Gulaal will blow you up!
Gulaal Movie Review
Gulaal is mind blowing. And I am not saying it just because it is fashionable to do so about anything to do with Anurag Kashyap on PFC! Anurag had told the media during his recent Delhi visit (to promote Specials@10 on Sony Entertainment Television) that Gulaal is his “angriest” film. That anger seeps through every frame of the film, even the mujras.
Gulaal is set in Rajpur, ostensibly in Rajasthan, where student politics is controlled, like in most of the campuses in India, by the political class. Here the most popular (non-soft) drinks are called Democracy, Constitution, Colonial and Capitalism. Here ragging in hostels is ferocious, so much so that it does not even leave out young female teachers. Here lives a Rajput leader Dukkey Bana, who is building up a surreptitious, rag tag army to reclaim the land of Rajputana from India. Here comes in a wimp of a Rajput, a bespectacled Dileep Singh. Here lives a fan of John Lennon and all human beings who speak /spoke of a peaceful world, cracking up continuously living amidst violence but still having the spark to write and compose stirring poetry. Here is also the world of a brother-sister duo who is seeking social legitimacy, and who will do anything to gain that.
Gulaal is the story of all these and many more characters, all colourful, all earthy, all full of pithy language. It is a canvas that is painted with colours violent by Kashyap. And you won’t find any similarity with his previous work (Dev.D – though a few frames are visualized in a similar way; No Smoking, Hanuman Returns, Black Friday, Paanch). Gulaal is also a canvas that is painted with stirring poetry (and music) by Piyush Mishra, the grand man of theatre. Gulaal is all about angst, the kind that was reflected in Sahir Ludhianvi’s “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai” (Guru Dutt’s Pyasa), which is said to be the inspiration behind this film.
Gulaal is backdropped in a fictional town in Rajasthan, but real-life references are plentiful, from Indira Gandhi’s ban on privy purses to a nautch girl-cum-beauty parlour owner who is convinced about her Tabu (the actress)-like looks. The lyrics, rather poetry, also refers heavily to real life happenings across the world – from 9/11 to Iraq to Afghanistan.
Kay Kay Menon seers the screen in Gulaal (scene to watch out: when a hint of a smile appears on his stern face as he is talking about the ‘brain wash’ ragging, only to vanish instantly to take him back to his stern Rajput mood) but even better are Raj Singh Chaudhary, playing the wimp of a Rajput protagonist (scenes to watch out: his interaction with the macho Rajput Ransa), Deepak Dobriyal (scene to watch out: the bemused look at the paan shop, as he just keeps nodding his head in reply to a few queries without uttering a single word), Abhinmanyu Singh and Piyush Mishra. And yes, there is Mahie Gill also, giving another outstanding performance after Dev.D in her “special appearance”. A great example of ensemble acting this Gulaal is (though Aditya Srivastava, sadly, does not have much to do except look angry, brooding). But there is also this character in the movie that is not a human being – it is Piyush Mishra’s poetry. Whether it is the reinterpretation of “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna” or the “Aarambh” ditty or the “Yeh Duniya” end-song, they simply stir you.
Who is the real star of this film? As the helmsman, Anurag Kashyap surely is. But then there are many others – the screenplay, which simply sizzles; the dialogues, which switch from fire-and-brimstone to earthy humour in a jiffy; the singers (Rekha Bhardwaj, Piyush Mishra particularly) who give the punch to the powerfully evocative lyrics; the cinematography, the set design, the sound. The film could have been a little more well-edited, though, especially to prune the length a little bit if nothing else (though that does not hamper the film to a great extent). It’s a film that, in the ultimate analysis, though, is all about characters and not stars. And though the character backgrounds are often left sketchy, the present actions of the character are made so full of action that you really don’t require that.
Simply put, Anurag Kashyap will find it real hard to raise this bar he has set for himself. But failure to do so would mean Gulaal would remain his best work. Hopefully, Anurag would not let that happen.
