Producer: Ronnie Screwvala, Rakeysh O Mehra

Director: Rakeysh O Mehra

Writers: Rakeysh O Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey, Prasoon Joshi

Stars: Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri

Creative Quotient
There’s a furore over a racist slant in a recent cartoon in The New York Times. It depicts an unruly chimpanzee that was shot down being likened to President Obama. Well, writer-director Rakeysh Mehra must be fully empathetic with this situation. For a black monkey occupies an emblem like post in his latest movie too. Supposedly, a barbaric black monkey is on the loose in Delhi and is allegedly harassing the residents. TV is agog with the news of the kaala bandar when young Roshan’s (Abhishek) and daadi (Waheeda) after being diagnosed with an unknown terminal illness in the USA decides to return home to spend her last days. Roshan’s father refuses to go back to Delhi from where he had been driven out by his father for marrying a Muslim. So Roshan volunteers to accompany daadi to Delhi where they are received by the family friend Ali (Rishi Kapoor) with a silver filigreed box of paan. In the crowded bylanes of old Delhi, the jalebi-maker Mamdu (Deepak Dobriyal) greets them with kadai-fresh sweetmeats, Gobar (Atul Kulkarni) and the local bumpkin paves out the way for them, while doting neighbours comprising of two warring brothers Madan Gopal (Om Puri) and Jai Gopal (Pawan Malhotra) and their families accord them a warm homecoming. The guests are taken for the Ramleela show. The local money lender Lalaji (Prem Chopra) and his young wife add to the local flavour. The plot thickens as the black monkey enters the Ramleela pandal.

In all this confusion, the neighbour’s rebel daughter Bittu (Sonam), an Indian Idol aspirant hits it off with the NRI much to the chagrin of her conservative, pigeon-flier father (Om Puri). The black monkey affair ends up in communal confusion where the Hindus and Muslims find themselves pitted against each other.

The story tries to make clever use of the black monkey as a metaphor for the reprehensible human traits such as greed, conceit, deceit and fundamentalism, but the whole exercise is so contrived that it fails to connect up. The dialogues lack the punch too. Surprising that the joint creative endeavour of Mehra, Prasoon Joshi and Kamlesh Pandey fails to make an impact. Low on emotional tug, the message of communal harmony comes in a totally convoluted form.

Technical Expertise
To Rakeysh Mehra’s credit, he’s able to conjure up the local Delhi milieu through myriad characters. Art director Samir Chanda’s authentic sets help. On the other hand, Mehra suffuses the proceedings with so many characters that he’s unable to put the lead and the veteran players to good use. For instance, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor, Tanvi Azmi, Supriya Pathak and Om Puri are reduced to insignificant cameos. Sonam and Abhishek also have nothing much to say in the film and their romance doesn’t really ripen through the sketchy scenes and background songs. Of the performers, Vijay Raaz leaves a mark with his easy body movements as well as dialogue delivery. A R Rahman’s chart-bursting numbers also haven’t been put to best use, except Masakali looks appealing in the film. Most of the songs are lost in the backdrop of the film. The Ramleela and kaala bandar are relentlessly repeated motifs.

Allan Amin’s action must be lauded though; the way he has Roshan traipsing past the terraces of Delhi havelis is entertaining. Director of photography Binod Pradhan lights up his frames innovatively. Editor P S Bharati weaves characters and scenes well in synch. Director Mehra must stop at being a pseudo-intellectual and “Get real” as his NRI protagonist keeps urging everybody throughout the film.