance that took place in Delhi around 2001 and using that he has shown a mirror to our society . The real life incidence is that of the Monkey Man that haunted the streets of Delhi in Night in summers of 2001 . Believe it or not it was also featured in Time magazine . Take a look here : Time

Rakesh has formed a great story using that incidence and has tried to show the biggest weakness of our society and how we need to look inwards before we look at others . This tendency of ignoring the self and blaming it on someone else is what the film focusses on . Finding a scapegoat to blame is easiest way out and this is what our society has been doing since like forever . Just like Danny Boyle came from somewhere and understood one reality of our country and portrayed it in his film , the lead character of this film , Roshan a NRI , comes to India and tries to understand one more reality of our society .

I won't talk of the story anymore and would just say that its a film that needs to be watched and needs to be discussed . The "Kaala Bandar" which represents a thousand things in the film is something that will make you think and make you laugh at the same time . Its a satire from start till end and Rakesh has clearly conveyed his thoughts through his film . I am not sure if the general audience can understand the Sarcasm in it which probably needs to understand it the most . The film thus would appeal more to the intelligent audience or the so called Multiplex audience . People expecting it to be usual entertainer would certainly be disappointed .

Rakesh has also very well used the Raam Leela sequence throughout the film to convey his message and this is not like the one in Swades . This one comes in small doses and probably leaves more impact . He needs to be applauded for using that sequence because in India people are more passionate about religion than the values associated with it . He has also very well used various other Indian practices that are followed since ages only in the name of religion and spirituality to represent the Hollowness ("Khoklapan") of our society .

Coming to performances , all the actors have been perfectly casted and each one of them gives in a stellar performance . Abhishek after a long time has done a meaningful film and has impressed throughout . His portrayal of a NRI trying to understand the Real India is praiseworthy . Sonam also very well portrays the middle class girl who dreams big . Sadly she has a small part in the film and most of it has been shown in the trailers itself . Still , she acts well and makes her presence felt among the other good actors like Om Puri , Roshi Kapoor , Atul Kulkarni , Vijay Raaz , Pavan Malhotra,Waheeda Rehman , etc. . Two of the performances that surprised me were that of Mamdu , a Jalebi seller , played by Deepak Dobriyal and that of the sweeper which has been played by Divya Dutta . Rishi Kapoor is getting good roles these days and his part though a small one is still good . Every other actor has performed as expected and one which stood out was that of Vijay Raaz's portrayal of a typical policeman .

The music of the film is also an integral part of the film and Rehman's music does its job . Without his music the film would have been a little difficult to digest . The writers of the film have done a pretty good job and the film moves at a fine pace . The special effects in the picturisation of "Dil Mera Gira Dafatan" are good and worth mentioning . The song has a very nice concept and the special effects add a whole new dimension to it . The cinematography by Binod Pradhan is also great and he shows the real Delhi in a real way . The background score by Rehman is also good and some of the stunts featuring Abhishek were also good .

Overall , the film is one of its kind and it holds a mirror to our society which needs a change that has to come from within each of us . Rakesh has made a brave attempt by making this film and he needs to complimented for it . The producers UTV and whole of the cast also needs to be applauded for supporting such a fine film . Watch it and try to find the Kaala Bandar within .

Film Rating : Four out of Five ; a film depicting our society in its most real form .

Singh is Kinng --- Movie Review

Well its official now that Anees Bazmee can rightfully take place of David Dhawan in the industry in coming days after this film . The David Dhawan genre of Mindless comedy and action has entertained lots of people in the past and created stars like Govinda . I would like to make a clear statement before I review the film that I was never a fan of such films and I would never be but still I have watched almost all the films that have been made in the genre . The last film of Anees Bazmee , Welcome , broke many records of collection despite of the fact that it was a pathetic comedy film that also belongs to the same genre of films . Before Welcome Anees made No-Entry which in my view was a fantastic comedy film but then even David Dhawan has made films like Deewana-Mastana , which is one of my all time favourites . The fact I am trying to portray here is that dont't judge Anees by his film "No-Entry" , the real Anees is what you see in "Welcome" and what you would see often .

Singh is Kinng is one of the most hyped films of the year with Hit pair of Akshay and Katrina with a deadly combination of a Singh and Akshay . If you would read my review of Welcome there also I have mentioned that I watched Welcome because of Katrina since I am a die-hard fan of hers . And again I would say that I watched Singh is Kinng because of Katrina and again I was disappointed because she again had very small role to play like there was in Welcome . This film is a little better product than Welcome is what I can say about it .Welcome had one of the most boring and cumbersome endings I have ever seen , leave aside the film and this one at least ends better than that one .

