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Prashant Nair enjoying
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(kj) Upon receipt of the Director’s Vision Award at the „9th Indian Film Festival“ in Stuttgart, Prashant Nair, the director of „Delhi in a Day“, remarked sarcastically that he would not be welcomed in Delhi after his film release in the city. It might have sounded pretty innocuous, but given the film’s portrayal of the nouveau-riche Delhiites this comment might indeed prove somewhat true.
The son of the British partner of a South Delhi businessman travels to India to search for ’something spiritual‘ and makes a stopover in Mr. Bhatia’s family residence. Not long after his arrival in Delhi his entire savings disappear from the envelope in the guestroom. Not surprisingly, the team of servants immediately converts into primary suspects.
The very first moments of the film allow us to peep into the world of parallel realities in an upper-class Delhi household. Although this world is strictly divided between the ones who are served and those who do serve, it is unavoidably interwoven and simply inseparable.
Each day in the „Nation’s proud capital“ is greatly dependent on the people who persistently remain in the background of Delhi’s posh farm houses and swanky parties. This dependency often collides with the condescending attitude of the upper-class to their servants. „Delhi in a Day“ shows it all.
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However, Nair’s film is not about the patronizing mentality of the upper-class, nor is it about the misbalance of role allocations in the society. It does not intend to proclaim a judgment or paint someone black, it just depicts the status quo in this society of outer bravado and glamour. The viewer is bound to laugh at the comments the servants pass in regard to their employers, at their grimaces, but also at the snobbishness and zany pretence of the landlords. Simultaneously, one tends to empathize with both parties: the servants for their unfulfilled dreams and silent desperation, not to mention the foreign guest whose quest for spiritual upliftment collapses on his very first day in India.
The film leaves one with a strange feeling of an inexplicable desire to draw the lines, to tell right from wrong and envision another backdrop for all the protagonists.
To get more information about the movie, please visit the film website: http://www.delhiinaday.com and watch the Official Trailer on Youtube here:
