Director: Abhinay Deo
Cast: mran Khan, Vir Das, Kunal Roy Kapoor, Poorna Jagannathan, Shehnaz Treasurywala and Vijay Raaz
Release Date: 2011-07-01 12:00:00
Quick Take: Some really good shit
The poster of Delhi Belly tells you S#!T HAPPENS. Well it does and that too quite emphatically. The story is an explicit version of a comedy of errors. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong and thankfully, for the sake of the movie, it leaves just the right impression on the viewer.
Three ordinary guys are scraping the bottom of the barrel in Delhi’s half cosmopolitan half underbelly life. And before either of them can overcome the sloth inside to wake up and fill a bucket of water, tragedy strikes. The mafia wants to kick the shit out of them, the cops want to waste them and their own lack of dexterity isn’t helping them at all. Everything that the film serves up — the location, the quirky characters or their unique dialogue, has a genuine spark. The character details, the back story and even minute props have been etched out with careful precision. Delhi Belly is a well thought out concept executed in a clinical manner.
It takes ordinary people and places them in extraordinary circumstances. So when Vir Das’ Arup delivers the wrong package to the mafia you know he’s made an honest mistake but one that will have unreal repercussions. It’s that sort of edgy storytelling that you would find in a Guy Ritchie film. Such cinema is rare in India and the way Delhi Belly gets it right is fantastic. But because the film is so different from regular Hindi films it might not appeal to everyone. But whether you relate to its characters or not and whether you care for its subtext or not you will still laugh out loud or chuckle at all its gags.
The movie is well made too. Very well shot and crisply edited. And the 90 odd minutes of its run time feel like a breeze. Not just that director Abhinay Deo handles his narrative well. A real surprise that he’s out done his previous work Game quite emphatically. Don’t expect too much entertainment from the much publicised songs. Most are employed only as background score. Performances from the cast are credible but Vir Das and Vijay Raaz stand out. And there’s the Aamir Khan item number too but that’s more like the cherry on this cake. Imran Khan and Poorna Jagganath share fantastic chemistry. Watch especially for the hilarious scene when they pretend to have sex.
A dialogue from the film goes like, ‘This is one ugly car, this is what you get when a donkey humps an auto rickshaw’. If you fancy yourself laughing at that, Delhi Belly can be your Andaz Apna Apna.