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BheegiBasanti

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Posted: 11 years ago

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur

http://httmihirfadnavis.blogspot.in/2012/06/movie-review-gangs-of-wasseypur.html

Gangs of Wasseypur is so visceral, that watching it feels like sticking your face right above an exploding Laxmi Bomb. The effect, carried gleefully and brilliantly by director Anurag Kashyap is blinding. This is not a film to just watch once at the multiplex, it's a movie to love completely and become absorbed into its lush imagery and glorious characters.

Mercifully free of item songs and music video style flashy cinematography, Gangs of Wasseypur works as both an entertaining gangster thriller and a gently mocking sardonic history lesson. Apart from the dizzy shifts in mood between the guilty pleasure of dark sexy comedy and gripping socio-political drama, writers Kashyap, Akhilesh Jaiswal, Sachin Ladia and Syed Zeeshan Qadri create a loaded and layered canvas of revenge and violence. They avoid the clutter and manipulation of most mob thrillers and escalate the plot and tension solely through the characters' stormy emotions.

And what a crackerjack pack of characters these are – easily the best performances you're likely to encounter in some considerable time. Manoj Bajpee makes a hurricane of a comeback as he is simultaneously mesmerizing and repellant as the foul mouthed bald gangster out to avenge his father. Newcomer Richa Chadda who plays Bajpayee's wife, is absolutely searing in her role. Nawauddin Siddiqui (who has a bigger role in Part 2) is hilarious and charming as the wheeling and dealing, disillusioned, soft spoken son of Bajyee. Then there's Tigmanshu Dhulia as part fascist chieftain and part conniving rogue, quietly petrified of being hunted by Bajpayee. But far ahead of them all is Pankaj Tripathi in his first major role as Sultan the Butcher –he so effortlessly entwines his many shades that you can't separate his helplessness from his nepotistic determination to seize power. An ambivalent character has rarely been made so magnetic.

What is NOT magnetic is the opening 15 minute section of Gangs of Wasseypur, which is bizarrely complicated enough make you feel like a 10-year-old in an Advanced Thermodynamics class. With a droning voiceover by Piyush Mishra, you are straightaway plunged into dozens of characters in a half a dozen places and you'll have a hard time trying to connect the dots between the who's who what's what and where's where. It takes a while to sink into the film and identify the characters, and this may be frustrating for some. Perhaps according to Kashyap this is what cinema is about, taking the viewer into a completely new world and challenging them to make some sense out of it. A more knowledgeable person could probably explain how Kashyap's vision of Bihar's history in miniature reflects the personality of its chronically divided people, but Gangs of Wasseypur rings true to anyone who's ever watched a mafia drama.

There is violence, a lot of it, the gritty, unsettling kind, not the bloody in-your-face flying limbs variety, and it is kept firmly in its place and never allowed to take over the story like in Rakta Charitra. In one scene a local goon is made to watch his brother getting shredded to pieces - the slaughter occurs off camera but you are left cringing at the sight of the goon's face reacting in horror. In another scene Bajpayee repeatedly stabs someone and drifts around as if playing kabaddi. Later a hapless cop investigating a murder finds a finger in a butcher's den and is made to walk away or mix with the dead meat lying around. It makes for a righteously angry, yet joyous story because Kashyap fills every moment with song and life - Womaniya plays to the backdrop of Bajpayee finding lust at first sight in the form of Reema Sen's glistening kamariya; Keh ke lunga is juxtaposed with violence while the Calypso I am a hunter is mixed with a character smuggling guns in a train. If all that weren't enough there is also Yashpal Sharma in a cameo dancing and singing at a wedding.

After the three hundredth character is introduced one begins to wonder where all this is leading, but Kashyap pulls a stand up-and-cheer finale out of his hat, sweetened only by the self-liberation of the character featured in the climax, escalated by the infectious Jiyo ho Bihar ke laala playing at full blast.

Some of the imagery is downright fantastic. It'll be a long time before the image fades of Huma Qureshi and Nawazuddin having a hilariously flirtatious exchange at a pond. Even the beginning credits are crafted with large doses of grindhousey amphetamine. The dialogues have a force that pack a gut-punch and are a mixture of dicey menace, goonda lingo and expletive-laced fiery one-liners. There are one too many 'bhosadikas' but even when the film turns darker it never loses its sly humor.

