Shake that Belly Delhi

Dear Aamir Khan,

I am sorry I took time to write to you on this. I am part of the educated, urban, movie-going Indian mass that regard your name as a familiar and inviolable mark of quality in current Hindi cinema. I never followed your ventures until  ‘Taare Zameen Par’ established your originative and intellectual certificates beyond doubt. Oh i missed something here, 'Sarfarosh’ did introduce me to your qualitative mark. I have been looking forward to each of your ventures since. ‘Peepli Live’ despite being short and de-glamorized was intelligent, crisp and efficient take on a sensitive cum serious subject area.

So the moment I heard about your foray into the ‘x– rated’, ‘ashleel’ and ‘abuse’  genre, I was fascinated and enthusiastic just like any young college going kid who generally thinks that widely used public abuse is something you can relate yourself to. I eagerly rushed to see Delhi Belly with sky-high expectations, but what I saw seriously let me down.  DB merely looks like an amateurish attempt to do what Guy Ritchie has done with such finesse in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch or even,  closer desi flick back at home, what Sanjay Khanduri has accomplished with 1:40 Ki Last Local.

I do not intend to say that the movie is boring or tacky. I cannot even dare to say that since your enterprise did earn money. What it lacks is character which can lead people to imagine about better thing is supposed to be very important part of a movie. The boldness or the ‘x-factor’ which many of you may quote in the movie is very trivial, ordinary and superficial; it tries so hard to shock and awe the viewer. And while the humor is not bad for the most part, was there a need for over-explicit an detailed toilet level humor which are elongated until the viewer is sickened, disgusted and frustrated? I pitied the poor souls who’d brought those cheese popcorn and extravaganza nachos combos into the screens – I wonder how many of them were put off popcorn/burgers for the rest of their lives! The scenes towards the end involving the villainous leader and Russian trades of diamonds are half-hearted and artificial attempts to make the movie look like ‘authentic’ black comedy.

The funniest line that stayed with me was the ‘clothesline vs. clothing line’ dialogue – it was a humorous ‘light bulb’ moment!You could have done a better job by simply adding more of these.

The performances and dialogue were good, but what I think is called characterization was rather built on weak grounds – Arup seemed as artificial and exaggerated just like the cartoons he draws, while Tashi’s character seemed to evolved out of more vague and flimsy motivations.

The music is the good thing and it is used very well. To be honest it is in fact one of the saving lines of the movie, along with the slapstick sequences such as those involving the ‘DK Bose’ song. DK Bose already became the voice of youth paired with all tunes doing a nice and musical job. The ‘saigal blues’ though did not become popular till the extent that it can beat ‘Aandhi’ in rising up the chart but definitely it seemed a work of creativity involving deep talent and strong music sense.

By the end the question I asked myself as I left the hall was this: Why must Indian audiences continue to be served a constant dose of slapstick accompanied by an greasy side-dish of toilet humor? Don’t we deserve better?

And finally my last words to you. I can understand. ‘Shit Happens’ at times. But seriously we expect from you more.

Regards,

A (Audience)