The (najayaz) Baap of all movies: Gunda
iView Author: Tanul Thakur (Urbana Champaign , USA)
Email: thakurtanul [at] gmail [dot] com
The (najayaz) Baap of all movies: Gunda
Disclaimer: This post has lots of profanity. Acche ghar ki bahu, betiyan are advised to skip this post.
“There are three kinds of movies in this world. Good. Bad. And Gunda” – Ancient Chinese proverb.
I can’t claim to write anything new( or refreshingly fresh) about this classic. But, that is what great things are about, it graciously shelters every one and gives each its own space. This is my humble dedication to GreatBong, the followers of this cult classic, and last but(t) certainly not the least, Prabhujee.
There are some movies which pushes the envelope of cinema to an extent that when you are done with the film, you are speechless. You don’t know what just happened, were you thrown into an illusionary world of madness where nothing is what it seems? Has it ever happened with you? It has happened with me only two times. Once, when I watched Fight Club(David Finch’s) and the other when I saw Gunda. Gunda is not only a movie, it is an epic, it is an epitome of what an ideal Bollywood movie should be. Never before has a movie seen such nicely etched characters, where their names not only rhymes with their motives, but also their appearances. When was the last time world cinema saw such nicely etched characters? Don’t you ever say movies like Reservoir Dogs, here the five goons(in one of the scenes) introduce themselves with some breathtaking dialogues. Not only the dialogues mirrors the demented state of this world, they are lyrical and poetic in nature. For a second, I was confused, whether this was Rime of the Ancient Mariner or Gunda. But, that is the brilliance of the dialogue writer Bashir Babar. He shows why S.T.Coleridge can never be Bashir Babar, but it is not the other way around. The dialogues rhymes with such effortless ease that it elevates the movie to a level where the movie makers can only see it, can never ,ever dare to go near it. Sample this video where each of the characters introduce themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4uiQMI3riE.
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Mukesh Rishi – Naam hai mera Bulla, rakhta hun khulla.
Shakti Kapoor – Mera naam hai chuttiya, acchi acchon ki khadi karti hoon main khatiya. Bulli kahan hai teri ungli, bulla bhai ab hoga hulla gulla. police aur hukumat karegi hai gulla,hai gulla.Sab bolenge hai chttuiya, hai bulla hai chuttiya. Arre dhoondho kahan hai chuttiya,pakdo pakdo kahan hai bulla.
Mohan Joshi – Mera naam hai pote, jo apne baap ke bhi nai hote. Jaljala jaag utha hai, ab sabko pata chala ki gang war start hone waala hai. lashein aise tapkeingi jaise nanhe munne ke nunni se peshab tapakta hai. TAP. TAP.
Harish Patel – Mera naaam hai Ibu Hatela, maa meri chudail ke beti, baap mera shaitan ka chela, khayega kela?
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The above dialogues clearly gives you an insight how layered the script is. Not only does it gives you a peek into the history of each and every characters, the great Kanti Shah also pays homage to some of his favorite movies.
Sample this, when Ibu Hatela says, “Maa meri Chudail ki beti, baap mera Shaitan ka chela.:” He clearly means that his baap is an IAS officer who works for the corrupt ministers( and thus, Shaitan ka Chela), and since his mom is Chudail ki beti busy shaking legs(and god knows what!)with fellow chudailins, this poor hatela guy is all alone. So alone is this guy that he is dangerously close to violating the line of sanity, as depicted in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Thus,Ibu Hatela’s character is Kanti Shah’s homage to this Scorsese classic. So this hatela guy’s life is colorless until one fine day he realises that ‘kela’ is just not a fruit, but how ‘fruitfull’ it can become. So he starts social servicing his kela to ward off his lonelineness.
Now, when Bulla says Naam hai mera bulla rehta hun main khulla, it implies how uncluttered his mind is. That Bulla is so innocent that he is unaware of the decitful ways of this world. You culd have easily found him talking stupidly with one of the ladies waiting for their buses, and saying My Momma said stupid is who stupid does. Yes. Bulla’s character is homage to the one of the most innocent characters in Cinematic world, who was always khulla(read transparent or innocent).Forrest Gump.( You shouldd see the incoence dripping from Bulla’s eyes when he kills anyone!)
When Chuttiya says, Naam hai mera chuttiya, acche acchon ki khada karta hun main khatiya. khadi karta hun main khatiya, clearly means that he is unable to sleep, the insomniac behavior, the same problem which Norton was suffering in FightClub, the dig at the white collored jobs. Chuttiya is Shah’s homage to Tyler Duren’s character.
And when Mohan Joshi says, naam hai mera Pote jo apne baap ke bhi nai hote, clearly shows the concept of selflessness, that whatever be, the ’self’ shouldn’t be sacrificed, the belief in the power of “I”. No prizes for guessing, Pote is homage to Rand’s hero Howard Roark.
This is a description of just many of the wonderful scenes.Each and every frame of this epic ought to be discussed, because this movie is equivalent to a painting, the different colors fusing with each other to give us something we can cherish for. Let’s look at this scene now: from 4:55 to 6:34. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3BMCgNFd80&feature=related.
