Review: Delhi Belly
With Delhi Belly, writer Akshat Varma weaves a mad albeit gross story through the lavatories and streets of any Indian city (it’s not really all that Delhi-specific). The movie is in English and surprisingly the actors are very comfortable in their skin speaking it. Now a lot of people have said that this will put off the folks who don’t get the language and those who don’t belong to the present generation, but then it isn’t meant for them. (Oh there is supposedly a Hindi version too.)
The Indian youth is portrayed in an over-the-top manner which I am not complaining about. A lot of the language is what urban India speaks today. Matrushka dolls and gangsters add to the scheme of things; which includes the lives of three young folks.
Veer Das, Imran Khan and Kunaal Roy Sharma are three youngsters who have problems with different things like rich girlfriends, bowel movements and girlfriends marrying NRI Engineers. Imran portrays something he has never attempted before, Vir Das is subtly awesome. Kunaal Roy Kapur is the reason this movie is funny. Maneka (Poorna Jagannathan) is one of the most real characters I have seen on screen. Shehnaz is a better actor than a screenplay writer (Luv Ka The End), and she should stick to acting. Her portrayal of the rich, over-bearing girlfriend is pretty believable. Vijay Raaz is the gangster who “takes action” when needed and he along with his bunch of stupid goons make the plot more interesting. There are numerous sub-plots which are neatly woven into the rest of the plot.
Amir Khan repeats the no-interval thing with this movie too and maybe that adds to the fast-flowing feel this movie gives you. There are a lot of times when you feel like you’re watching the result of a threesome between a Guy Ritchie movie, True Romance (especially then end) and a Harrold & Kumar movie, but then the Indian-ness of the movie comes up with cleverly crafted jokes which might even offend a few.
Ram Sampath is another reason that this movie is so good. DK Bose or otherwise this movie is fuelled by Sampath’s music.
So what sets this movie apart from the other movies we have seen in these years, including director Abhinay Deo’s Game? Well, it’s crafted in a way which allows the characters to move around freely within their personal attributes instead of going along an established set of traits, thus making them multi- layered and more real.
Is it a good film? Yes! It was an awesome film for me. Maybe not for others. It is definitely fun watching it if you don’t mind a few expletives here and there.
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About the Author: Aniket Dasgupta
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