A Tale of Two Women - My Thoughts on Dev D (2009)

Ek Radha, Ek Meera, Donon Ne Shyam Ko Chaaha...

Antar Kya Donon Ke Pyaar Mein Bolo...?

Ek Prem Deewani, Ek Daras Deewani!

Dev D is not as it was expected by all a movie about Devdas - in case one wants to see a movie about Devdas, one is advised to go ahead and watch the old masterpiece by Bimal Da which has the great Dilip Kumar performing the only Devdas that touches our soul. If the connoisseur thereafter wishes to go further, he's strongly advised to watch the great K L Saigal perform this role in the 1935 movie of the same name. Regional Cinema aficionados can also have a glimpse of N T Rama Rao appraising the same role in Telugu.

Dev D is different - granted it's  a movie that's about Dev D (the modern Devdas wannabe) but more than that, this movie is about the two women in his life who are more stronger and more mature than the protagonist of the movie can ever be....

This is not to say that these roles were not well-defined in the earlier versions - they were and have always been strong focal points of the story but Dev D adapts the movie to a different milieu and while doing so, brings a different kind of maturity and power to the two women in the story. Oddly, the love that is the depth of Devdas conviction in the 1956 movie, is somehow destroyed in the process and what we have here amongst us is not the lover Devdas, for whom Paro was life but a Devdas whose love is still a slave of his ego and his frustrations.....

Mahie Gill as Paro has what would be termed a dream debut..... Paro is unconventional, her love is a torch-bearer and so is her self-respect a matter of life and death for her... she is prepared to go the extra mile for the guy she loves but it not ready to negate herself for the man she loves.... she surely knows how to love but is unaware of what is love and thaqt true love transcends all boundaries of self and the other. She is vindicative and ruthless but at the same time one can not say that the depths of her love are illusionary. She loves like a true Jat and lives life like one too.....

Imagine a woman who loves so much that she can send over a naked snap of hers` to her beau despite knowing the odds of getting it developed and printed, a girl who's ready to go beyond all boundaries for the sake of requiting her love and still being arrogant enough to reject him at the slightest hint of prejudice.... this has to be one heck of a woman... it's only a woman that's so strong as this who can break into a jig at her own marriage, abandoning all notions of social and familial pride... This is Paro, born to win and born to lead... Strong, resilient and confident - a woman of substance, a woman of power, a woman of drive and a woman of character but a woman who has failed the test of love....

She is what would be signified by this famous couplet of the great Iqbal....

Jis Khet Se Mayassar Na Ho Dehkaan Ko Roti
Uss Khet Ke Har Zarra-O-Gandham Ko Jala Do

On the other spectrum of the story is Chanda.... a woman who was not allowed by society a second chance at life after a small error, early on in life... a girl who was forced to become a woman due to one small error made at one forgotten path in life.. a child who was forced to grow because her survival depended on her growth..... this is Chanda.... a woman who becomes a prostitute because she has to live in a society that has nothing but entertainment value for her....

Ek Qadam Galat Uttha Tha Shauq-E-Yaar Main
Zindagi Tamam Umr Humein Dhoondhti Phiri

She is strong too.... one has to be strong if one incident of publicised impropriety can lead to a person losing a father, a family and a life.... She is mature...... one has to be if she has to survive a life that's nothing but destruction written all over it.... She is practical.... one has to be when life takes away everything and all your actions are forced and not an option.... but more than all that.... she is forgiving.... one has to be if she to live and not survive......

 Kalki Koechlin as Chanda brings life to the pain and tears that could have easily become a major occasion for histrionics in other actresses.... in contrast, Kalki is patient, silent and lets her understatement do all the talking.... Chanda requires pain in the eyes, stony emotions in the face, ruthlessness in the heart and still silence in the soul.... this is not the Chandramukhi of Devdas, this is Chanda and it's very important for the audience to be able to differentiate between the two... Kalki does it and does it well.... I am not sure whether she will be able to take this further but in this one movie, she is the quintessential Chanda....

