Delhi belly: Bollywood's successful attempt at adult humour

A filthy, sexy roller coaster ride, with loads of potty humour, ugly situations and one liners!

Zoha Tapia July 11, 2011
Much has been said about the expletive filled language used in Delhi Belly. However, there are very few films which make you cringe with delight, and this movie happens to be one of them.

In Aamir Khan Productions’ latest venture we meet three roommates, living in the filthiest bachelor pad ever in Delhi:

1. We have journalist Taashi (Imran Khan), who is stuck in limbo and has to decide whether he really wants to marry his annoyingly shrill OCD airhostess girlfriend Sonia (Shenaz Treasury) and sought after by his sexy co-worker Menaka (Poorna Jagganathan).

2. Photojournalist Nitin (Kunal Roy Kapoor) who suffers one of the worse bouts of food poisoning after indulging in some highly unhygienic roadside tandoori chicken and ends up using orange juice to wash off, due to the shortage of water.

3. Cartoonist Aroop (Vir Das) who is stuck between his bewafa girlfriend and designing a banana for his uncreative boss.

The plot thickens when Sonia is given a mysterious packet, filled with diamonds, by a Russian criminal. She is told to deliver the packet to an underworld don (Vijay Raaz). Expecting her boyfriend to do the needful, Sonia hands over the packet to Taashi. As a result the bag ends up being passed around among the three roomies and after getting mixed up with a stool sample, reaches the wrong hands. The three main characters end up on the hit list of this deadly crime syndicate and what ensues is a lot of running around, some manipulation and loads of toilet humour, concisely packed into one hour and forty five minutes in a pacy “English partly Hindi” screenplay.

Ram Sampath’s soundtrack is brilliant, with all the songs are used as background music except for “Jaa Chudail.” Already a youth anthem “Bhaag DK Bose” is sure to receive a lot of hooting and cheering from the audience and one simply can’t miss Aamir Khan’s item number as the hairy Disco Fighter.

Askhat Verma’s script is replete with one-liners, and as far as the expletives our concerned, the language used is real and something that is in-sync with today’s generation and does not seem forced. However, watching with your family may not be the best idea.

The only issue is that there is nothing typically Delhi in the lingo, but the the cameraman captures every nook and cranny of the city, including the grotesque details of a cockroach lapping up leftovers, butt cracks and well some stool. Kudos to Abhinay Deo for a daring and successful attempt and for making a simple storyline in an unconventional manner.

Where performances are concerned, Kunal Roy Kapoor and Vir Das steal the show by putting up stellar performances and make the viewers roll in their seat. Vijay Raaz and his henchman add to the entertainment. Poorna Jagganathan is good as the problematic journalist while Shenaz Treasury is kind of annoying. This can be called one of Imran Khan’s best performance post Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, but compared to the rest of the cast his work seems mediocre.

All and in all this is one hell of a filthy yet sexy rollercoaster ride, with loads of potty humour and ugly situations and one liners, which gives Bollywood a fine contemporary adult comedy that is worth watching.

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKn9BxTg1A]]

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 12, 2011

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated that Nitin, not Taashi, was sought after by Menaka. The error has been fixed.
WRITTEN BY:
Zoha Tapia A freelance journalist who lives in Bombay
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (20)

Yumna | 12 years ago | Reply successful attempt? excuse me?? Delhi Belly has to be the most ridiculous movies of recent times.
yeah rite | 12 years ago | Reply Plz we dont need reviews on Indian movies.. especially when its "just another bollywood movie".. nothing special abt it and plus this is a Pakistani blog. no offence..
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