The najayaz son of Terminator II wants to rape the oh-so-awesome-touch-me-not-plant sister of prabhujee. She runs for one and a half seconds and then falls, and waits for 4 seconds so that the najayaz son of Terminator II can fall on her. Now, intense fight and bacha bachao, the calisthenics of Terminator II and his facial contortions makes me believe that lady is raping him, not the other way around. Some second later, the hero comes(no, not prabhujee, some local disciple) and kicks the fuck out of the guy being raped. Then, the normal shukriya and crap follows, the guy asks, “Tum iss veerane me kya kar rahi ho?” If you see the video you would get the setting, it is a fucking desert, with only one electric pole(or something which resembles that, no double meaning here, if you count all the pole it would be two, as the hero is also standing besides her, but mind you, I’m a good boy!)in the vicinity. And the girl replies, “Main to college ja rahi thi.” College in a desert? Yes, that is Kanti Shah’s take on our educational system. Why there are nocolleges in the desert? In the jungles? When would institutes like IIT,IIMs come to desert? Why there is such a disparity?Why are educational opportunities not equal? You never know,but soon after that, a place in Rajasthan(close to the deserts),coaching institues begun to spring in large numbers in a place called Kota. Huge number of people are making it to the esteemed IIT’s from that place now. Such was(and is, and will be)the power of Gunda.
The movie also raises our conscience on very important thing. Rape. Kanti Shah’s epic almost hoarse its lungs out – Why is Rape not a fundamental right? Why is Rape considered wrong? When will all the horny men of this world get a ‘realise’? Why is being horny wrong? Cows have horns, they are not wrong, we worship them. Then, why adding a mere ‘y’ makes it so abominable? Also, there is an almost unwritten rule in Prabhujee’s movie( this applies only to his sisters). The rules are:
1. If you are prabhujee’s sister, you should, and you would be raped. Don’t ask why. Ask when.
2. If you are prabhujee’s sister, and you have not yet got the priviledge of being raped, contact the higher authorites as soon as possible and inquire when the needful would be done.
3. If the aforementioned points do not apply, you are not prabhujee’s sister. Yes, it is true. Better luck next time.
I can go on and on, but go and cherish the masterpiece for yourself. As they say, ye to bas trailer poori film abhi baaki hai. Also, to make this masterpiece even more exciting, you can do a tarantino to Gunda. That is, you watch the last scene first, then see some random scenes in the middle, and then watch it from the first scene. Trust me on this, it won’t make even an ounce of a difference, as compared to watching it linearly. Isn’t that one of the many intriguing things about this movie? Watch it for yourself, and I’m sure you would find lots more. The lovers of cult classics, my humble offering to you. Lastly,inspired by the poetic Bashir Babar I would leave you with two lines I cooked up on my own for the sheer love of my favorite movie.
Agar Gaand me hai gudda
To zaroor dekhna Gunda
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
yeh ghor anarth hain…..an article on Gunda and no mention of Lambu Atta – Doonga Maut ka chata!!!!!
@ Axw11: Galti se mistake ho gaya, have written in the last paragraph,that if I write possibly everything about the movie, I may not finish it in the first place.
Finally prabhuji and Gunda on PFC.It was a long wait but how long can you stay away from one of best hindi films ever!!!!!And yes if you watch Gunda and even after Kanti Shah’s almost lyrical explanation of every scene you have any doubts you can post your questions here:http://gunda-faqs.blogspot.com
All hail Prabhuji…
One of the best in-depth analysis of Gunda was done by Greatbong in this immortal post…
http://greatbong.net/2007/06/20/gunda-the-legend/
Don’t miss it…
atlast kisi ne GUNDA ke baare me likha… thanks
hail prabhuji…
shatrughan, not the first post on gunda on PFC..
http://passionforcinema.com/a-tribute-to-the-greatest-cult-classic-ever-made-in-india/
my respects for this post!!!!!! i think Gunda is work of sheer genius…….thanks for putting it up here!!!!!
i am all set to gift a dvd of this classis to me ex-mil
“Ravi Balakrishnan of the Economic Times states “The Mithun Chakarborthy-starrer has gained a surprising amount of cult popularity over the last year and a half or so, with several adulatory reviews and even fan-sites cropping up. But when we first saw Gunda, back in 2005, a full seven years after its unheralded release in 1998, it was the first any of us had heard of the film or its prolific director, Kanti Shah.”[2] Mayank Shekhar of the Mumbai Mirror says that “Gladwell hasn’t seen Gunda (probably, neither have you). He must. He’d be glad. In my living memory, I have yet to notice a more startling revelation of the mysterious ‘tipping point’ anywhere of my social circle. Over the past few months, about four unrelated sources from three parts of the world have asked me if I’d seen Kanti Shah’s Gunda.”[3]With over 1,200 votes cast as of April, 2008, Gunda has a rating of 8.3 on the website IMDB.”
Hall of Fame (Bollywood Innovative Director), Kanti Shah is going to make Gunda 2 (on heavy demand). He caved in to the huge popularity of the movie!!!!!!!!!.
