“Yeh Wasseypur hai… yahaan kabootar bhi ek pankh se udta hai aur doosare se apni izzat bachata hai!” - Sultan Qureshi.
Gangs of Wasseypur, the 9th film directed by maverick Anurag Kashyap, comes in the rarest of rare categories of films where the line between cinematic luxuries and real world exploits blurs into oblivion. With its slow and steady pace that sporadically soars and roars, Gangs isn’t really a film in the real sense of the word. It is an experience that absorbs you and etches a footprint of memorable characters that stay with you long after the end credits start to roll.
GoW is indeed the first genuine dynasty film in Bollywood, where the story spans over decades and life times of three generations of a family (no, Saudagar doesn’t qualify here). Like Godfather, it also amalgamates the family and crime genre of films, without being restricted to one or the other. It also breaks molds by being the first non-star film coming out of the Bollywood stable to clock a budget of 26 Cr (18Cr in filming, rest in marketing). GoW has many firsts going for it and it might be the beginning of a new dawn for Hindi cinema. Just might.
The revenge saga, which is filmed in 2 parts, starts with engaging opening credits that are endearingly complemented by Piyush Mishra’s rustic voiceover and hand-drawn illustrations of scenes from the film itself. The first half-hour may not be the most explosive start to a vendetta epic like this, but it sets up the character of Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat), who looks and acts like Manoj Bajpai’s father, to perfection. Looking at the silent brooding anger of Ahlawat, you just subliminally know that somebody is going to get hurt real bad once his son grows into the bald and dreaded Manoj Bajpai. And that he does with oodles of confidence, chutzpah and uncontrollable libido.
Notably, Kashyap drenches his narrative with the right dose of humor – mostly subtle, instinctive and character driven. Language is earthy and real, with lots of Bose.D.K’s flying around every now and then. But you’ll be amazed to see yourself laugh at the most nasty jokes and crudest display of machismo on Indian screen. Bajpai’s flirtatious laundry stint with Reema Sen (this is the most desirable she’s ever looked); Tigmanshu Dhulia’s (Director of Paan Singh Tomar) cruel, cuss-worded berating of his son in-front of his wife; butcher Ehsan changing gears from nonchalant walk to a hurried sprint the moment he realizes that Sultan Qureshi, walking behind him, has taken out his slippers to whack him; the train sequence where Nawazuddin (Bajpai’s son) gets an inferiority complex from a co-passenger who looks more ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ than him; Yashpal Sharma’s delightful cameo as a wedding singer; Bajpai using a Mithun da inspired local dancer to ridicule the village political honcho – the laughs keep coming amidst sudden doses of raw violence, bodies shredding to pieces and bullets puncturing human chests when you least expect them to.
GoW is indeed the first genuine dynasty film in Bollywood, where the story spans over decades and life times of three generations of a family (no, Saudagar doesn’t qualify here). Like Godfather, it also amalgamates the family and crime genre of films, without being restricted to one or the other. It also breaks molds by being the first non-star film coming out of the Bollywood stable to clock a budget of 26 Cr (18Cr in filming, rest in marketing). GoW has many firsts going for it and it might be the beginning of a new dawn for Hindi cinema. Just might.
The revenge saga, which is filmed in 2 parts, starts with engaging opening credits that are endearingly complemented by Piyush Mishra’s rustic voiceover and hand-drawn illustrations of scenes from the film itself. The first half-hour may not be the most explosive start to a vendetta epic like this, but it sets up the character of Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat), who looks and acts like Manoj Bajpai’s father, to perfection. Looking at the silent brooding anger of Ahlawat, you just subliminally know that somebody is going to get hurt real bad once his son grows into the bald and dreaded Manoj Bajpai. And that he does with oodles of confidence, chutzpah and uncontrollable libido.
Notably, Kashyap drenches his narrative with the right dose of humor – mostly subtle, instinctive and character driven. Language is earthy and real, with lots of Bose.D.K’s flying around every now and then. But you’ll be amazed to see yourself laugh at the most nasty jokes and crudest display of machismo on Indian screen. Bajpai’s flirtatious laundry stint with Reema Sen (this is the most desirable she’s ever looked); Tigmanshu Dhulia’s (Director of Paan Singh Tomar) cruel, cuss-worded berating of his son in-front of his wife; butcher Ehsan changing gears from nonchalant walk to a hurried sprint the moment he realizes that Sultan Qureshi, walking behind him, has taken out his slippers to whack him; the train sequence where Nawazuddin (Bajpai’s son) gets an inferiority complex from a co-passenger who looks more ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ than him; Yashpal Sharma’s delightful cameo as a wedding singer; Bajpai using a Mithun da inspired local dancer to ridicule the village political honcho – the laughs keep coming amidst sudden doses of raw violence, bodies shredding to pieces and bullets puncturing human chests when you least expect them to.
Talking of acting, Gangs boasts of the most amazing display of fine, nuanced acting by an ensemble cast where every actor looks like playing the role of his/her lifetime. No other film, with exception of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and may be Sholay, has been able to achieve an acting quotient so high from its cast. Manoj Bajpai as Sardar Khan, is in top form – both above and below his waist. He has clearly enjoyed every second of his screen time and his towering performance is almost like a thankyou note to the makers of GoW for giving him a second shot at stardom post Satya. Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir Singh impresses in his acting debut, giving a brilliantly underplayed performance of a scheming politician who feels equally vulnerable to Sardar Khan's ambitious rise in the power circles. Richa Chaddha (of Oye Lucky’s Dolly fame) is unforgivingly volatile as Bajpai’s wife. And, Nawazuddin in a Michael Corleonesque role, is like a time bomb that is just waiting to explode in part-2.
Songs, mixed and blended in the Bihari folk by Sneha Khanwalkar, are too good, too many. Though using all of them as underscore for a particular sequence didn’t help adding any real fillip to the narrative, some like I am a Hunter, Keh ke Loonga and Bihar ke Laala remain stand out gems that you’d want to hear back-to-back, endlessly. But it is the background score (sadly it doesn’t feature in the soundtrack listing) that really acts as a cohesive force behind various factions of GoW and comes back to haunt you every time it’s played.
Over indulgent in parts, explosive as a whole, hilarious in bits, and tacitly gory in shades, Gangs doesn’t deserve a uTorrent download. It’s a motion picture that requires big screen viewing for it to completely sink in and for you to completely absorb it – before you wanna revisit it again.
GoW is a landmark film, not because it is made out to be so. But because in years & decades to come, irrespective of its current box office numbers, Gangs of Wasseypur will be seen, revered and named in the top ten Hindi movies of all time by movie connoisseurs, critics and filmmakers alike.
Because like what Google’s Project Glass does to technology, this is the kind of cinema that takes film-making beyond what it has been to where the future might be.
We're half way there. Part-2 should complete the stride.
