Movie Review : Delhi Belly

Rating : Above Average (3.3/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Abhinay Deo
Cast : Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vijay Raaz, Shehnaz Treasury, Poorna Jagannathan, Paresh Ganatra
Kid rating : A

DELHI BELLY : SHIT HAPPENS (REALLY) !

As you know, I couldn’t wait to see this one. An Aamir Khan production with three protagonists who seemed really funny when interviewed by NDTV, this one had to be worth it. I’ve seen it now and I’ve got to say – this film isn’t all that. I’ll tell you why.

But first, if you haven’t heard already, here’s a little on the story. The film is a Wodehouse-ian caper about three young men, roommates, getting unwittingly mixed up with a diamond smuggler and his diamonds. The three heroes work in creative fields – Tashi Dorjee Lhatoo (Imran) is a journalist, Arup (Vir Das) is a cartoonist  and Nitin (Roy Kapur) is a photographer. Tashi is engaged to Sonia (Shenaz Treasurywala), an airhostess with richie-rich parents. When Soniya helps out another air-hostess pal by delivering a package for her, she delegates the actual delivery to Tashi. Long story short, the package isn’t delivered to the right person, making the smugglers come in search of the missing loot.

The film’s plot is pretty interesting and while crime capers are a dime a dozen, this one does stand out with the attention to detail and nuance. The characters in the film speak Hindi and English, depending upon the situation, which is pretty realistic. Each of the characters has his/her quirks. While bearded Tashi is succumbing to parental pressure to tie the knot quickly, portly Nitin is fighting off a stomach bug (hence the title Delhi Belly) and curly-haired Arup is fending off a picky boss. Even the secondary characters like the goon, played by Vijay Raaz and the landlord (played by Paresh Ganatra) are beautifully etched out. The humor is very young, born of the storyline and involves lots of Hindi epithets. Quite funny really and fits right in with the look and feel of the film. I’m not sure why everyone is in such a huff about the “bad language”, since other films (like Omkara) have had such “earthy” words too.

So essentially we have a good story, decent character development, humor and a satisfactory climax. You’d think that’d spell out a fantastic film, but it doesn’t. The direction is slack – the film doesn’t move fast enough, although the second half is better than the first. Also the acting got a tad self-conscious. Imraan isn’t that great of an actor to begin with, and here he actually has to emote. Thirdly, the female lead is Poorna Jagannathan who has the amount of oomph Katrina Kaif has in her little fingernail – a problem because this is not a documentary; the female lead has got to have screen presence and charisma. Fourthly, no romantic sizzle. Yes, this isn’t a romance, but it does have romantic scenes and some kissing – would’ve helped if we’d really rooted for Imran and his wavering heart. There are also the extraneous plots – whatever happens to Arup and his girlfriend ? Is the “Dayan” song just gratuitous screen fodder ?

This is an average film – I wouldn’t care to watch it a second time around. Stalwarts like Vijay Raaz prop up this slick film, but I was hoping for so much more from the trio of heroes. I know Amir Khan tries to make good cinema, even if it be experimental. I’m sure we all are richer for it, even if the product doesn’t quite turn out to be as brilliant as expected. And this might just be me, but whenever film-makers get-together and try too hard, the film falls short of the expected winner.

Kidwise : Unsuitable for children – a wide array of expletives, adult situations.

P.S. : Why is Imran’s character named Tashi Dorjee Lhatoo  – he doesn’t look anything like a Tashi Dorjee. Anyone know ? (At first I thought that this was a Delhi-esque short form of a Santosh, maybe, but it wasn’t)