Delhi 6

Mehra’s follow-up to his Bafta-nominated ‘Rang de Basanti’ is another gritty slice of political Bollywood cinema. ‘Awesome!’ New York Indian lad Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) exclaims when he witnesses the chaos of Delhi traffic on his visit to India with his dying grandma (Rehman). This delight turns to despair when encounters the harsh reality of life in today’s India. Police corruption, religious bigotry, the inequity of the caste system, insincere politicians and bogus holy men are, inter-alia, exposed. The film daringly, and perhaps rightfully, asserts that the solution to India’s ‘problems’ lies in changing the narrow mindset of its people. It opens with a man urinating but the film never takes the piss out of its characters and the circumstances which can turn innocents into irrational demons. Go visit.