Editor Shweta Venkat deserves a hand for Wasseypur's fine, razor sharp pacing that glances over so many things without needing to rub them in. Equally pleasing is Rajeev Ravi's cinematography which alternates bright sunlight with the coldest, blackest coal colored nights. Shena Khanwalkar's meticulously crafted score is an exotic sandwich of genres buoyed by Varun Grover's super lyrics. But GoW's big achievement is Kashyap's cinematic vision of post-independence Bihar and Jharkhand's landscapes. No tacky stock villagers here – only shifty hoodlums framed by heavy silences to inculcate a powerful sense of claustrophobia and power.

The other big feat of Gangs of Wasseypur is that Kashyap balances massy masala and offbeat snobbery very well - you can watch the film for its character study, political idealism, or for entertainment value alone. In either case it doesn't disappoint. Kashyap eschews the arthouse minimalism for cinematic pizzazz. His fine ear for dialogue and control of tone is all the more impressive for being delivered under the short schedule and massive story content.

Alive and far more entertaining and exciting to watch than just about any Indian gangster movie you have ever seen, Gangs of Wasseypur is thrilling as f**k, because it achieves the rare feat of wanting to be an epic and actually being one. It's carefully strained pulp and when it's over, you won't remember much of who killed whom, instead what remains is the silly grin on your face and the desperate urgency to watch Part Two.

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Posted: 11 years ago

Review of the entire film..5hrs from Cannes..They love it😛

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/gangs-wasseypur-cannes-review-328768

Gangs of Wasseypur: Cannes Review

3:20 PM PDT 5/23/2012 by Deborah Young

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177

"Gangs of Wasseypur"

The Bottom Line

A dizzying explosion of an Indian gangster film, whose epic structure and colorful, immoral killers capture the imagination for over five hours.

Venue

Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight), May 21, 2012.

Cast

Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chaddha, Reema Sen, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Jaideep Ahlawat, Piyush Mishra, Mukesh Chhabra, Jameel Khan, Harish Khanna, Aditya Kumar, Murari Kumar, Huma Quershi, Yashpal Sharma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raj Yadav, Raj Kumar Yadav

Director

Anurag Kashyap

Bollywood film maker Anurag Kashyap directs this two part gangster thrill ride about vengeance, greed and deep-rooted family rivalries.

An extraordinary ride through Bollywood's spectacular, over-the-top filmmaking, Gangs of Wasseypur puts Tarantino in a corner with its cool command of cinematically-inspired and referenced violence, ironic characters and breathless pace. All of this bodes well for cross-over audiences in the West. Split into two parts, as it will be released in India, this epic gangster story spanning 70 years of history clocks in at more than five hours of smartly shot and edited footage, making it extremely difficult to release outside cult and midnight venues. Its bow in Cannes' Directors Fortnight met with rousing consensus, but it's still an exotic taste at a delirious length.

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Tipping his hat to Scorsese, Sergio Leone and world cinema as well as paying homage to Bollywood, writer-director-producer Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday) fashions a kind of "Once Upon a Time in Bengal", a piece of violent entertainment that never seems to run out of invention or bullets. Less successful is the screenwriters' attempt to embed the tale in a historical and political context, which simply doesn't have room to emerge amid all the mayhem. Though the testosterone level is pumped to the max, there's still room for funny jokes, fooling around and vibrant film characters that spring to life with mythical deeds and single-minded passions. No moralizing or regrets trouble their consciences, nor are they likely to bother the young male demographic that will account for the lion's share of the audience.

Vengeance, blind ambition and greed oil the wheels of a long-running blood feud between competing godfathers in the Bengal mining towns of Wasseypur and Dhanbad. The film opens with a teasing flash-forward to the end of the story, when a gang armed to the teeth with bombs and machine guns blast their way into the palace-fortress of the reigning don, Faizal Khan. The do enough damage to believe him dead, but the audience will be rightly suspicious that his body is not among the rubble.

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In the first half of the film, the early history of Faizal's family is told, beginning with the rise of his grandfather Shahid Khan in the days when coal mines represented wealth and power. An omniscient narrator, who survives throughout the film, explains how, from time immemorial, Muslims have fought other Muslims in the area, not for religious reasons, but out of pure evil. Back in 1941, the mythic robber Sultana Daku looted British trains; he is later imitated by the sadistic Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat), who is eventually murdered by the young owner of the coal mines, Ramadhir Singh, setting off a power struggle between the two clans that lasts till the final reel.

