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Ananya Arora

Prok. Kunal Ray

ARTS202

5thbMarch 2023

Delhi 6: The Making And Breaking Of The Cinematic Globalization

Delhi 6 is a 2009 Bollywood film directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. It stars

Abhishek Bacchan and Sonam Kapoor in the lead. The story follows the return of

Roshan, (Bacchan) an NRI, to his home in the heart of Delhi with his ailing grandmother.

Roshan gets caught up in a mosque-temple dispute while falling in love with Bittu

(Kapoor) which leads to a dramatic series of events. Delhi 6 is a critically acclaimed

mainstream Hindi language film and this paper will strive to analyze it through the lens

of globalization.

Globalization is the phenomena of worldwide interconnectedness, the idea that

the world is a global village with the flow of ideas, culture, technology, etc. Globalization

has a significant impact on cinema, the ideas or pillars of the phenomena reflected in post

1990’s mainstream Hindi cinema. Taking the example of Delhi 6, the protagonist is a

Non Residential Indian (NRI). We follow his singular narrative throughout the film, his

point of view guides the audience to take a stance in accordance with Roshan’s view in

the film.

There is a clear and sharp contrast drawn between Roshan and the other

characters in the film. Roshan is seen wearing “modern” clothing like pants, sweaters,

shirts, sunglasses, etc. while everyone around him, mainly the female characters are seen
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to be wearing sarees and kurtis. Post-globalization Indian cinema typically entailed a

transnational protagonist who was an upper caste Hindu (Bhatawadekar, 2011). Roshan is

the perfect fit for the above description. He seems to have brought his grandmother to

India only because of her wish to be around her family in her time of ill health, or else

Roshan is adamant of curing his grandmother in the US.

While Roshan is an NRI snob with a thick American accent, he is unmistakably

Indian at heart- another ingredient in the recipe for the perfect globalized Hindi film

protagonist. He is seen eating jalebi’s and watching mythological street plays about

Hindu gods. This is where Delhi 6 deviates and paves way for political commentary, a

move most modern NRI protagonists never dare to make. Mehra’s vision for the film to

be a direct commentary on the effects of globalization are achieved by bringing in the

angle of a Hindu Muslim dispute. The film makes a case for dismantling the global

narrative and deliberately chooses to deviate from the standard global narrative reflecting

in the other mainstream Hindi language films at that time for example Wake Up Sid, Ajab

Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Love Aaj Kal, etc.

Roshan is seen as a moderator/peace maker among the dispute between two

religions. This brings in the concept of secularism, the notion of separating religion from

state. While secularism is not a new concept for India, it is rare for it to grace its presence

on the big screen in the country. Highlighting the importance of secularism by creating a

non-human entity of Kaala Bandar or the black monkey. “It goes to the credit of Rakeysh

Mehra that he does not taken the oft-beaten path (and the most convenient recourse)

taken by Hindi cinema that seeks to valorise the ‘unique’ and eternally ‘tolerant’ Hindu
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value system in the narrative of communities” states Sandeep Bajeli in his article

analyzing the metaphoric Kaala Bandar.

Not only is it through the visuals that the characteristics of globalization are

portrayed, but in the audio form too. The legendary A.R. Rahman composes the music for

Delhi 6 (2009) and while doing so, he uniquely incorporates hip hop beats. The song

Kaala Bandar in itself mirrors western music for its inclusion of rap. Both Mehra and

Rahman build a two-way street wherein while they include western influence into their

creative process, they make sure for the output to convey critique. While the song Kaala

Bandar is extremely catchy and resonates with the popular global rap music genre, the

lyrics are like a punch to the face, listing how the black monkey is a metaphor for the evil

that resides in every individual regardless of religious, gender and caste identity. Besides

this, the film has several scenes highlighting the importance of the coexisting of religion

and commentary about caste too. These include the Ramlila scene where Roshan makes a

remark about gender and caste where he confesses how Shabri, a lower caste woman fed

Lord Ram her fruit, but how Roshan’s own grandmother was unwilling to touch a lower

caste person.

Delhi 6 is inherently a critique of globalization and how it has manifested itself in

Indian cinema. The film creates an audio-visual vehicle through which it paints a realistic

and visionary portrait of Old Delhi, how people are quick to point and blame, and how an

outsider had to take the fall in the end for people to finally look within. The film propels

these ideas by combining western influence of music, secularism, language and costume

differences, etc. Rakesh Mehra’s other works on similar lines includes the 2006

politically charged film Rang De Basanti.

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Works Cited

Works Cited

Bajeli, Sandip. “Delhi-6: Articulating Utopian Desires.” Www.revolutionarydemocracy.org,

2009, www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv15/delhi6.htm. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.

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Bhatawadekar, Sai. Locating the Diaspora: Delhi 6 and Its Challenge to Bollywood’s Image of

the Transnational Indian. 2011,

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14746689.2011.597955.

O’Neill, Patricia. “Imagining Global India: Bollywood’s Transnational Appeal.” Continuum, vol.

27, no. 2, 21 Mar. 2013, pp. 254–266, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2013.766309.

Accessed 21 Nov. 2019.

Pillania, Rajesh. The Globalization of Indian Hindi Movie Industry. 2008.