Tags: Anurag Kashyap, Gulaal, Kay Kay Menon, piyush mishra
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Eagerly looking forward!
ahh…seems like on friday i’ll have to bunk everything else & run to the plex…
u make things very difficult this way…even if u have see u could have waited till Thursday to post the review…:P:P:P
dev.d was fabulous…am eagerly waiting for gulaal. but as usual, mr.kashyap’s films are not released in the US…a month after Dev D, the waiting game begins all over again!
Reinterpretation of “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna”? You mean something similar to the one in Rang De Basanti (by Prasoon Joshi)?
Can’t wait to see Gulaal. Thanks for the review.
vishal, sarfaroshi ki tamanna in rdb was the original cuz it was also partly a period piece. . Those were the lines written by chandrashekhar azad
have already read the two reviews till now on PFC. eagerly waiting for the movie ever since the promos were shown forthefirst time with DevD release. got tickets for fridy niht show at INOX, Pune. Anyone else from Pune there?
Im sure the movie is quite explosive, what with the ensemble cast already known for giving volcanic eruptions in their roles, suitably led by KK Menon.
cant wait. friday kab hai, kab hai friday…?
waiting! Waiting!! WAITING!!!
Hey Satyendra, i too am from Pune.
Unfortunately for me, i wont be able to catch d Friday morning show as i’ll be working on Friday and Saturday.
Plan to catch it Sunday morning at e-square.Cant wait!!
vishal chalchitra – Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna was not written by Azad, but by Bismil.
I hope it will motivate people ,even if a handful ,to bring politics back into politics.
Oh man… Gulaal isnt releasing in Madras. What is happening???
Shit… Shit… Shit…
:(:(:(
Wow. Kashyap has outdone his previous works? Can’t believe it!! It must be a giddy height to reach. Friday Morning show, Inox Bangalore. Anyone?
Seems like this “volcano of talent” Mr Kashyap has worked magic again. But when will Dev D and Gulaal get a wider release in the US or at least the DVD’s come out? I have almost lost my patience here. :(
no gulaal in chennai????
did i read wrong or is it actually true?
SPOILERS dude .. at least warn ..
When is this movie releasing in US (East Coast)?
Sarforoshi ki Tamanna is the song that inspired our revolutionary freedom fighters.
It is said that it was written by Urdu poet Bismil Azimabadi and was popularised by Ramprasad Bismil(he took his pen name from Bismil Azimbadi, so it might be true.).
I like the version sung by Suresh Wadker.
Guess will have to skip this one too – because kids of 6 years are generally not allowed to enter the cinema halls, for Anurag’s films !! Family people like me will have to wait till the DVD releases ? Or online viewing ;) !!
Looks like there is no release in chennai, thats surprising because i have seen hindi movie having a very good run in chennai…is there any problem with distributors and stuff ?? And read an interesting tit bit on the net that AK had offered the lead terrorist role in black friday to Kamal hassan and he politely refused it, how much of this info is true ???
wow what a review! i’m like THERE on the 13th of march
Balaji-Yeah even I’m surprised as to why its not releasing in Chennai all the more because Dev D is still running there in Sathyam Cinemas.Thankfully I’m in Mumbai now & so will manage to see it
Raunak @ 8: hey, am watching friday night 1030 show in INOX, Pune. See if you can make it. Mind says Sunday, as its the relaxed day, but heart cant wait for so long, when others will be bombarding the info on PFC from Friday itself…
So, Friday night it is…
Sethu: Im in bangalore and have booked for friday night show at INOX, so i will catch it too.
This is so bad!
How could they not release Gulaal given that Dev D is having an awesome run in Madras?
