Delhi Through the Eyes of Cinema

Beginnings are always special and when you are writing something related to your favorite topics it’s like cherry on the cake. Cinema has evolved a lot since its beginning and is still evolving. Delhi has always been a choice for the directors to film their movies whether it be a commercial film like ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety' or a heart touching melody like ‘October’.

Delhi has a mix of cultures and so are Delhiites. Old Delhi reflects the sense of its old heritage and Sufi culture whereas South Delhi and NCR reflects upon modernity of Delhi. This place has something for everyone.

Two directors who like to visit Delhi for their film characters and weave a story around them are Imtiaz Ali and Shoojit Sircar. I know you might be thinking ‘Ah here we go again, one more Imtiaz Ali fan’. The case here is different. We will be covering the stories of Delhi’s fictional characters but in a contrasting and complementary way. Be it Janardan Jhakad, Veer or Ved Vardhan Sahni. Imtiaz Ali has his own vision of Delhi which mainly romanticises the idea of Delhi. On the other hand, Shoojit Sircar shows Delhi as a place full of poetic metaphors and simplicity.

I will be covering all this details in upcoming articles stay tuned for more. Do share this article.

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Rashomon: A Montage of Deception, Truth, and Lies

A psychological thriller about a bandit, woodcutter, samurai, samurai’s wife, and a priest based in Heian era Japan shocked the world so much that it eventually gave birth to a storytelling technique called the ‘Rashomon effect’. Akira Kurosawa directed Rashomon in the early days of his career before he was hailed as a grandmaster.

Kumbalangi Nights: A Portrait of Love and Loss

Making a film about broken relationships and a dysfunctional family of four brothers seemed an excellent idea to Madhu C. Narayanan I’m glad that this happened because we got to witness one of the most beautiful films of recent times which came out of Malayalam Cinema. What I liked the most about the film is that besides being a slice of life blended with beautiful music and shots of Kumbalangi, the film talks about themes that people shy away from talking about, themes of loneliness, abandonment, mental health, patriarchy, and hyper-masculinity.

Maharani Season 2: A Chessboard of Twists and Turns

It doesn’t happen very often when we come across a web series where season 2 is more gripping and engaging then 1st one. Maharani Season 2 does this with full swing. The 10-episode web series begins on a very ‘shady’ note and gives its audience a glimpse of bold, politically sharp, confident yet warm Rani Bharti. Once again Huma Qureshi shines as Rani Bharti and makes sure that her audience engages with the character on a deeper level.

In The Mood For Love (read love as food)

Ya, you read the title right. The use of metaphors has always been a crucial part of storytelling when it comes to cinema. There are different ways to layer a story, sometimes water is used to layer a particular emotion and sometimes we get to see the use of flowers etc. Wong Kar-Wai food as a metaphor to layer his movies. Just like Chungking Express we got to see a lot of food references in this movie and to be honest, for me, this movie had better food references as compared to Chungking Express. If I have to comment upon him selecting food to juxtapose the emotions and characters, it was a pretty nice idea because food is something with which humans can get feel connected, just like music. Just like the way music has different genres, food has different tastes which can be easily blended with the emotions of the players on the screen.

Chungking Express: A Stop of Connections

Writing about Wong Kar-Wai’s work is something which is a pretty difficult task in itself because every frame seems like a beautiful painting and you don’t know from where to start and where to stop but while watching Chungking Express there was a constant sense of discomfort because I expected the story to tell me more about the characters. But if we observe carefully, a lot of shots have been composed in such a way that it makes the audience a part of the crowd or someone who is trying to peep into the lives of the characters. Though both the stories lack a certain kind of depth which we people are habitual of seeing in the movies the beauty here is the ‘Midnight Express'. Let’s dive deep into the Hong Kong of 1940s.

Gehraiyaan: A Tale of Hard-hitting Waves

Gehraiyaan has been watched and I’m not going to brag about what the makers could have done better or about the divided reviews the movie is getting. Though I agree that the duration of the movie could have been reduced by the 15-20 minutes. There are loopholes in the story and the editing but despite all this the movie does speaks a lot more than the things Showed at the surface level.

Rockstar: Journey to The Dreams

Finally! It’s time to visit one of my favourite film of Imtiaz-Ranbir duo. Yes! I’m talking about Rockstar. I know this series is about ‘Delhi Through the Eyes of Cinema’ but I think time I’m gonna get diverted from the topic. So please pardon me for that because after all its Rockstar!! A lot of critics have opposite opinions regarding this movie but this movie has aged like fine wine. The editing of rockstar is what I like the most apart from music, acting and direction. Imtiaz has said that this movie was made on the editing table and I can’t find any lies in his statement. The same applies for ‘Tamasha’ this is the reason why we can find so many similarities between the two. Okay! So, let’s dive into the movie.

Love Aaj Kal: When Fate Meets Distance

Love is not as easy to understand as it seems. The definition of love has kept on changing time and again but its essence has remained the same whether it’s 2009 or 2020 everyone needs a companion to share the feelings and emotions which they can’t share with others. Imtiaz Ali has given us 2 versions of love aaj kal to cherish upon. Gen Z can relate to the one released in 2020 but there are some hopeless romantics who believe in handwritten letters and just little eye contact.

Tamasha: The Stage of Life

Ya! My first pick for this series is Tamasha. It has been more than 5 years since tamasha released and a lot of people have praised and criticized this movie. It is okay to criticize something if it has flaws but sometimes flaws are the only thing which makes a movie beautiful. This movie is not just about a man discovering his true self. It is more than that, it mocks us about our monotonous lifestyle, drives us to follow our passion and discover ourselves. You are the writer and director of your story. Tamasha tells a lot of stories within itself.

Delhi Through the Eyes of Cinema

Priyanka Aggarwal

Films ki baatein idhar hain

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Brahmāstra: Part One - Shiva

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In The Mood For Love (read love as food)

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