Delhi Belly

About the film

Delhi Belly is a 2011 Indian action comedy film written by Akshat Verma and directed by Abhinay Deo. It stars Imran Khan, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vir Das, Poorna Jagannathan and Shenaz Treasurywala. It is a Hinglish-language film, with 70% of the dialogue in English and 30% of the dialogue in Hindi. The film is produced by Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures. The theatrical trailer of the film premiered with Aamir Khan's Dhobi Ghat on 21 January 2011 while the film was released on 1 July 2011, along with a Hindi dubbed version. The film was given an 'A' certificate for its profanity, some violence and sexual content and is often dubbed as a modern cult classic. The film was remade in Tamil as Settai.

Plot

The story revolves 3 roommates, journalist Tashi Lhatoo, photographer Nitin Berry and cartoonist Arup Rather, leading an unkempt and debt-ridden life in a shady apartment in Delhi. Tashi's ditzy fiancée, Sonia, is a flight attendant who agrees to deliver a package from Vladimir Pildysh to Rajesh Bhatia a.k.a. Cowboy, without realizing its contents or that Cowboy is a crime boss. Sonia asks Tashi to deliver the package. Tashi, in turn, asks Nitin to do so which he reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, Nitin has a street food snack, and he photographs his landlord Manish with a prostitute. Nitin starts suffering from diarrhoea on the way as a result of the dirty street food which he ate and is unable to deliver the package. He sends an envelope with the photographs to his landlord to blackmail him. Nitin hands Sonia's package to Arup for delivery to Cowboy, along with a package containing his stool sample for delivery to Nitin's doctor. Arup accidentally mixes up the two bags. Cowboy, furious, tortures Vladimir in his hotel room to find his package.

Tashi is in bed with Sonia when his colleague Menaka calls him on the pretext of work. When he reaches the place, he realizes that it is just a party, and Menaka called him just to have fun. Menaka's ex-husband Rajeev sees them together and punches Tashi in the eye in a fit of jealousy. Tashi retaliates and knocks Rajeev out. As Tashi and Menaka leave, they are chased by a furious Rajeev who tries to shoot at them. The duo barely manages to escape.

Vladimir informs Cowboy that the mix-up must have been caused by Sonia, as she didn't know what she was carrying in the package. Cowboy calls Sonia, informs her about the mix-up, and asks her to give him the address of the person who had delivered the package. When Tashi arrives in his apartment, he walks into Cowboy, who has Arup standing on a stool with a noose around his neck. On hard interrogation, Cowboy discovers the mix-up and realizes that the package must be in Nitin's doctor's clinic.

Production

This film was written by Akshat Verma, a Los Angeles-based writer, who first wrote the screenplay as a part of his Screenwriting programme at UCLA, under the title Say Cheese. Subsequently, he lost his job as a copywriter in the US, around 2005, he revived the script. Akshat had to compile fifteen drafts before the movie was released. It took him more than three years to finish writing the story. He visited Mumbai, along with Jim Furgele, to unsuccessfully pitch the film to various film producers, and eventually left after submitting a draft to Aamir Khan Productions. The script was thrown into a pile of scripts in Aamir Khan's office, where his wife Kiran Rao randomly found it and shared it with him. Aamir then contacted the writer, who was initially hesitant that it might ruin the "clean, family entertainment" tag of Aamir Khan Productions; however, Aamir had produced two A-certificate films before, Peepli Live and Dhobi Ghat.

Filming

Shooting for the film began in August 2008 in Delhi and finished in mid 2009. The film was stuck in editing that led to a 2 year delay. Initially, Aamir was to spearhead the editing but he got busy with his own films.

Initially, Ranbir Kapoor and Chitrangada Singh were to star in the film. After both of them backed out, Aamir signed his nephew Imran Khan for the lead role following the tremendous success of his debut film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Indian comedian Vir Das was also signed to star in the film. According to director Abhinay Deo, "Delhi Belly is an ensemble piece. It's not a film about Imran Khan. He is only one of the several protagonists. There are others whose characters are just as important. There is Kunal Roy Kapoor, Vir Das and Poorna Jagannathan, an Indian actress from LA".

Release

On 3 July 2011, the Government of Nepal banned the screening of the movie citing the reluctance by the cinema halls to remove offensive scenes from the film. However, the film was later cleared for viewing by theatre goers above 16 years. A scene showing one of the protagonists, played by Kunaal Roy Kapur, visiting a brothel, was cut and some expletives in two scenes were muted. The film was selected for being screened in the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School as a part of the Harvard India Conference 2012. Director Abhinay Deo was invited as a guest.

The theatrical trailer of the film premiered with Aamir Khan's Dhobi Ghat on 21 January 2011 while the film was released on 1 July 2011, along with a Hindi dubbed version.

Key details