Chanda is what would be exemplified by that another great couplet by Iqbal:

Hazaaro Saal Nargis Apni Be-Noori Pe Roti Hai,

Badi Mushqil Se Hota Hai Chaman Mein Deedawar Paida.....

So where does Chanda differ from Paro..... in a simple way.... Chanda understands forgiveness, Paro knows vengeance.... Chanda find love in the middle of nothing, Paro loses love in middle of everything

And then there is Dev..... a wimp of a man, a man who can never love anyone but who still thinks of himself in love... This is a man who loves himself and is in love with the fact that he loves himself... although he gives it the name of pining for a lost love - a love that would have been always his, had he learned to control his ego and be a little more open regarding the freedom that's every woman's right and desire.... But Dev is a man in the old mould, he desperately seeks exclusivity where there should be freedom; his love tends to be on terms that he believes in, not knowing that love that has terms is not love but a trade-off and can never achieve the hieghts of a love that originates from the heart and trancends the soul....

Abhay Deol has done a brilliant job - one that makes one feel that even in an era such as ours when true art is at a premium and mimickry in the name of art at a discount, there are a few who do dare to go beyond the limits and perform beyond the pale of the ordinary..... Abhay is one of a breed that I personally feel is talented, meticulous and should be on the path to achieving greater successes and appreciation.... This is the first Devdas that I have seen in recent years that I can say has an original look to it.... It may not be as natural as Dilip Saab or as memorable as Saigal Saab but it definitely outshines most of the others who dared to do the same enactment.

Dibyendu Bhattacharya, the young man on the block again manages to come up with a triumphant performance.... one that sears you and makes you look at the world with new eyes..... Chunnilal in Devdas is not a pimp but a man who visits brothels and is given to the seamy side of pleasure... here he is one advocating that side and making a fortune out of it... what a performance man! Awesome... Just Awesome.

Parakh Madan as Rasika looks hot and I am sure many would have found her alluring as well.... she is also formidable in her role and her disgust in the scene where she breaks up with Dev says a lot for her acting capabilities....

The music track by Amit Trivedi is fantastic and speaks volumes for the man's talents.... Emotional Atyachar, composed to the beats of a Marriage Band is a brilliant piece of crativity and I am really impressed with the way that song has been both conceptualized and shot.

Saali Khushi is another song which touches a deep chord somewhere in the deepest recesses of my heart... paining me like hell and still bringing a smile on my face... someone said once...."Pain and Pleasure are complementary"... I agree..... Completely....

Anurag Kashyap is a great director.... I just love his work.... His 'Black Friday' tore me apart.. his Dev D tore my heart apart.... (Delhi looks so very different in this movie that I feel like re-visiting that city today....  it has been so, since I watched Delhi 6 and Dev D, two exceedingly brilliant movies on the same day... There can be no greater praise that this.... for no Bombay guy would ever appreciate Delhi even in his dreams!) Anurag is the kind of director that makes you feel for the characters first and makes you forget the actors who performed the role..... each and every frame in the movie speaks for his brilliance.... I am very impressed by this director and looking forward to Gulaal fervently...


Devdas is not an easy movie to make or remake. It carries with it the illustrious names of many top-ranking and honorary members of the Hindi Film fraternity - names that are etched in iron and steel on the sands of Hindi Cinema and hence a matter of great challenge when one dares to biuld it up in his / her own version. When SRK released his version of Devdas, I was among the first to see the movie.(it was released in 2002 - a particularly painful period in my life; wherein I struggled (in vain) to get a defunct personal life and non-existent professional life back on track) I had lots of expectations from the flick, it had the magical combination of SRK and SLB but needless, to say it disappointed me no end.

