DELHI 6...and the Ramayana Konnection

If you havent seen the movie....DO NOT READ THIS....and...WATCH THE MOVIE!!

I hereby attempt to present my views over the Ramayan connection of the movie Delhi6.It is something which is subjective,different people will have different interpretations,but surely if we dwell into it,we would appreciate the movie more,as a work of art.Here i go...

Purpose: Ramayana may be regarded as the most important piece of literature for our country.We Indians,hold it in high esteem,most of us have significant knowledge about it,but there are minute aspects which we tend to ignore.Ramayana,though an ancient epic,encompasses most of the modern issues,the problems,as well as the solutions.It has this ability to make us understand even the contemporary problems beter,and accept solutions,which we have always known,but find it difficult to accept.

Story connections: The 1st reference made to kala bandar,is followed by the description of Treta yug demon ravan,preseting Kala bandar as a wicked force.

Soon,we have the description of Ram and its said:"avadh mein aata hoon",and the next scene is about the situations that will lead Abhishek to Delhi.In a way,Abhishek here is being depicted as a messiah about to go somewhere.

Sita haran in Ramayana-can be compared to the way Sonam is tricked by an illusion(just like Ravana's fake impression before Sita when he comes as sanyasi),in a way she is also running under a false impression.Later we find how a monkey(Hanuman) becomes her saviour.Again this is a similarity on both occasions.

The references to monkey have been on different grounds,kala bandar as a positive thing(as above),kala bandar as a negative one(on several instances ,and also as the great Hanuman.

Coming to Hanuman,one thing I felt is though the religious text of Hindus,does it gurantee in any way that Hanuman(or any vanar) was a Hindu(dont decide anything by the name,if we know these names to be hindu names,its because we accepted them to be those).Reason of feeling this way was the episode where people are fighting over the religion of 'kala bandar',which raises some serious questions...

Talking about Ramayana offering solutions to many modern day problems,we have jalebi incident,followed by Shabri act being depicted.It is also shown that a small child asks the question"agar shabri achoot hai...",something which even a small child can observe,but we fail to understand.Also the reasoning "wo to bhagvaan hai,unko maaf hai" that Gobar offers indicates another important aspect."When you associate something with god or religion,people can allow rationality to take the backseat"(Very imp. for us to realise,this is what has led to biggest of probs,a person cannot distinguish bw right and wrong when it pertains to his religion,but I believe that in todays world,one must believe that no God is bigger than logic,rationality and truth).

Another instance is where,people talk about killing Kala bandar,which is followed by act of Ravan trying to kill Hanuman,which actually led to Lanka dahan and total anarchy.this is similar to what was to follow in the movie.

Then we have the war scene,Devta and raakshas war,with shouts of "har har mahadev around",it is followed by the riot scene where we find the violent Hindus shouting "har har mahadev".But are they fighting the demons,no because they fail to recognise them.

If Dev D was a wonderful take on modern Devdas,this also is an exceptional take on modern ramayana,which doesnt go the parody way,it goes the mature sensible path.Remember the movie has often talked about the genral goodness of humanity,as Abhishek says "yahaan log achhe hai"..this is what we have to realise,if today one needs to fight the Ravans,you just CANNOT fight others,because everybody is good at heart,you have to fight the RAVANA or the KALA BANDAR inside you,eliminate the reasons why the rams of today(which includes every person...because har kisi mein usi ka noor hai!!) sometimes behave as the Ravans....

Now if that isnt a masterpiece,what is then??...Hats off to Mehra Sir,and congos to Prasoon Joshi,his venture as a writer of the movie,even if not a box office success,is a brilliant piece of cinema.The metaphorical value of this movie,once realised by the masses,will make it a very very memorable one.I salute this piece of cinema,I could feel it,get involved,and maybe make it a part of my life..let us all pledge to kill the Kala bandar inside us,and fight the actual Ravan!!