Check out this Gulaal review:
http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/review.php?id=14869141&ctid=5&cid=2425
saw GULAAL first day firs show
its a let down definately….
the biggest culprit the story itself and then the second half just goes the downward curve
Haasil still satnds as the best one in tht genre ever….
liked the film quite a bit. but somehow, i can never put my finger on it – there’s something missing from anurag’s films. some human factor. like u see in a dev d or a hulla. there’s something i can’t put my finger on. the intensity or the human connection.
the film is definitely anurag’s best to date, very awesome, more later.
i meant like u see in a oye lucky by dibakar or a hulla by jaideep varma.
I saw the first show of it today at 9.30 am in the morning.And the movie sure did make my day.After Dev D it is indeed a beautiful and ferocious creation by Anuraag.
Loved the Movie cheers to it.
Khalid Mohamed’s review of Gulaal in Asian Age -
http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/movies/blasting-the-badlands.aspx
Jiyo! Khalid bhai
)
Posted my afterthoughts on the gulaal thread by anurag.
Totally agree with khalid’s rrview, word. The man seems to have finally got over his ego. Amazing film alright. Way better than most hindi films can dream to be. There’s hope for people like me in AK, Dibakar and the likes. Godspeed!
today i watched gualal and really its was better than my expection(mind it i am a AK fan)…movie start with excellent speech of KK and its was true narration of current indian politics condition…this movie is like eye opener for those who think hindi cinema can not be intellegent or meaningfull…just watch it and you will know what is good cinema.for me its best movie of anurag along with black friday….
raja sen review was like confusing physics string theory…revies was full with praise but got only 3 star…
by the way kudos to piyush mishra,KK,deepak, Abhimanyu Singh and offcourse anurag.
and one more thing i am very big fan of tigmanshu ‘haasil’,watched it more than 100 times…but for me gulal is better than haasil any day….
and one more thing i am very big fan of tigmanshu ‘haasil’,watched it more than 100 times(it was like college anthem in our time)…but for me gulal is better than haasil any day….
just cames back watchin late night show movie is definitley good but u can definitely see that….there is problem with the flow as if someone started make something ,,,,,but due variuos circusmatnces ended making something elz…characterization is awesome….. perfomance mind blowing,,,music worth repeat listening,,lyrics n dialogue also commenadble,,,
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हाथ की खादी बनाने का ज़माना लद गया
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I happened to see the movie yesterday……
It was a awesome movie. And every word coming out of of Prithvi Bana’s mouth was a wisdom and a eye opener.
Thannks Ashish for providing the lyrics of Sarfaroshi ki tammana…..
hats off to Piyush Mishra and Anurag Kashyap…
Agreed, Gulaal is mind blowing….What I like about Kashyap is that he is an original..whether it is the cinematography or the dialogues, you can see this guy doing new things, unlike any of the other so-called directors of Hindi cinema….secondly, Kashyap seems to have grip on human character probably more than anyone else in HIndi Cinema today….I loved the characters of ranasa, the main protagonist as well as that of the brother-sister duo….as per my udnerstanding all three were so true to life in their reactions to different incidents that it blew me away…thirdly, the music and lyrics are so original, so wonderful, you got to support this guy………..
All that being said, I liked Haasil better, somehow seems more true to life, can’t put my finger on it, but it could be the human element as pointed out by one of the commentators above…
By the way, would love to hear about people’s perceptions on what they think of Haasil vs. Gulaal
Hey people………….
I happened to see half the movie and i had to come down to chennai and unfortunately the movie is not released here, I’m dying to get back to bangalore……….Watever i got to see, i’m blown out of my mind………I’m awe struck with the way Movie started – First time ever that a movie was so engrossing right from the first FRAME……I read about this new movie that Anurag Kashyap is working on – 4 months three weeks and two days, waiting for it.
2morrow(29 march) cinemax-sion 10.15 am show rs.60 only….just to let people know if ne body like me is yet to see Gulaal n can’t afford other shows…
An exemplary movie … can’t say anything more than that … I’ve watched it twice in the last two days … can do with more ..
amazing music and lyrics .. and amazing acting by Kay Kay and Piyush Mishra. Watch out for Deepak Dobriyal too !