I was particularly displeased with SRK and SLB for trying to portray Devdas and his selfless love as a wimp's love and it helped no one that Shah Rukh was no Dilip and SLB no Bimal Roy! Over a point of time, though still rejecting their version of Devdas, I have quite managed to try and look at their side of the argument as well; though in all fairness I have not and could never accept it in entirety. Hence when Dev D was released, I had immense misgivings about how it would turn out .... However, today after watching this movie 7 times and still being unable to describe it in it's entirety; I am compelled to accept that this is the best tribute to Bimal Roy's moving saga of love and tragedy, which in itself is the best tribute to Saratchandra's book that created this franchisee.

Dev D is the best thing that could have happened to Devdas and his saga.... To make this movie stand out among such brilliant versions of this movie as the ones by Dilip and K L Saigal in Hindi and N T R Ramarao in Telugu requires a lot of guts and gumption, specifically when you are not basing it in the milieu for which this movie was intended and are making it more of a movie that has been adapted to a very different and difficult time.

Coming back to the two women... I can sum up my feelings in these words....

Ek Radha, Ek Meera, Donon Ne Shyam Ko Chaaha....

Antar Kya Donon Ke Preet Mein Bolo....?

Ek Jeet Naa Jaani, Ek Haar Na Maani

Songs to Remember - IX

What does one do if despite all that he or she does, he / she is unable to present her feelings in the eyes of the one he / she desires and loves more than anything else on Earth? What does one do, when despite the best of intents and intentions, a man is unable to put forth the wishes of his heart in front of his beloved, is unable to show his love, is unable to prove what his heart feels for her...... What does one do when words like bullet shells that have no potency once fired, lie embedded within the ambit of the heart -  that same heart they tore apart, while the heart silently bleeds and blobs of red blood cover the entire surface leaving not even a rudimentary remembrance of the bullet shell that contained the deadly assassin....

It's sadly the destiny of the Bullet shell to be felled for the work of the gun and the karma of the Bullet to suffer the ignominy of the blood stains!

Devdas (1956) was one of the few movies that mean a lot to me - undoubtedly the character of Devdas is one of the few that really move me a lot (maybe because Dilip Kumar's performance brings the eternal loser to life and in his sincerity and pain he appears as someone who's very close to my own heart) but what really pained me a lot was the selfless, sacrificing and eternally loving character of Chandramukhi - the so-called courtesan who had a heart that was more precious than Gold and more lovely than satin

In my different posts on the songs that move me a lot, I have often failed to mention a song crafted in eternal pain and deep love by one of my most loved composers, S D Burman and sung by Lata Mangeshkar in her inimitable and painful voice.....

Jise Tu Qubool Kar Le is not a song.... It's a plea for love; a plea for understanding, a plea for compassion, a plea for reciprocation.... the tears of the one who loves is so deeply entrenched in the song that the frustration and deep feeling of loss can be felt in every word of the song....

Not everyone can be like the great Hanuman who could tear open his heart and let the world know the extent of his affection - that Lord Ram was all he could think of, that Lord Ram existed in the deepest reccesses of his heart.... Our Hearts may hold a great deal of love, but unfortunately....that cannot be seen and so it has no value.....

The song begins with a frustrated plea of reason with the lover asking the beloved how she can convince the beloved of the deep love she harbours for him in her heart... Listen to that plea, the request for reciprocity... or at the least... that request for understanding, even if that understanding would not transcend into love.... The feeling of inferiority, the feeling of insufficiency, the feeling of being forever banished from the realms of love is something I would not wish even on my enemies.... just imagine the pain of the one that has been bamnished to this netherland of pain, anguish and tears

Jise Tu Qubool Kar Le Woh Adaa Kahaan Se Laaoon?
Tere Dil Ko Jo Lubhaa Le Woh Sadaa Kahaan Se Laaoon?

This inferiority manifests in the kind of loss of self-esteem that can only pain; this is that facet of love that hurts and hurts and then hurts again - a kind of pain the gnaws within and refuses to go away.....