Here’s his other worthwhile movies(each trying to outdo the other) Source : wiki
* 1991 AAG KE SHOLAY
* 1991 GANGA JAMUNA KI LALKAAR
* 1992 GANGA BANI SHOLA
* 1992 BASANTI TANGEWALI
* 1993 RANI AUR MAHARANI
* 1993 PHOOLAN HASINA RAMKALI
* 1994 AAG AUR CHINGARI
* 1995 VEER
* 1996 RANGBAAZ
* 1997 LOHA
* 1998 GUNDA
* 2000 JALLAD NO.1
* 2000 DAKU RAMKALI
* 2000 MERI JUNG KA ELAAN
* 2001 JAGIRA
* 2004 DARINDA
* 2005 FREE ENTRY
* 2007 DHOLAN GARAM DHOLO NARAM
* 2007 BEDROOM
* 2009 GUNDA 2 | Filming
This is the part of the conspiracy to vault Gunda to greatness. Greatbong and quite a few others are part of the same. However I shall stand as a voice against the same.
Gunda maybe good … maybe great … but is no patch on Jaani dushman – Ek Anokhi Kahani. JD – EAK is Indian cinema’s answer to all the doubting Thomases world over. It is the greatest Indian movie with an A list star cast as well as getting a general all India release.
I will need some time to actually write in with a more detailed explanation as well as scene commentary for the same but heres my top 5 reasons to shut up all you Gunda fans …
1) The star cast … Manisha Koirala at her heaviest , Akshay Kumar , Suniel Shetty , Sonu Nigam , Sharad Kapoor , Shahbaaz Khaan , Rajat Bedi , Rambha , Aftab, Arshad Warsi – all playing college students …
Others include Sunny Deol , Raj Babbar , Armaan Kohli , Raza Murad , Amrish Puri …
What have you got Gunda waalon … Prabhuji , Mukesh Rishi , Shakti Kapoor , Mohan Joshi … thats it !!! HA HA
2) The story … Icchadhaari Naags , rebirth , college romance , date rape …
Compared to Gunda’s simple straight forward story of one man against the system … this is getting too easy …
3) Special Effects … A running guy turning into a bike … a skeleton dancing in a room … Armaan Kohli walking through walls … you have to see it to believe it !!!
Does Gunda even have special effects ???
I can go on and on …
I do agree that Gunda is way ahead on the dialogues front but then JD – EAK has so much more … from Amrish Puri in Khaki shorts , Sonu Nigam in a flying sofa , songs as legendary as Jaaved Bhai so relle , Sunny Deol dancing …
All you Gunda fans , dont just stake claim to greatness … earn it … beat Jaani dushman and then we ll talk !!!
Wait i think Gunda will have some serious competition from
Deshdrohi starring srk sorry KRK.
“* 2009 GUNDA 2 | Filming”
is this true?
@Cinemausher
i am catching that one first day nite show, ifff it releases in hyd… we cant miss out on history being made…
@ prasun: Your love for JD- EAK is heartwarming. I am touched. However, I must admit that Gunda beats JD EAK hands down. You see the most basic and obvious difference is – Gunda is an original masterpiece. JD EAK has scenes “inspired” from the matrix, terminator 2; On this premise itself, JD loses out. Gunda in all its glory is a 10,000% original desi maal!!! no copying from anyone else.
@ tanul: Greatbong had started the entire “Prabhuji” and “gunda” hysteria and i loved reading about it in www.greatbong.net. However, to be honest, Tanul -your article is also a gem!!Gunda is a classic. (the other one is ofcourse – Classic: A dance of love).
deshdrohi is looking sooooo bad that it has already booked a spot in the hall of fame. KRK going to be the next SRK?
ho ho ho
terrific!been a fan of Gunda and seen it at least 50 times
–lucky chikna ka role bhi mil jaata, my life would have been complete
if I had the money, I would produce Gunda 2 in a blink
@Sophocles: Infact my article is a tribute to the whole hysteria started by Greatbong(as mentioned in the post), glad that you liked mine too!! Also, agree with your points regarding JD, now people are waiting with bated breaths as to how deshdrohi would be. But, I still believe it won’t surpass Gunda, the very factor that elevates Gunda above everything else is, its dialogue. That is poetry man, it flows like a river.!
Great post,
However characters like Lucky C, Gulshan, Inspector Kale,and Ganga also deserve mention. Specially Lucky C, who made amply clear to chinaal to serve SME( ’small’ and ‘medium’ enterprise) customers. He was true hands-on manager who believed in delivery to customer. Wish our IT managers learn from him!
Inspector kale who in line of duty sent prabhu ji’s father to meet the maker that too without using official gun. Is it not inspired from chanakya about not to use state’s resources when not serving state’s purpose?
I feel the need of more thorough study of Gunda.
Well, Gunda has become the part of IIM Ahmedabad’s course content now!! read the news here http://www.fakingnews.com/2009/08/gunda-to-be-inducted-as-a-case-study-at-iim-ahmedabad/