Sunday, June 24, 2012

Gangs of Wasseypur



The reality, trivialities and complexities of a body can be seen only when it has been stripped down to bare minimums. And such bareness can be mind boggling at times and that is exactly what Gangs of Wasseypur is. The march of a semi nude Manoj Bajpayee in a langot while being ogled at by Reema Sen marks the soul of this complex saga of simple emotions.
This movie is not a story. It has a life of its own. It confuses you with many different characters making their way onto the screen unannounced. But isn't that how life and reality behaves? You meet so many people you know nothing about and yet allow them to become important characters of some very important scenes of your life. And in no time through their actions those characters start to make sense and you gain comfort in their presence. The team of Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia and Anurag Kashyap used every possible shade of grey to sketch some of the most realistic characters of Indian Cinema. The story line is like a river -  being joined by many tributaries and discharging many  distributaries on its way moving ahead with varied but constant pace. 
The characters in the movie are defined by the situation. They go from weak to strong as the situation requires them to be. A gangster who shudders at the wrath of the two women in his life, his rebel son who kills and smuggles guns without a trace of fear but is brought to tears by a girl who asks him to take Parmisan to hold her hand and a Political honcho taking in all the insults hurled at him because survival is more important than ego - these are the things that make you realize what a great craftsman Anurag Kahsyap is.
Each and every character in the movie leaves an impact on you thanks to an amazing ensemble of actors brought together. Ms. Richa Chadha, I bow to thee for playing such a strong and complex role with such natural flair. Manoj Bajpayee carries out the role like he was born for it. Tigmanshu Dhulia, Pankaj Tripathy and Jaideep Ahlawat are impeccable and Piyush Mishra needs no adjectives. Wonder why we dont get to see them in more movies. 
For someone who understands the people and culture of Bihar and Jharkhand, the movie brings forth some brilliant moments which capture the peculiarity to perfection. The Bengali Durga wearing saree differently from the Muslim Najma, the Bhumihar Brahmin wife asking for the use of Cheenamitti (Bone China) crockery to serve her Muslim guests, the misfiring katta (Desi Pistol), use of Rajdoot motorcycles are just some of those hundreds of aspects where no other film has shown a better eye for detail.
The film is abundant with dark humor and in fact thrives on it. A woman throwing utencils at her cheating husband in labour pain, two gangsters turning their dash back to the jeep after a loot into a childish race and a mother hitting an innocent child mercilessly with a broom bring out a chuckle from the audience. The coal mines form a perfect backdrop for such darkness. The filming of many scenes is very Tarantino like. And so is the background score at many occasions. Rajeev Ravi has done a fantastic job and without his skills a lot of scenes might have lost their steam. The voice over could have been better written. Especially in the beginning when the minds of the audience is already grappling with multiple characters and an extremely fast paced story line. 
The team of Sneha Khanwalkar , Varun grover and Piyush Mishra have produced gems of songs which will inhabit many lips and speakers for many days to come. Keh ke lunga makes an excellent background score and is extremely catchy. 
Gangs of Wasseypur is a true Master piece and part II is awaited with bated breathe.  It's a movie you can't watch with family, it's not an entertainer really, it does not propagate any social message and does not address any major issue and yet it will grip you and take you to a different world altogether. Just like an ordinary looking man walking in langot it has nothing extra ordinary to offer but still it will make you ogle at it like from a distance and fall in love with it. 

5 comments:

  1. Copybook film making.... and an equally brilliant analysis doing justice to every bit of it.

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  2. Cudnt agree more... Amazing movie and a very well written review! Look forward to reading more reviews coming from ur GajabKhopdi. :)

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  3. you should do this more often!!! :)

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  4. Absolutely loved the movie. Can't get it outta my mind. Sheer brilliance!

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  5. a movie so well created..the artists did full justice to the characters..and nicely compiled by you.

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