Look at how the lover describes herself in pain and frustration... Calling herself a flower that has not seen any patrons of her beauty or her smell; recalling that all who have met her have behaved with her insolently, never loving her but always consigning her to the heap of dirt, the woman goes on to lament her her life has flown away from herself like tears that fall from the eyes and are forever consigned to the land of the forgotten and the nameless.....

Her frustration is compounded because even though her own self has been destroyed for the sake of this love, the lover cannot feel the agonizing call of the trodden flower -

Where, Oh, Where will you find a Spring that may grace the garden with the semblance of an Autumn?
As if on cue, since pain such as these have no reason, finally the heart refuses to burn alone and the woman pours out her feeling of anguish.....

Main Woh Phool Hoon Ke Jiss Ko Gayaa Har Koi Masal Ke
Meri Umr Bahe Gayee Hai Mere Aansuon Mein Dhal ke
Jo Bahaar Ban Ke Aaye Woh Khizaa Kahaan Se Laoon? 

Look at the pain with which the heart pours out .... it's not as if the heart does not understand, why there is so deafening a silence to her overtures of love ...... it's just that the heart feels that her love is all-encompassing, all powerful and ... still defeated.....

What can it do? The Beloved burns in the memory of a love that does not leave anything to her...... the pains of a broken heart do not allow the Beloved to see beyond the pain that harbours itself within the precincts of his heart...... What can one do... how can the Beloved love; his love is full of pain-filled memories of a love that destroyed his heart... how can he then reciprocate to the overtures of the lover....

Listen to Lata as she emphasizes and loving carresses each and every one of these words - words that have felled someone in the past and now are felling another.....

Tujhe Aur Ki Tamannaa; Mujhe Teri Aarzoo Hai
Tere Dil Mein Ghum Hi Ghum Hai; Mere Dil Mein Tu Hi Tu Hai
Jo Dilon Ko Chain De De Woh Davaa Kahaan Se Laaoon?

Listen to the feeling of deep pain as the Beloved wonders aloud; nay, begs aloud - where does one get that medicine that may give solace to aggrieved and torn hearts! I wish I knew, I would also get some for myself!And then as if the final realization has dawned and the feeling of defeat has finally made it's place in her heart.... the lover finally crys out to the Good Lord the futility of her tears.... What's the use of tears that show the world the pain of one's deepest feelings but are incompetent to bring onto itself the grace of the Heavens?

Listen to this song someday in solitude and then you will understand why Love is the most difficult emotion that can be ever handled by one.........

A tear that is unable to even rend the hearts of Death and get itself some solace by at least sleeping in the eternal arms of the greatest lover the world has ever seen - Death; what can then be expected of such an unfortunate star-crossed love!

Meri Be-Basi Hai Zaahir Meri Aah-E-Be-Asar Se
Kabhi Maut Bhi Jo Maaggi To Naa Paayee Uss Ke Dar Se
Jo Muraad Le Ke Aaye Woh Duaa Kahaan Se Laaoon?

Oh, the pain of Love! Oh, the impossibility of it all!

An Ode To Delhi - My Thoughts on Delhi -6 (2009)

Many Years ago, so many years ago, that I seem to have forgotten the exact time too; all I know is that it happened when I was quite young and my father resolved to make a man out of me - there were many perquisites to be completed before I could be said to have passed the rites of passage and deemed to have moved on from the world of childhood to the ever-shifting but ever-exciting world of Adulthood where everything was possible but more than that, everything was dangerous as if all in that world was imbued with the darkness of Dajal's forces or the ambiguity of Afarsiyab and his henchmen

One of those strange rites of passage that my father deemed mandatory for me was to live in a city, foreign to me - alone and unprotected, with limited resources and with only my cunning and resourcefulness for a week or more - and come back from that unimaginable torture all alive, unharmed and unhinged - I do not why and how but this vain torture was supposed to and could make a man out of me .... and so despite protestations in vain from many and my own stony silence that was imbued and pregnant with consternation, resignation and anger, on one bright day of May, did I begin my 14 day exile in Delhi, using the old and trusted Indian Railways` Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah Express to carry me to my doom.

