Saturday, July 02, 2011

Delhi Belly

Candid, funny, raw, hilarious – is how I would describe Delhi Belly. The posters had promised Imran leading a group that I thought was saving the world from the likes of Amjad Khan and Amrish Puri and Prem Chopra. But it turned out to be different. It was absolutely funny-even shocking at times. In fact my moment of enlightenment came when Mahesh whispered the truth in my ear during the DK Bose song. He was wary of watching it in English/Hinglish. "Yaar, it wont be fun," he said when it began. But within the first five minutes of hearing them speak, you feel –yes, Indian- English/Hinglish whatever you call it, has arrived. And then the movie begins to shake your sensibilities, it makes you laugh, it scandalizes you and at the end of the movie, you get up from the seat saying, “Oh I loved it.”

No intermission? Thank God I had bought my popcorns and coke bfore the movie started. An Aamir Khan at the end of the movie dancing to a stupid song was lovely. This song and dance sequence is a bit overdone actually, they could have managed with a shorter one too. And in the whole of the movie, I kept wondering if it is the same Shehnaz Treasurywala who had bloated par limits and had turned to television in her fat avatar? If she is the same, how did she manage to thin down so wonderfully to squeeze into the Singapore Airlines uniform? I have to know, just so I can thin down a little bit to fit into my own clothes from a year back. Sigh!

Imran’s onscreen chemistry with Poorna Jagannathan as Maneka, the hanging cables and wires overhead, the metro train going past a dusty Delhi road, Kunal Roy Kapoor’s poo act, Vir Das’s Ja Chudail number, Vijay Raaz’s unique act, they all fit into the kaleidoscope of the Belly of Delhi. Swear words abound and double meaning dialogues attack you with a vengeance.

But you HAVE to watch it to experience the stink of innards of Delhi.

And I must mention that this was the one movie that I loved after Dev D.


8 comments:

Phoenixritu said...

I want to see it too. I learnt about the D K Bose double meaning today itself #facepalm

dipali said...

Loved the movie!

Anonymous said...

I am going to watch this movie...

Sidhusaaheb said...

I suppose they meant to use that name as it would appear in a telephone directory, i.e., 'Bose, D. K.' and the Censor Board was happy to oblige.

:D

Having said that, swear words in films have lost the shock value and, I suspect, will soon lose box office value, if any, as well.

Indian cinema seems to be in a juvenile phase, in that sense, when using swear words makes people feel like having accomplished something significant. I hope it grows up soon.

Somewhat like Dev D? I didn't like that one and thought it was in bad taste.

Thanks for the review! :)

Pinku said...

I hope all your students read your review ;)

Class will turn real rangeen then.

Glad you enjoyed the film. I plan to catch it too.

will get back with my thoughts on the same..

dr.rajindarjit said...

Though I have no time to watch the movie, even then I appreciate the outcome that a blog post is here on your blog.
Nice piece of comments.
Carry on with your blog, it gives you freshness.
Dhindsa

Anonymous said...

I made the mistak eof not watching Dev D..but I watched it much much later!! I am definitely going to watch Delhi Belly!! Sounds interesting:)

Eternal Rebel said...

I am a slow mind too ... DK Bose eluded me with its intended meaning for a very long time .. and was left wondering silently what the hullabaloo was all about !