Shahid's hot-blooded son Sardar shaves his head, vowing not to grow his hair until he exacts revenge for his father's death. His passion for two women who will become his wives gives him a human, even comic, side. There are only four female characters in this boys' club, all beautiful firebrands whose bloodthirsty ambition for their offspring would put Ma Barker to shame. Nagma, Sardar's first wife, bears him four sons including the gangsters Faizal, Danish and "Perpendicular" Khan, while his Hindi wife Durga belatedly contributes the fearsome "Definitive" Khan. Each murderous son stars in a section of the story highlighting his outrageous misdeeds and amorous pursuits.

If the first half of the film sets the background to the present day, Part 2 has moments of humor and is an easier, if certainly no less bloody, watch thanks to its many salutes to popular music and cinema. Sardar's violence has made him the godfather, a role he keeps until betrayed at a gas station. His body, riddled with bullets, is carted away by his maddened son Danish, who goes on a rampage. But Danish isn't smart enough to last long, and the family black sheep Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a hash smoking pothead, climbs the ladder to power after cutting off his best friend and betrayer's head. Taking his cue from Michael Corleone, Faizal modernizes the family arsenal and buys some new-fangled pagers that have just come on the market to communicate with his gang. Cell phones will soon be added.

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His courtship of Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) is one of the film's non-violent high points. Addicted to romantic movies, the lovely Mohsina looks like a Brooklyn moll and wears the same Ray Bans as Faizal, by which they recognize they are soul mates. Their sexy dialogue is a hoot, though the most blatant vulgarities are left to the lyrics (duly translated in the subtitles) to Sneha Khanwalkar's sparkling score, pumped up with drumbeats at the first sign of gunplay.

It is now 2002 and Sardar's strangely named teenage sons Definitive and Perpendicular are ready start their own violent careers, both defined by the narrator as "more terrifying than Faizal." Their wanton killing sprees pepper the final scenes with death. Faizal is talked into going into politics, alarming his perennial nemesis Ramadhir Singh, now a corrupt old government minister. Their final reckoning takes place on election day as Faizal and his handful of loyalists lay siege to a hospital.

Kashyap, whose reputation as a screenwriter and controversial director reach a culmination in this film, is the real behind-the-scenes godfather, never losing control over the story-telling or hundreds of actors, and allowing tongue-in-cheek diversions in the second half that confirm his command over the sprawling material. In the spirit of Bollywood, Rajiv Ravi's lensing is fast on its feet, with a continually moving camera that always seems to be in the right spot to capture the action.

Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight), May 21, 2012.
A Viacom 18 Motion Pictures presentation of an Anurag Kashyap Films/Jar Pictures production in association with Tipping Point Films, Akfpl, Elle Driver.
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chaddha, Reema Sen, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Jaideep Ahlawat, Piyush Mishra, Mukesh Chhabra, Jameel Khan, Harish Khanna, Aditya Kumar, Murari Kumar, Huma Quershi, Yashpal Sharma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raj Yadav, Raj Kumar Yadav
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Screenwriters: Anurag Kashyap, Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh Jaiswal, Sachin Ladia
Producers: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra
Director of photography: Rajiv Ravi
Production Designer: Wasiq Khan
Costumes: Subodh Srivastava
Editor: Shweta Venkat
Music: Sneha Khanwalkar
Sales Agent: Elle Driver
No rating; 320 minutes

Edited by you2 - 11 years ago

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Gangs of Wasseypur review: Packs a punch!

	Movie Gangs of Wasseypur
	Director Anurag Kashyap
	Cast Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda, Reemma Sen, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia

Nandini Krishnan

When an Indian director says his five-hour film's inspired by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, one is tempted to roll one's eyes. Unless that director, like Anurag Kashyap, goes and bloody does it, and does it well! Gangs of Wasseypur is stylised from the start. It opens with Smriti Irani's Tulsi inviting us into her happier-than-happy home, as the saccharine Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thhi track plays. Next, something happens that makes us jump out of our seats and gawk at the screen. Typical of the genre it aspires to, the film begins in medias res (in the middle of things), and then drags us back to 1940, where the narration begins. We're taken to Wasseypur, of Dhanbad district, which moved from Bengal to Bihar to Jharkhand over time. We follow three generations of a family feud, which grows to encapsulate friends of the families involved, and eventually, the entire town, as sons swear to settle scores, and revenge killings multiply. The story of both parts is told by Nasir Ahmed, whose brother Shahid Khan is the sardar of a clan. Wasseypur, he tells us, is a hotbed of communal violence - not between Muslims and Hindus, not between Shias and Sunnis, but between two sub-sects of Sunni Muslims - the Qureshis, who are traditionally butchers, and every-other-Muslim, represented by the Pathans. Shahid Khan and Sharif Qureshi begin fighting over who has the right to be the legendary dacoit Sultana Daku, and rob trains in British India of goods. When the banishment of one leads to personal tragedy, the cycle of violence begins. Enter Ramadhir, the mining supervisor of an iron ore mine, as India industrialises. He recruits a muscle man from one of the families, but neutralises the threat when he learns the man may be getting too ambitious for him to handle. Coincidences and foolhardiness, combined with the izzat factor, spin a tale of gruesome violence that spans over six decades, witnessed by Nasir Chacha. But this film is not about trigger-happy and blade-wielding villains screaming and tearing into each other. It becomes something of a "screwball comedy" in parts, with nearly everyone in the film making a fool of himself at least once. A fearsome gang boss is partial to a mole, simply because he can speak English, which makes up for any suspicious behaviour. A hit man runs out of bullets, and starts shaking as he tries to shove them in, resulting in his fleeing from his intended victim, who gives chase armed with a baton and friend driving a run-down scooter. The coarse dialect of the villages, their fascination with English, the hypocrisy of politics, innovative swear words, and even digs at Bollywood are slipped in with perfect timing - I found myself laughing simply at the inflections in some of the dialogue. Another Tarantinoesque aspect surfaces with the names - honestly, wherever else would you find characters called Definite, Perpendicular and Tangent? This leads to a hilarious exchange: "Uska naam kya hai?"
"Definite."
"Definite matlab?"
"Naam toh Definite hai."
"Arre, naam kya hai?"
"Naam hi Definite hai."
"Asli naam kya hai?"
"Ek minute. Suno, Definite ka asli naam kya hai?"
"Definite ka naam toh Definite hi hai."
"Nahi. Birth certificate mein kya likha hua hai?"
"Definite hi, shayad."
"Nahi. Jaise Perpendicular ka naam Babua hai, waise Definite ka naam kya hai?"
"Definite ka naam Definite hi hai."
"Hindi mein Definite ka matlab kya hai?" And the casting is quite perfect. Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui are outstanding. In this film, Bajpayee looks fearsome, silly, debauched, lecherous, clever, cunning and timid in turns. He pushes the boundaries of his role, and delights in his interactions with the women he courts as much as with the men he fights. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whose first big break came in Kashyap's Black Friday, turns in his best performance yet. It's quite incredible that a man of such diminutive stature can so thoroughly dominate a scene. But so strong is his screen presence that he owns every frame he features in. Seen as the sloppy runt of the clan in the first part of the film, he metamorphoses into the terrifying don Faizal Khan in the second part. All three women in the film have meaty roles, but Richa Chadda is the real find. She ages by about 40 years, and brings that out as much in her body language and facial expressions as in her voice. We meet her as a motormouth who doesn't shy away from the ugliest street slang, and isn't beyond chasing her husband with a stick when he cheats on her. We leave her when she's an old woman who treats with disdain a man who won't draw blood to avenge blood. The sound design by Sneha Khanwalkar is nicely paced, with appropriate selections of old songs, and a good mix of styles in the new compositions. One hardly notices that the film has 25 songs. Each is catchy, and none intrudes. In a production that's careful with the details, down to matching rupee notes with the era in which that part of the film is set, the only big letdown is a horrendously fake mask that is supposed to be a severed head. We could have done with either a better-sculpted visage, or a long shot that didn't expose its ridiculousness - as it stands, we end up laughing at what should have been a thoroughly grisly moment. The rest of the post-production, and the special effects involved, are quite a treat. The noir shots and slick edits have become trademarks of Kashyap's filmmaking style. These, combined with a tight script that makes the five hours fly by, make Gangs of Wasseypur India's best gangster movie to date, in my book.

It's a pity the audience will have to watch the film in two staggered parts, because the 20-minute interval seemed too long a wait after the what-happens-next poser in the first part.