Often, thereafter have I wondered why Delhi was selected for my exile and often have I felt that what else could have been chosen? For a proud Bombay guy, disdainful of all that's snooty and over-reaching, Delhi was the perfect place for exile - and to add to it, to the business-minded logic of a brat born, brought up and bred in Bombay, Aristocratic Delhi was bound to be different.....

So what is Delhi? It is a city that lives in the self-induced hallucinatory mode of self-importance and pride; a city that sees itself through the eyes of the Mongols and the Mughals, the Marathas and the Mauryans and still lives there, in the forts of Siri and Lal Qila, in the corners of Sisganj and Dhaula Kuan, in the bylanes of Chandni Chowk and Ballimaran, walling itself from the present and shunning anything that suggests anything to the contrary..... Delhi is still Indraprastha and still the land where the Tomars, the Chauhans and the Lodis fought pitched battles, where the Jama Masjid and the Sisganj Gurudwara still tell tales from old centuries.... And then again there is Delhi.... the seat of modern India... the face of a shining and resurgent India... the India Gate still stands up proud and the Lal Qilla still talks to the airplanes flying in from America, Australia, Europe and Africa...

It's the same Delhi, the one that was written up so many times and consigned to the dustbins of history so many times that still is curiously enough the seat of power of a modern and resurgent India and strangely enough, neither facet of Delhi is either shizophrenic or away from the other and still despite being present in the same vicinity, neither is close to the other - Somehow, both the Delhi of the Mughals and the Delhi of the Moderns lives cheek and jowl with each other, comfortably snuggled at times and deftly defiant at others .... and this is where the young boy of 19 came that day - to an area popularly known as Delhi - 6

When I saw Delhi -6, the other day, I was mesmerised and stunned at the same time - is it possible? I do not know but I was - mesmerised to see my past experiences in front of me and stunned to see how a brilliant film-maker could use the most mundane and commonplace of expressions, to make a story worthy of being a classic - I know many would arch their eyebrows and many may take offence at the liberal use of the word, 'classic', but sorry to disappoint all of you - Delhi -6 is a classic!

Why? Well, you won't understand it, if you have not seen or understood the spirit of Delhi -6... One couplet will tell it all, but the question is would someone who has not seen Delhi understand it... I doubt it......

Hum Ne Maana Deccan Mein Hain, Bahut Se Qadr-E-Sukhan;
Par Kaun Jaaye, Ae Zauque, Yeh Dilli Ki Galiyaan Chhod Kar

What is it about Delhi - 6 that I love?

Well, I love the fact that after a very long time I can see a movie that's not a movie but poetry on celluoid, a moving image of brilliance and darkness as would warm the cockles of Master Osman from Orphan Pamuk's masterpiece novel - My Name is Red or even make Behzid envious of the richness of the text! Delhi -6 is not a movie, it's a portrait drawn on celluliod; a book written on canvas as big as 70MM and with some of the most detailed and enriched characters that one has seen in Hindi Cinema for a long time..... Each and every character of this Delhi-6 lives life like a beautiful painting drawn on a canvas of white and gold with each and every stroke deep and rich and multi-hued so much so that Delhi appears like a glistening bride, bashful but desirious and of course desirable!

Granted, the story is thin and is so much spread that one could find it glistening in it's own spread out glory, but if you look at it from a perspectival angle you will find that each and every aspect of the story grows on you and gnaws at you till you feel it deep within you - in your flesh and your blood and further deeper in your thoughts and your actions and finally into the burrows of your conscience that is hidden and still illuminated

Abhishek Bachchan as Roshan is as earnest as earnest can be - his looks and his demeanour speak of a guy who is from the States and who is frankly bewildered to be here - there are times when his 'what the hell am I doing with these morons!" makes you smile and also empathise with the man and the actor - In case, Abhishek understands that his brilliance lies in these and similar roles, he will finally be able to build his own sky somewhere here and it will be distinct from his father's or mother's sky.... As Roshan, Abhishek stands tall and confident and his movements and gestures are as beautiful and as sublime as the innocence in his eyes and the glint of mischief in his eyes

