You dare call me a Servant?!
Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 10:46PM A cop abuses a witness trying to help identify a perpetrator.
An American of Indian descent who is new to India tells the cop "You are a public servant. How can you do this?"
The cop replies, "You called me a servant? Do I look like a servant to you?" and slaps the guy.
Guy slaps the cop back and ends up in jail.
When his uncle bails him out the cop tells the uncle "inform this kid that this is how things work in India"
This is just one of the scenes that caught my attention early on in "Delhi -6", a really well made movie that shows India for what it is, a place that is defined by a really large mass of people, a tangled web of interactions from every perspective, a potpourri of emotions, something so complex yet simple, something so simple yet complex, an everlasting absurdity of sorts that can be explained one way or another, a place where at times everything goes and at times nothing moves!
The greatness of this movie is the attention to detail. Every little piece of the jigsaw puzzle comes together so smoothly and you come out shaking your head, not because you saw something fantastic, but you saw something that happens for real, something that you know is true, because you have experienced most of these bits and pieces firsthand!
The only surprise is that a kid born and raised in America is even accepted as India's own in the earlier parts of the movie while his religious identity is questioned later because his dad is Hindu and mom is a Muslim. If there is one thing consistant about Bigotry, it is that bigotry is absolute. A real crowd would have equally questioned his "Indian-ness" or "his right to ask questions about things Indian or about India" because he is an American Citizen, but somehow they miss that part and it seemed weird.
But for that small deviation from reality, the movie does a fantastic job of painting the masses in everything from gory red, dove white, purple hues, monkey black, holy green to religious saffron!
The human mind is an amazing thing. The ability to live and let live is a quality of the mind that is not universal. Considering ,my recent frame of mind Delhi-6 offers a rare glimpse into the collective human psyche that makes or breaks a society. It also tells you in the nicest of ways to look for answers within!
Nicely done. Strongly recommended!
ps. Hope this movie wins international recognition for Cinematography. Simply fantastic. The music was great, but the visuals were simply breathtaking!
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Hindi, cinema, delhi 6, indian movies
Reader Comments (5)
OMG sundar...you liked Dilli 6...please...it was the most boring movie...
K
granted it was not moving at Die Hard 4 pace, and it was moving at the same pace as Luck by Chance, but was still riveting. The characters were so real and the movie was fluid.. in a warmed up castor oil kind of way, but fluid all the same!
loved it!
The way they picturized the opening of "dil gira" was just fantastic.
will probably watch it again when it comes out on DVD.
:)
there is a whole another post coming, Close encounters of the Kaala Bandar kind, tomorrow.
"in a warmed up castor oil kind of way"
:D
velakennai madhri slow-a irundhadhu-nu, aana effect padu fast-nu sollunga...heheh. I haven't watched it. Will do so soon.
Nice post.
Well, it was on ok movie. Most parts of it are entertaining. And it stops there !
I thought it attempted to take on too many things and kind of let too many loose ends remain.
And in doing that, it kind of disappointed. I am not sure about the visuals....and the masakali song was good !
Overal, i was disappointed with the movie. Perhaps my expectations were very high..
Now i wonder if it was me alone..!
Sriram, yes.. goes in slow then kalukkifies your entire stomach at places and finally everything comes raining down..
Kavi, you are not alone. by interval time people were saying things like "where is all this going", "such a drag", etc.
even after the movie ended, people were like "what was that all about?"..
I just liked it because the bits and pieces were extremely well made and kept very realistic.
living in varanasi through Mandal commission and Babri Masjid issues put things in the right perspective for me..
once you pick a fight with an unknown bunch of guys who are in your reserved train seat, only to find that they are "kar sevaks"..
it goes on..
not everyone will like this movie, some will.. and the ones that do are bound to like it a lot!