Gangs Of Wasseypur

MOVIE DETAILS

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Piyush Mishra, Reema Sen, Jaideep Ahlawat, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Producer: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra, Guneet Monga
Music: Sneha Khanwalkar
Lyrics: Varun Grover, Piyush Mishra

THE FILM

The film starts off with a shootout and one can sense the rawness in the way Anurag Kashyap designs and cuts his frames. Despite it being a seemingly simple sequence on paper, Anurag elevates it to a different level with his entire stage setting. The sequences thereafter are arresting as well. The 'angrezon ke waqt ki kahaani', introduction of a dozen odd character from different streams of life and religion, the conflict that follows, the reason for a burning desire to take revenge and then the arrival of principal characters (Manoj Bajpayee, Tigmanshu Dhulia) is all brilliant.

In fact by this time you are totally sold to the setting of Wasseypur and you can't seem to have enough of it even as more and more characters comes in and the plot starts thickening more than what you would have imagined. In the middle of this all, good dose of humour (which is entirely situational) and an element of raw sexuality (Reemma Sen, Richa Chadda) keeps you glued on screen. One has to credit Anurag for balancing it all well because instead of making it a one dimensional revenge saga, he adds tangents which give variety to this 'Wasseypur' tale.

However, in a narrative like this, the demand of the situation is to sustain the momentum. Now this is where Gangs of Wasseypur starts faltering in the second half because at quite a few times you start feeling alienated from the core of the film. The conflict is somehow left on the backseat and absence of Manoj Bajpayee (who is simply perfect in his part) is felt at numerous junctures. The plot continues to get all the more complicated and you start losing track of who is killing whom and for what reason.

What also makes you uncomfortable are the way scenes are structured. Yes, it's an experiment but then even Ram Gopal Varma experimented with his camera angles in Department and saw a lot of criticism coming his way. In a similar fashion, it is the scene setting which puts you off after a while because at times they are cut way too short that it is tough to decipher what really happened. On the other hand some of them are so long drawn that you want the film to just move on.

Having said that, one of the best scenes from the film is the one which is indeed the lengthiest of the lot. It is an absolute original setting where Nawazuddin holds hand of his lady love (Huma Qureshi) and the girl ends up reacting like never before. Same is the case every time Tigmanshu catches hold of his son and ridicules him. His scene with Vipin Sharma (natural, as always) is also superb. Even Richa is a powerhouse in each of her scenes and is simply brilliant when she instructs her hubby (Manoj) to eat well so that he can 'perform' with the 'women' outside!

These are the tiny moments that come together to keep interest alive in Gangs of Wasseypur. In fact so powerful is the story stream of the film that you really want to know what would happen next and whether a character or two may end up doing a volte face. However, as stated earlier, it is the uneven momentum, mainly in the second half, that makes you feel a little impatient. In that aspect, Ram Gopal Varma's Rakht Charitra (Vivek Oberoi, Surya), which had an almost similar backdrop and a huge drive for revenge, was far more structured and well told.

DURATION

The film's duration is 169 minutes

SPECIAL FEATURES

- None

TECHNICAL DETAILS

- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles - English
- Dolby Digital 5.1

PRICE

Rs. 299/=

CONCLUSION

Overhyped, but still managing to deliver a good, if not an emphatic, outing - That's what Gangs of Wasseypur turns out to be after an exhausting two and a half hours saga. No, I am not against films that are lengthy. In fact I am all for them and this is the reason why I still feel 70s and 80s delivered some of the most entertaining films since they had a duration good enough to accommodate all the 'masala'. However, Gangs of Wasseypur turns out to be a film which during its healthy duration does manage to sustain your interest but just about.