Delhi Belly

Immensely watchable, and funny as hell. I was laughing all evening about some of the dialogues in the movie, and I will for a long time to come.

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Much has been said about Delhi Belly, and how it is the new coming of age-cinema because a) It is in english and they all speak like normal people. b) because they curse and cuss like normal people c) because it has no point, no exaggerated message, no real love story, it’s just irreverent fart/potty jokes.

I don’t entirely agree with that.

For me it is the coming-of-age cinema, our cinema, because –and I don’t know how else to explain it — people don’t take themselves too seriously. It has nothing to do with the actors themselves, it’s in the way this movie, and some recent movies, have been made. To give you an example, ‘Wake up Sid’ despite apparent pointlessness, takes itself seriously, as opposed to ‘Rocket Singh’, where despite there being a message et al, everyone just seems, umm, normal. It’s the same with a movie like ‘Dabanngg’ and ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’, which despite falling into the prone-to-exaggeration masala and rom-com genre respectively, work very well, because no one – the screenplay writer, the actors, the lyricist, the music director – is taking themselves seriously. The moment that stops, it looks more like a collective effort, the pieces just hold together. It’s not like there’s no effort, but moment the effort starts showing, the whole thing just falls flat on its face [To some extent, despite liking the movie a lot, that was precisely my problem with 'Stanley'. Also, Aamir Khan in 'Dhobi Ghat'. ]

Then there is the attention to detail, which made me giddy. I like the detail of the Russian dolls being used by a Vladimir. Never quite figured why anyone would think of creating nested dolls, but to think of it, it would be awesome to smuggle stuff in. Then there is the breakup haircut by Vir Das, which women are normally prone to do. Baradwaj Rangan writes about these details, in great detail, here.

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As for the cast itself:

- The trio, what awesomeness. I love how they all bounce off each other. Vir Das’s voice reminds me of Farhan Akhtar, for some reason.
- The Rajeev fellow (husband of Menaka) was last seen as the school principal in ‘Stanley ka dabba’. He seemed extremely fake and out of place in that movie for the same reason, of his excruciating Delhi Amitness. Here, he seems like a natural fit. [There may be other movies, but I seemed to remember him only in this one!]
- If it’s bothering you, the 7% happy banana boss is the English teacher from Taare Zameen Par.
- Vijay Raaz, last seen being this stunning as ‘Dubey’ in Monsoon Wedding. Oh lord, that deadpan expression.
- Two thumbs up for the sidekick for delivering the words ‘Sir, louuundry‘ to perfection. Every single person cracked up on the line, and that’s the first dialogue everyone seems to quote.
- Hasn’t Shenaaz Treasurywala been around forever? Like forever. It seems rather odd that she’s cast opposite a much younger actor, still having retained some sort of ‘youth’-ful bimbetteness. The only other person I can think of is Tara Sharma. Who else?
- That Anusha Dandekar chick was sitting next to me on a flight once. I thought that she looked familiar, but refused to ask or acknowledge. Then she took out her immigration form and wrote her name in big letters ensuring I notice. It didn’t ring a bell. Then, seemingly offended, she changed her seat.
- And there is Aamir Khan and that song in the end ‘ I love you like I hate you in brackets’. Not since Dil Chahta hai, have I found Aamir Khan loosening up and having fun. One could argue that he was funny in 3 idiots, but he still was taking himself too seriously. He had fun in DCH, and that’s why it clicked. He can’t really move very gracefully and fluidly, and the efforted movements that jarred in ‘Koi Kahe…” have been used to an awesome effect here. It cracked me up.

 

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