Gangs of Wasseypur

I am completely bowled over with the masterpiece Gangs of Wasseypur, created by the ace director Anurag Kashyap. I am not including this under movie review because I can’t write an unbiased opinion and feedback over this movie. This is a personal post dedicated to a milestone in innovative Indian cinema. Consider this as a fan babbling, you will know why once you read the post. Also what makes me proud is that the movie is completely desi. I can be assured I don’t have to look out to Hollywood directors for entertainment or refer Global Masterpieces like Persian and Iranian for substance. This film freaking has it all. It’s entertaining, engaging, raw, original, real and simply superb.

The casting:-

In the era of making movies where the only success formula is to have A list actors and their controversies, superheroes and their gadgets, Anurag Kashyap has managed to get memorable performances out of little known to unknown actors. How many of us really know the background of the stone hearted puppeteer of the revenge saga Ramadhir Singh? Google him and you will know what gives him an amazing nonchalant style of acting which makes him the most feared character at the same time in his first movie. Manoj Bajpai as Sardar Khan gave an engaging performance in the first half of the movie. He had made an unspoken statement which marked his territory as the ultimate baddie, who had taken the audience by storm with his character Bhiku Mhatre in Satya. The movie simply does justice to him. Nawazuddin siddiqui, who plays Faisal Khan, pulls of the entire second part of the movie by stepping into the shoes of an actor like Manoj Bajpai. Every character in the first and the second part of the movie remains etched in your mind. Starting from the man whose murder started it all, Piyush Mishra, the sutradhar of the saga, the merciless Ehsaan Quereshi who is a butcher and the accomplice of Ramadhir Singh, the policemen, the guy who supplied guns without saying a single dialogue in the movie, the gunmen, the accomplices, the strong and bold women like the dutiful begum Nagma Khatoon, femme fatale Durga and Mohsina the pillar of strength for Faisal Khan, Zeishan Quadri who plays the semi dumb and dangerous goon Definite, perpendicular and tangent are memorable in their tiny roles, the guy who was shot after getting his head shaved and just about everyone. The casting is exhaustive but fits every role perfectly. The actors deliver performances so real and perfect, that you almost feel like you are a part of the V for vendetta saga.

The Locations and Styling:-

Again, this movie was entirely shot in remote locations of Varanasi, Bihar and Chunnar and not Manhattan or Paris. The locations and sets are few and distinct. When screenplay moves swiftly across the streets of “Dhanbad”, you feel getting involved into the movie. With the gradual progression of eras from introduction of Dhanbad in the 1940s to the current situation depicted in 2000s.  The styling has been done perfectly and the generation leaps are introduced in the natural flow of the movie. The film posters stuck on walls, movie theatres, youngsters mimicking trends of the actors and real life using reel life dialogues and theories give out some hilarious moments to watch out. When Nawazuddin is out to kill the guy who shot his father, he shaves the guy’s head and makes him wear aviators. Later on shoots him after a dialogue and a laugh of his share saying Shakaal lag raha hai be.

Music:-

Nope this movie has no item song, who’s who of music industry or promotion tracks sung by Mika Singh. Sneha Khanvilkar has created unconventional music of violent and sexual innuendos for every turning point in the film. The music is not thrown in and will not be appealing as standalone music tracks. The music is made for the story and not the other way round, which is what happens in most of the Hindi movies. Teri keh ke lunga, Womaniya, Hunter, Ik Bagal in both the parts of the movie, Jiya tu at the end of the first part and Soona kar ke songs were blended perfectly into the first part of the movie. In the second part, not too much of variety in the songs but check out Chee chaa ledar song sung by a 12 year old kid who sings in trains, pitched in at the perfect moment of chasing depicting the meaning of the song.

The dialogues, screenplay, story and script:-

Oh the dialogues!!!!! I still can’t stop laughing over the fine dialogues of the movies. I am not even embarrassed to say that probably I was the only girl in the theatre who understood and laughed out loud at every dialogue of the movie. Needless to say there were only couple of girls there. Anyways. Moving on. I can’t mention any of the dialogues here, you must watch the movie and I won’t let out any of the pearls for sure.  The dialogues are not metaphors or hyperboles. They are simply spoken with no thought or expression. The dialogues are raw and in your face making you gawk with your mouth wide open. The thought is Oh man did he just say this??? The body language of the actors is so natural that it is difficult to believe that they are acting and not really killing people. Blood spurting, magazines exhausting and the Kattas swivelling and shooting bullets will leave you with a realing impact. The lengths of the movies are a little disappointing but it is so engaging that the audience are going to realize when they run out of popcorns and colas. A crispier editing would have been a saviour for the average movie goer who likes to be simply entertained. Either ways, the scenes have been fitted perfectly like pieces of a jigsaw going from present to past which keeps moving from the first part and continues to the 2^nd reaching a point where the 1^st part started. Simply beautiful.  The Dhanbad coal mafia story woven around the families which are reeling under the impact of the Qureshis and Pathans rivalry causing series of murders and vengeful tactics is the least expected entertaining story you can expect.

Okay, so now that I have said enough about the Oh so awesome movies, you go and watch it now. And if you haven’t even seen the first part yet, go for a double whammy watching both the parts on the same day. I am planning to, AGAIN. Anybody want to join??? ;)

Rating:- 4/5