Sonam Kapoor is brilliant - in fact the right word would be awesome.... her father, the honourable Anil Kapoor was one of the greatest actors of his generation and I am happy to see that the girl does have his genes in her - he performance is as vivacious as any and represents in a very concise way, the girls who live down Chandni Chowk and stutter with the pride of 'Husn' wrapped around them, all the way from Balliamaran to Siri.... the child-like dreams of a young girl and the desires of a woman all-engaged with her own self are so well described within the girl that one remembers those rose-petalled flowers that arise with a pride as innocent and as beautiful as the one that knows that her beauty is God's gift to Earth. The scene wherein she leavers her house like a typical "Behenji" and transformes herself into a "Bombshell" by the time she reaches the main road, makes one smile.... Do you remember the scene wherein Roshan chatches her in the new Avatar and clicks a snap of her.... it makes one smile... we have all done such naughty things, haven't we?

Waheeda Rehman as usual is impressive.... you want to understand acting, please go and watch this Grandmom and her performance - one of the best performances of this movie is courtesy an artiste we have not seen performng for a long time .... It's sad to think that when we talk of incomparable Hindi Film Actresses, somehow Waheedaji always manages to fall off the rack - is it because of a multitude of much more brilliant performers and performances or it because we fail to appreciate her understated but strong performances, only God will be able to understand... but yes, Waheeda proves her worth and her one statement in this film is more than enough for conniesuers of true art to watch this film again and again and again

"Ab To Yahaan Marne Ka Bhi Mann Nahin Karta"

No Drama, No Over-Emphasis.... Just Pure Performance!

Rishi Kapoor as Ali is effervescent to say the least .... he's strong, he's stable, he's brilliant... he is mature, and he is restrained - we have a singular grouse: why did you not give us so many nuggets of your performance, Rishi when you were young? Why did we have to wait so long to unravel the actor that was always hidden within you? Was it not a great injustice to your talent? Wish you could have seen your capabilities and we your potential in those black days of the 80s when watching a movie was a punishment more than anything else!

Om Puri plays the role of a self-opinionated patriach to perfection - everyone of us has seen or experienced such an uncle in our midst and feared him and respected him but .... never loved him! Om ensures that you leave with similar feelings for Om who is genuinely efficient as Madan Gopal. Pawan Malhotra as his estranged and flamboyant younger brother, Jai Gopal is exceptional, although at times he takes to going above board - his performance as one who is self-obsessed and exceptionally narccissistic makes one smile even if his antics are exasperating and silly - the scene where he plays to the gallery with the mirror is exceptional and reminds one of a similar brilliant performance by the great Naseeruddin Shah in Hero Hiralal

Deepak Dobriyal is the next new rising sensation on the Hindi Celluliod. Each and every performance of this young talented performer right from Omkara to Delhi-6 is a viewer's delight, making one fall in love with this incredible powerhouse of talent and I am sure as the times go on, this actor will become recognized as the rightful successor of  Om and Naseer. As Mamdu, Deepak delivers another impeccable performance. A scene to remember, when Pawan and his henchmen attack and violate his shop in the name of religion, the silent fury on his face and the incredulous tremors below the surface of his calm exterior, show the menace of his terrorising metamorphosis from a simple man to a rabid communal. Again, in the scene where Om deliberately insults Allah, the way Deepak runs at him can only prove the talent of this young actor - when I saw him running towards Om, I could feel in my blood the fury of the rioter and the hatred of the terrorist

Atul Kulkarni as the simpleton Gobar who attaches a lot of value by the rituals and customs again proves why he is the most sought of actors when it comes to portraying impossibly challenging and difficult assignments - after one watches his deep and deft handling of Gobar, one is surprised to think that was the same actor who portrayed Ram Prasad Bismil in an earlier collobration with the same director.... Today when I think of a complete actor of today's era I think of Atul....

