I was warned that Gangs of Wasseypur (GoW), is not your average run of the mill movie by the numerous reviews published online. The reviews explicitly mentioned that it is a strict no-no for women and family. But I beg to differ. This movie is nothing short of cinematic brilliance by Anurag Kashyap. For people who truly appreciate beautiful story telling and better direction; sex, creed and caste should not matter.
Image: BolegaIndia.com
The movie is not about coal mafia as everyone thinks. It rather borrows the storyline from the coal mafia of the colonial rule in India and picks up the pace. The first 20-25 mins are a bit confusing for people who cannot keep up with the narrator’s pace. This is partly because of the language used by the narrator which is a mix of Hindi and Urdu. It starts with the story of the dreaded bandit Sultana in the village of Wasseypur and Dhanbad, which once belonged to the state of Bengal, then to Bihar and finally Jharkhand in independent India. It goes on to narrate the way in which a resident of the same village, Shahid Khan (portrayed brilliantly by Jaideep Ahlawat) impersonates Sultana, robs colonial trains and makes away with the loot. Sultana finds out about Shahid and after a bloody battle of power banishes the latter out of the village with the help of the village elders. Shahid, fuming with revenge becomes a worker at the colliery of Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). One incident triggers a chain of events and Shahid Khan is killed by Ramadhir’s hired goons. This eventually starts off a battle for revenge between Ramadhir, Sardar Khan (son of Shahid Khan, played most brilliantly by Manoj Bajpai) and Sultan (son of Sultana).
The movie spans across almost four decades, right from the 1950’s to 1990’s, which witness the rise of Sardar Khan and how he seeks revenge with Sultan and Ramadhir through all these years. ‘Keh ke loonga’, is one of the memorable dialogues in the movie which never leaves you till the end. The story of how Sardar starts off his empire, gets married twice and becomes a pain in the A$$ for Ramadhir and Sultan is worth watching. The movie has heavy explicit language but I felt that it was the essence of the movie. The violence and the aggressiveness with which Sardar Khan seeks to reclaim his honour reminded me of the movie Kill Bill, in which Uma Thurman goes to all extents to destroy her ex-flame. The chemistry between Sardar and his first wife Nagma (Richa Chaddha) is enamouring. It is filled with love, need (for sex) and dependance. The chemistry between Sardar and his second wife “from Asansol”, Durga (played by Reemma Sen) is filled with love, lust, intimacy, humour and finally hatred. You have to marvel at the way in which Sardar tries to woo Durga and how they end up bedding each other!
The first part of the almost three hour long movie witnesses Sardar’s relations with his wives, how he tries to extract revenge and how he carves a name for himself in the hinterlands of Wasseypur and Dhanbad. The latter part of the movie focuses more on the consequences of the revengeful war between Sardar and the others, the rise of Sardar’s sons and how each of the warring gangs try to re-claim what is rightfully theirs. Faizal Khan (son of Sardar Khan, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) comes out as a very endearing yet cold-blooded character. He is short, lanky and does not seem like a person who would terrify you. But the cold-blooded effectiveness with which he seeks revenge reminds you that he is indeed the son of Sardar Khan. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the same actor who was recently seen playing the character of ‘deputy of the Intelligence Bureau of India’ in the movie ‘Kahani’. He is such a treat to watch that you almost forget that Faizal was mentally traumatized in his childhood because of his fathers transgressions and his mothers needs to (almost) fulfill her physical needs.
Throughout the movie, you will be treated with murder, bombshells, gun fire, expletives, crude humour etc. However, to be honest, the movie would have been half-baked if these elements would not have been a part of it. These things really bring the movie to life and three hours does not seem so long. In fact, I could have watched both GoW Part 1 and GoW Part 2 for five hours straight and not blinked an eye!
If you love movies by Qunetin Tarantino, then you are in for a visual treat! Never before have the characters been so effectively rolled out in Indian cinema. Each and every character has been written and portrayed brilliantly.
- Jaideep Ahlawat as Shahid Khan exudes command and raw power.
- Manoj Bajpai as Sardar Khan brilliantly portrays wittiness, awesome comic sense, lust, love and revenge
- Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Faizal Khan steals the show in the later part of the movie as the withdrawn yet courageous son of Sardar Khan.
- Tigmanshu Dhulia portrays the scheming and wily Ramadhir Singh
- Reemma Sen portrays the sensual and shy Durga
- Richa Chaddha portrays the boisterous, forgiving wife Nagma who loves her husband Sardar with a tongue-in-cheek role (don’t miss it!)
- Huma Qureshi plays Mohsina, the love interest of Faizal. Watch out for the courtship between them! You will fall off laughing from your seats!
- Piyush Mishra plays Farhan who is the ever supportive mentor and father figure to Sardar.
What did I miss out? Ah, yes, the songs and the background music! Sneha Khanwalkar (soundtrack) and G.V. Prakash Kumar (score) have done a brilliant job in capturing the essence of the warring ganglords. For me, the songs were what made the movie much more interesting and the delight it is! Songs to watch out for:
- ‘Jiya Tu’ by Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tiwari is hummable all day long!
- ‘Keh ke Loonga’ by Amit Trivedi packs a lot of punch.
- ‘Hunter’ by Vedesh Sokoo, Rajneesh, Munna and Shyamoo literally had me ROFLing! Amazing double entendre song!
- ‘Womaniya’ literally oozes with raw desi language about sex and lust. Hear the song play in the background during some of the courting scenes and you won’t stop laughing!
Surprisingly, you do not feel bad for the characters even though they are brutually murdered, killed, shot and blown by bombs! The scenes are rather hilarious, captivating and you feel indifferent, except for one murder (SPOILER ALERT!) which occurs towards the fag end of the movie.
Two scenes which have not left my mind are:
- the “Permission Lijiye na” scene between Faizal and Mohsina and
- the “Pata karo kya khaaya hai” scene between Ramadhir, Sardar Khan and his men. These two scenes are simply hilarious and provide the much needed respite from the violence and expletives.
You have to give the director Anurag Kashyap credit for creating such an excellent movie! The writers Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia and Anurag Kashyap have captured every scene effortlessly. the entire team of GoW needs be congratulated for churning out such a awesome movie which, seriously, is too good!
I watched this movie with my wife, a bunch of friends and their wives. Even the women enjoyed the movie so much that they did not feel out of place. So if you really enjoy cinema and story-telling and don’t mind the language or violence, then go for it. It’s a movie which cannot be missed!
Movie Rating – 4.5/5
P.S. Stay till the credits end and you will get a sneak peek into what to expect from Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2! Do not miss it!
What are your views on the movie?
Shriharsha Bhat's Weblog 