New Delhi: Dilli Dark, a 2023 dark comedy directed by Dibakar Das Roy, is equal parts satire and love letter to Delhi. It follows the story of Michael Okeke, a Nigerian man in the city. The cramped, crowded spaces, which are the only available avenues for outsiders who come to the city with bright-eyed ambitions and not much else, also become characters in the film.
An interaction with the cast, comprising actors Samuel Robinson and Shantanu Anam, and the director was held at Niv Art Centre in Saket on 25 May. The filmmaker showed multiple trailers and spoke about the process of making the movie, which premiered at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival in 2023. It is finally releasing in theatres on 30 May.
“After MAMI, a lot of big banners called, praising the movie, saying let’s make something. But making a film with a bigger production house boils down to who is the star of the film in the end,” said Roy. The filmmaker and his brother, Udayan Das Roy, jointly produced the film.
Michael Okeke, played by Samuel Robinson, is a stand-in for every outsider in Delhi.
The defining dialogue of the film is delivered by Okeke’s neighbour Debu—“Being anything, be it Punjabi, Gujarati, a woman or a gay, is a gaali [insult] in Delhi. It is what it is.” It comes after Okeke was accused of being a cannibal after an electrician saw rotting food in his fridge.
Debu is played by Shantanu Anam of Baked (2022) fame. The film also features Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, who made her debut with Netflix series Soni (2018), and film critic and radio host Stutee Ghosh.
The 140-minute film is filled with shots of Delhi’s crowded spaces, such as Pandav Nagar and Lado Sarai. Dilli Dark uses Hindi, English, Yoruba, and Pidgin languages.
“We did not want the film to look pretty, sanitised and formulaic. We wanted street and crude humour, and to make the film accessible. We wanted to be as trashy as possible. I wanted to show the garbage all around, literally and metaphorically,” said Roy.
Roy’s own experience became the inspiration for the film. When he was sent to boarding school in North India after his early years in Kolkata and Northeast, he experienced colourism and bullying for his darker skin tone.
“The average guy there wasn’t as dark as me,” recalls the filmmaker. Years later, in Delhi, he saw how Africans were being treated. The two experiences came together to become the subject for Dilli Dark.
“I think we have never had a Bollywood film with an African in the lead. In the past, there have been movies like Razia Sultan (1983), that had African characters but were played by Indians in blackface,” said Roy.
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Past to present
In the film, Roy incorporates the story of the only female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, Razia Sultan, who was rumoured to have had a Black lover. He also features the Siddi community in a scene.
Most of the film has been shot in the crowded lanes of Pandav Nagar.
“While shooting, we kept losing out on locations and had to quickly find replacements. But sometimes the replacement turned out to be better than our original choice. For instance, the location [Pandav Nagar] where Debu and Michael meet and chat in was an accidental discovery,” said Roy.
Roy had auditioned many African actors before finalising Robinson.
Robinson made his Indian film debut in Zakariya Mohammed’s Malayalam language award-winning film, Sudani From Nigeria (2018). The actor played a footballer who gets injured during a match and is recovering at the coach’s (Soubin Shahir) house. In Zakariya’s film, too, his blackness is a plot point; people flock to the house to look at the recovering player, like an animal in the zoo.
“In Kerala, while shooting, you can sort of anticipate how people will react and respond in certain situations, and it is easier to get things done. In Delhi, you can never predict what will happen, and it is extremely chaotic,” said Robinson, about the difference between shooting in the two regions.
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Real-life experiences
In Dilli Dark, Robinson speaks Hindi on occasion, and almost everyone is surprised every time he does.
“Dibakar helped me out with the Hindi, especially the gaalis,” said Robinson with a chuckle. “I understood a bit of Hindi already, but he helped with the pronunciation.”
Robinson and Roy held multiple discussions while writing the film. The actor’s real-life experiences were incorporated into the script.
“I have experienced the whole landlord situation that is shown in the movie. People calling the cops for any reason–this has happened to me,” said Robinson. He has been in India since 2017. He first lived in Kochi and moved to Delhi in 2020.
Okeke tries everything to fit into Delhi’s culture, from speaking ‘thoda-thoda’ Hindi to learning the national anthem as he pursues an MBA at a private institute. But his African identity often leads to discrimination against him. He loses out on job applications, potential romantic relationships and reasonable rent.
“Michael, you want to become Indian na? Then struggle,” his MBA professor tells him.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)