Directed by: Abhinay Deo
Produced by: Aamir Khan Productions (Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao), Ronnie Screwvala, Jim Furgele
Written by: Akshat Verma
Starring: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Poorna Jagannathan, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Shenaz Treasurywala, Vijay Raaz
Music by: Ram Sampath
Editing by: Huzefa Lokhandwala
Rating: ****
Important Note: Delhi Belly has been originally shot in English; the Hindi version is a dubbed one, try to catch it in English. Delhi Belly is not the No One Killed Jessica sort of ‘A’, it’s A as in Adult wala A, DO NOT watch it with family.
Review: If the job of a movie critic is to tell the audience about a movie before they spend their precious money on it, then I’d say, Delhi Belly is a phenomenal movie, go for it. Now let’s get into the nitty gritty.
Image: Delhi Belly Theatrical Release Poster
Before writing this review, I read a couple of other critics so to know what they think of it, in my readings I found most of the critics belonging to vernacular language have dismissed it as youth (read stupid, yeah that same MTV Roadies genre!) vulgar cinema with brain dead performances and direction. However believe me it is everything but Roadies genre, rather I officially apologise on behalf of FilmiTadka to the makers of this awesome movie for comparing it with Roadies.
Anyway, Delhi Belly has a very simple story rather a clichéd plot, about three bachelor friends Tashi Malhotra (Imran Khan), Arup (Vir Das) and Nitin (Kunaal Roy Kapur) who live in a dump like setup in Old Delhi. Tashi is a journalist/stinger, Arup is a cartoonist, Nitin’s a photo journalist. There life changes when Tashi’s girlfriend, Sonia (Shenaz Treasurywala), mistakenly take some diamonds from a gangster, and before you know it one thing leads to another and thus begins the chase.
The name of the movie has come from an illness known as Delhi Belly affecting mostly travellers, defined as three or more unformed stools passed by single guy in 24 hours, a.k.a Traveller’s Diarrhea. From the name itself, one gets the idea how witty and sickeningly comic this one can be.
In this film, unlike usual Hindi cinema, there is no hero, no protagonist, it’s literally an ensemble cast. Imran Khan looks every bit a Tashi, superb performance, this one should go as a milestone in his career. Vir Das is phenomenal, if you have been to any of his shows before, you know this guy is a bomb, contrary to the reports we were getting Vir Das doesn’t come as a comic relief, rather his acting’s beauty lies in the fact that subtlety can also pave path for comedy. Kunaal, justifying the name of the film, is also very natural. Shenaz is good, Poorna Jagannathan is brilliant. Vijay Raaz has outdone all his past performances, extremely understated this time, impressive.
The best part about performances/direction/editing is the comic timing amongst all the guys. I didn’t have much expectations from Delhi Belly given the fact director was the same person who made Game (Abhishek Bachchan), but believe me forget his past creations (read mistakes) he comes out brilliantly this time, his attention towards every second tiny winy detail is genius, I guess Aamir’s association does bring such changes in people.
Image [L-R]: Vir Das, Imran Khan, Kunaal Roy Kapur | Delhi Movie Still
On the music front as well, DB, is winning. Songs like ‘DK Bose’ and ‘Jaa Chudail’ have already achieved cult status amongst the youth, you go to a disc, pub, or any TV channel, escaping DK Bose is becoming difficult these days.
In the end, a special shout goes out to the writer of this brilliant stuff, Akshat Verma, Delhi Belly is a first of its kind Adult Comedy in India, this can seriously turn out to be a path breaker, trend setter, but yes I also worry, in an industry which likes to follow the ‘formula’, Indian shores might soon hit with gross and vulgar rip-offs of American Pie, etc. We at FilmiTadka give it 4 out of 5 stars.