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Posted: 11 years ago

Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur

A riveting gangster-drama which leaves you wanting for more

More on: gangs of wasseypur, Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chaddha, Reema Sen, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Movie Review, Filmfare

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Posted Wed, Jun 20, 2012

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Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chaddha, Reema Sen, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Jaideep Ahlawat and Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap's ambitious gangster saga is a trippy outburst of vivid characters reeking of revenge, deep-seethed rivalries blended with an off-kilter soundtrack and clever dialogue. Although, self-indulgent in parts the film manages to say a lot in approx 160 minutes of runtime. Working on a similar template as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), Gangs of Wasseypur lacks the polished story-telling but in entirety makes for a decent Indianised version of the American epic.

Welcome to Wasseypur; a province of Dhanbad district, which shifted from Bengal to Bihar and finally to Jharkhand post-independence. Starting from 1949, when coal mines represented wealth and power Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat), a 'pehelwan' who guards his master's life, secretly wishes to take his place someday. Eventually, he's crushed in the power struggle by his own master Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). Khan leaves behind his son Sardar (Manoj Bajpayee) who shaves off his head, vowing not to grow his hair until he exacts revenge for his father's death.

GOW is grand in terms of scale. Spanning over two generations, Kashyap has successfully managed to add depth to the story and soul to his characters. As if on ecstasy, once the film begins, it refuses to slow down. The snappy narrative technique works like a double-edged sword. While multiple sub-plots and almost a dozen central characters turn the film into a tangled web, the considerable usage of time lends the characters sufficient space to emerge as real people.

Bajpayee as Sardar Khan gets the most screen time, negative elements and the girls too. Full of lust, he has no morals or sense of right and wrong. Bajpayee exhibits a child-like charm that makes women fall for him. He has two wives, one the feisty Nagma (Richa Chaddha) and another much subdued Bengali girl Durga (Reema Sen). But he also possesses an intrinsic nastiness that comes across when he's out there, busy taking revenge. He's clearly the show stealer of the film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui who plays Faizal (Sardar's younger son) has a brief role. Yet, the actor shines as the nemesis that initially chooses weed over violence, movies over guns and love over hate but eventually takes the road to vengeance. This film is a perfect introduction to Nawazuddin's character which is the main protagonist in Gangs of Wasseypur Part – II.

The dialogue and music deserve a special mention. The film is set in North India; so needless to say, cuss words are aplenty. The witty repartee and exceptional comic timing in particular scenes take the movie to another level. Also, fabulous music by Sneha Khanwalkar and gritty background score by GV Prakash gives the film a retro mood that smartly shifts gears into folk.

In terms of storytelling, GOW is surely entertaining but isn't fearless. At times it crouches and hides behind unnecessary montages and sub-plots that ultimately leave you a tad bit underwhelmed. The film doesn't disappoint but it also doesn't satiate your hunger.

The second part trailer has been attached at the end of the film. You come out of the theatre feeling anxious to know what's going to transpire in the second part. Probably, this could have been a three part film. Or maybe, an entire 5 hour 20 minute film, just the way it's been screened abroad. Maybe, that would be a fulfilling experience, perhaps!

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abby_girl30

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IF-Rockerz

Posted: 11 years ago

Wow reviews seem good... will watch it surely bt I might need English subtitles cz its hard to understand sum bihari slang wrds for me 😆

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33789

Posted: 11 years ago

Sounds interesting.. Must watch this movie at the theatre

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353257

Inactive

Posted: 11 years ago

Thanks for this thread. Am so looking forward to this movie!

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MakhannMalaai

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Posted: 11 years ago

I so wanna watch this..

I hope it does better business than TMK..🤢

it's very unfair to release the movie the same day as TMK

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HeartEmWatson

@HeartEmWatson

Goldie

Posted: 11 years ago

Originally posted by: -ChillMahaul-
I so wanna watch this..

I hope it does better business than TMK..🤢

it's very unfair to release the movie the same day as TMK

it will do better business than tmk. it has to. whos gonna pay to watch lips romance with a 13 old boy yet to hit puberty...that too in 10 different avatars. ULTIII.

im so watching this. thnx for the revs.

Edited by SoEulMate_LoVeR - 11 years ago

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sam

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Posted: 11 years ago

Heard good stuff about it.. will definitely watch it .

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur

Gangs of Wasseypur: Cannes Review

The Bottom Line

Venue

Cast

Director

Bollywood film maker Anurag Kashyap directs this two part gangster thrill ride about vengeance, greed and deep-rooted family rivalries.

Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur

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