Divya Dutta plays her role with a brilliance and exceptional ease that proves her talent. Why is this actress not getting a chance to prove her worth? Why do other stars who cannot even stand 9 to 10 to her effortless and brilliant performance get better billings and better star vehicles than this brilliant actress who performs her role with a consummate ease and a brilliance that's not only illuminating but also pleasing to the heart, mind and soul.

Vijay Raaz impresses us with a natural performance of a Delhi policeman - each and every aspect of the policeman has been studied and reproduced both faithfully and implicitly. See the haughniess of the actor as well as the easy-handed behaviour, the way he flails his arms and one cannot be stonefaced. He is undoubtedly a man to watch out for.

Aditi Rao is one person I never knew could act so well - her performance as the ever-sacrificing, silently suffering Rama Bua is one that reminds you of similar such people that you have seen in your life - people who were often sacrificed for family and social honour and who ended up sacrificing their desires, their hopes and their aspirations for the desires, hopes and aspirations of the family and the society, killing themselves so that the family and the society could survive

There are others too whom you cannot forget, Rajat Dholakia as the mad man searching and preaching love, Prem Chopra as the old moneylender who treats Delhi-6 as his fiefdom, Cyrus Sahukar who plays his role of the glib, smooth-talking operater with finesse, Supriya Pathak and Sheena Chhadha -the matronly housewives that can be seen in every nook and corner of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras; K K Raina as the Muslim who sees a Hindu design in everything that happens to a Muslim and Akhilendra Mishra who is fantastic as the rabble-rousing Hindu hellbent on creating disharmony and discord.

As I said, a film that's more than a film - a complete specatacle of that beautiful place called Delhi 6

The Music of Delhi-6 is fantastic to say the least; however although it again brings together the heady combination of A R Rehman and Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, the songs are unable to match the brilliance of their earlier collobration - Rang De Basanti; but again I do not blame the team - RDB was in a diffferent mould altogether; Delhi-6 is in a different mould together. The one song that made me feel a little emotional though was 'Arziyan' - a well-written and well-composed song that explains the movie well... and of course, there is that typical Saas-Bahu ditty ... Genda Phool, which would be loved by all who have seen those kind of families and the easy camaraderie that develops there......

On the direction front, nothing can be faulted; Rakesh has proved why I hold him in great esteem - mundane incidents such as the one wherein the cow is giving birth to a calf in the middle of the street; the Ramlila and the manner in which it has been incorporated into the film; the way the synthesis of NY and Delhi has been achieved in the song ' Dil Gira Dafatan'; the performances that have been extracted from the great acting ensemble that has been attached and the brilliance with which the Monkeyman incident has been well-grafted into the movie speak of a man at the peak of his powers.

The manner in which castiesm and communalism, the feeling of insecurity in the minds of the minority and the feeling of being left high and dry in the minds of the majority, the frustration of being a woman who is diefied like a Goddess and defied like a harlot; the ever-extending and expanding heart of the Delhiwallas and the constrictions that exist within them is so well documented that only a director with the touch of genius could have painted them all on one canvas and still make it look attractive.

And now to Delhi-6.... a place were the battlelines of religion are stretched every now and then; where you can be best of friends today and a Hindu and a Muslim tomorrow; where the world has been divided into spheres that are only named aptly as "US" and "THEM".... and we all belong to either one of these two blocks..... what can be worse than this...... and still what can be more lovable than an area, where people love with abandon and live like this is tomorrow...... Delhi - 110006 is where Modernism has come to India but these age-old distinctions just fail to die down..... and still there is something in the air of that singular Puraani Delhi that makes you feel that all is not lost, nay, all was never lost and will be never lost....

And so, I concur with Zauq as he says:

"Kaun Jaaye Ae Zauque,
Dilli Ki Galliyaan Chhodkar?"