Tickling delhi's belly..

Three friends surviving in the mean streets of Delhi. One a journalist, another his photographer and the third an artist at an ad agency. Three young men with oodles of charm, wit, sloth, testosterone and foul language. Throw in a mix up and a chain reaction of events leading from it and you have Delhi Belly. It's a laugh riot alright. It's slapstick comedy replete with butt cracks and potty jokes. But what's refreshing is that the jokes are new. Like the photographer not finding water to wash himself after doing business and using cartons of his friend's orange juice and his friend quipping with a straight face: 'you've put me off orange juice forever!'
Delhi belly never slows the pace or slackens the wit. It's all there- the itchy street food hawker, the cameraman with a glad eye and a lens that finds women's bustlines to suggestive sex scenes. The film goes from gag to gag and the language is crude enough to jolt you awake if and when the laughter begins to fade.

For someone whose ears are not used to the Hindi four letter words it's a language lesson. I have added considerably to my roadside vocabulary which i reserve for erring motorists, eve teasers and general people of nuisance value. But i wonder about the thousands of people like me who are in for a shock. The sexual innuendoes and scenes are enough to jolt the average conservative Indian into an uncomfortable space. Our society revels in not talking openly about sex. That's definitely not a healthy thing but will making a caricature of it make people become more open and accept it? Only time will tell.

Delhi Belly is a film not to be watched with your parents or elders in the 'family'. It's a hoot if you go with your friends though. If you accept the crassness you'll appreciate and enjoy the characters and the actors who play them to perfection- well almost. Imran excels in understated elegance but Vir Das is a revelation with his superb comic timing. Vijay Raaz is adorable as the villain and Anoushka (MTV VJ) gives a brilliant cameo as a pompous and vacuous indi-pop singer giving an interview. Everything about the film is refreshing and the music just rocks.
To end with Anoushka's line in the film- Delhi Belly- I hate you like i love you!!

shoot those teachers

A class 12 student died of an asthma attack because she couldnt be taken to a medical facility in time. How cruel is that! And in the heart of Delhi too which has the highest concentration of hospitals and nursing homes in all of india! My parents' main reason for settling in Delhi and giving up their picturesque small town retreat was its concn of medical facilities. But if you are a delhiite and have any experience of studying in or sending your children to a Delhi school you'll know that this kind of thing had to happen. In fact i'm surprised it happened so late. The whole schooling system in our city is an autocratic, arrogant, money sucking and entirely one sided system. It is loaded heavily against the students and the parents. Right from kindergarten when you line up for forms the parents are at the receiving end. You are not supposed to argue, have any demands or rights and are required to be completely at the mercy of the principal, teachers and even the petty school staff. Children have different ways of dealing with this autocracy. Some are defiant, some are openly abusive and rude but most simply accept it as their fate. If you are a parent, as i realised very early, sending your kids to a Delhi public school is like leaving them to the mercy of fate. You just hope they cope and survive. I'm afraid Akriti was really unlucky. God bless her soul.