Well , lets talk a little about the film . The film starts off with a Birthday Party of Lucky Singh the famous don of Australia who is known as Kinng over there . There is a murder attempt on him at the party and as expected he does his Mindless Heroic Stunts defying all the rules of Science to kill his assassin . Then there is a shift of location back to India in Punjab where Akshay kumar or Happy Singh is a Punjabi Munda who is good at heart but all the people in his Village are fed up of him because of the trouble he causes to others whenever he tries to do a good deed . The village is also the birthplace of Lucky Singh who leaves for Australia to earn money but becomes a gangster over there and never comes back . In order to get rid of Akshay and his troubles the Villagers push him into an emotional trap to bring back Lucky to his Parents in the village who are waiting for their son since a long time . Akshay being so good gets trapped and leaves for Australia along with Rangeela(Om Puri) but lands up in Egypt where he meets Katrina . Its love at first sight and Akshay has to leave Egypt just because he doesn't have a visa of Egypt . In the meantime there is a dream song with Katrina -"Jee Karda" .

Dream gets over and they get back to their mission of getting Lucky back and reach Australia . In the process to force him to come back to India there is one more attack on Lucky Singh and he is saved by Akshay. While saving Lucky suffers a head injury he gets paralysed and his gang makes Akshay the Kinng because he saved his life . After this starts the whole process of how Akshay transforms all the leaders of the gang and in the end even Lucky into good human beings and in the mean time how Katrina lands up in his life and their love story .

The story as you can see is very simple and mind you , though the film is based on Sikh characters and uses a lot of Punjabi yet the USP of film is NOT the Sikhs . The characters that were shown Punjabi could in fact be played by any person of any religion . So the film has nothing to do with the Sikhs . In fact it has been more used as a Publicity tool . This fact would be agreed even by the Sikh community that it has got nothing to do with their religion . It is well know that Akshay read the title of this Film at the back of a truck and decided to make a film out of it . So the Sikhs have been put up in the film and the script just because of the title of the film . They are not an inherent part of the script . Their attempt of attracting the Sikh audiences worldwide has struck gold and the film no doubt is going to break the collection records in coming days .

Now talking a little about the acting , the film as I said has very little for Katrina and is completely based on Akshay and the other male characters . Anees paid off his debt of not giving Akshay a larger role in Welcome in this film . Akshay is as usual and we get to see an extended and much melodramatic version of Punjabi Jatt of Namastey London in this one . Namastey London in my opinion portrayed a better version Punjabi Culture in its first half then what Singh is Kinng has done throughout the film .The Punjabi jatt of Namastey London was better than Happy Singh . One of the reasons I say so is because Namastey London had an authentic Punjabi cast with Rishi Kapoor and Akshay Kumar both being Punjabi's and hence portraying it effortlessly . Apart from Akshay and Katrina , this film also has actors like Om Puri , Jaaved Jaffrey and Ranvir Shorey . All of the supporting cast has done a great job and without them the film would have been a disaster and people couldn't have seen it for three hours . The comic timing of Jaaved Jaffrey and Yashpal Sharma was fantastic throughout the film . Katrina should stop taking such roles where her looks are given more preference than her Acting . I think she has far more acting talent then what she is usually offered .She should do more of films like Namastey London rather than Welcome and Singh is Kinng where she just dances in the Songs and acts as an Eye Candy . Katrina is a fabulous dancer and the fun she has while dancing is worth watching .

Talking of Script , it is a typical Two liner script which has been stretched and built according to conditions . The film has very little bit of Action and it is mostly mindless . The film will please the masses and very little of the classes .The comedy is same old one and it has been presented in same old fashion . Bits and pieces of comedy is worth a watch but the film on whole is so so . The film entertains you throughout its length but only to satisfactory levels and not overwhelmingly . The Direction is as usual and the Director has very less a job in such films , most of the hard work is done by Music Directors , Choreographers and Actors . The music of the film is good and apart from Bhootni Ke everything is fine . Bhootni Ke is pure noise . The producer Vipul Shah who himself is a Director would be happy on the Business point of view considering the film's collections will be great but his creative side wouldn't get happy after reading the reviews . Vipul should make better films than this one .

Overall , the film is fairly entertaining so it can be seen , but don't expect a laugh riot out of it . The film has all the emotions packed in it and as I said earlier is a typical David Dhawan type of film . So if you are not a fan of such films don't waste your money and time in watching it in a cinema hall . Wait for the DVD . But if you are fans of Films like Partner and Welcome go watch it this one would amuse you even further . What amazes me is that people still find getting hit on a crotch amusing and laugh on it like they have seen it for the first time on screen ?

Film Rating : Two and Half out of Five stars , good music and a great looking Katrina packed with fair bit of comedy by Akshay and the gang .