Delhi Belly – A Niche Family Entertainer!

The protagonists; 3 chaddi ‘bachelor’ buddies; Tashi – a workaholic journo with a steady (?!) girlfriend, Arup – a weird cartoonist with a weirder hairdo and the weirdest of cinema preferences pining for a steady girlfriend and Nitin – a lustlorn photographer capable of thinking up and executing the most funnily obnoxious ways of entering and exiting ‘potentially life threatening’ situations; share a ramshackle apartment and live a normal unhygienic existence without a care for themselves, each other, their neighbours upstairs, their landlord and the world in general.

Their lives turn topsy turvy when Tashi accepts his girlfriends’ request to deliver an innocuous looking package to its destination. S#!T HAPPENS, literally, and a chain of implausibly hilarious events lead to the wrong package being delivered to the correct recipient – a menacingly evil goon (humorously essayed by the hugely talented Vijay Raaz) whose sole objective is retrieving the package at ALL costs.

A series of further confusions leads to a dramatic finale and our bumbling trio emerge unscathed (discounting the visible results of the physical atrocities inflicted upon them by various characters at various stages of the movie).

The leading ladies and other supporting cast take the pacy narrative ahead and the ‘almost 2 hour movie without a break’ does not stress the viewers, apart from the tremendous pressure it exerts on our consistently laughing lungs!

The movie is irreverent, the language, expletive ridden (some may call it colloquial!), and the situations, bizarre. It is a true blue niche entertainer that I daresay every member of the family would enjoy – albeit SEPARATELY (a strictly adults only affair)!

Pros: A taut script; top class direction and excellent performances.

Cons: Cant think of any – just a personal view that the song Bhaag D. K. Bose though apt to the script could have been avoided, considering that it’s a very catchy number in public domain and children would doubtless innocently hum it oblivious of its obvious innuendo!

Rating: 4* - It misses out on the perfect 5 on my rating scale only because of my personal view on the Bhaag D. K. Bose song. Otherwise a complete entertainer all the way – has the potential to become a cult classic!