Violence and revenge are weak words when compared to Gangs of Wasseypur. Wasseypur is a part of current town, Dhanbad in Bihar where this saga of revenge unfolds through the generations. Anurag Kashyap has done research on smallest narration and made this epic closest to reality Bollywood has ever made. The story is loosely based on real incidents but if you consider the flow of events, the way it unfolds, it is bound to become a cult. The silver screen cannot be real than this.
Anurag Kashyap After DevD, Gulal and Black Friday has done all the peers proud by GoW. The story narrated by Piyush mishra was an excellent choice. From Train Robberies to Coal mafias, to Fish market, to land sharks to Scrap kingpins, the small hamlet has evolved into a great town along with the rivalries. The growth was linear and Dons were not shown like king-size. They were real, with real fights and the one with grows with time. They even had their share of Libidos and feudal cultural drops. Right from Kutta (country guns) to Beef market, so surreal and raw that one could turn their stomach out. The movie set the expectations right after first 5 second, of how much blood and gore was well below what you have dreamed.
The ensemble cast and its choice was the key to success of this movie. Even the not so important casts were detailed much. The bang was so stereophonic it could give one hell of goosebumps. Movie starts with crimson burned train robberies and run out of wasseypur. Jaideep Ahlawat's coal fight was one of the best directed fist-fight, while Pitush mishra self punishment was something unheard of. The Birth of Protagonist Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) , still hard to digest. Where the mother dies due to heavy bleeding but the father is informed about a beautiful son she gave before loosing herself on life. Soon the Muslim Mahabharat was set to pace not limping through the ages but was galloped by a nice and crisp narration by Mishra. The rise of coal-mining and dabangg leaders were smooth and so was the introduction of Ramadhir singh (Played by Tigmanshu Dhulia - famed Director of Paan singh Tomar, Haasil and Saheb biwi aur Gangster).
The movie paced itself with orphan Sardar Khan's marriage and his quest for the revenge of his father's death. Teri Kah ke loonga song was the key to rise to another level, beautifully sung by Sneha (Music director) and Amit trivedi (DevD). This song was the cog-wheel of the movie, throughout.
Here comes the gags and humor plastered through hard facts of life, where a leader behaves differently inside his house and inside a brothel. Enters Richa Chadda (Oye Lucky lucky Oye !) as Najma Khatoon. She was given the role of a tigress , sending her man to please himself by another whore incase he is cocky. Although she doesn't hail from Bihar but the way she spoke Bhojpuri with so earthiness that she walks away with the cherry on the cake.
While Manoj Bajpayee can beat any actor when it comes to lecherous ways, his smile on the bare backs of Reemma Sen while sucking on Nalli Ghost Mutton was
lecherous at its zenith best . The camera and Anurag was so perfect in providing small details of then Bihar. Rustic and Rustic. Where a Man is a 'Mard' when he woos other women. This was the right backdrop of one the best song ever in Bollywood, sung marvelously by Rekha Jha and Khushboo - O Womaniya. I must admit that Sneha used her talent to compose the song from the people who has good diction of the land and recording it a way that other music directors need to break the mold. This is it, This is real cinema. This is Cinema.
The songs and their timing was near perfect and so engrossed that a person might miss the wordings. The local flavor is so enriched that people from other part of India might look for sub-titles. But the time has come to leave Punjab and its Butter masala flavor and reach out to new directors from Eastern part. There was a time in Bollywood where you have to have a Punjabi song to cater to Diaspora Indian by all the directors from the region, be it Chopras, Kapoors, Anand or Singhs.... The cliche is cut here and a Niche is set.
There was a time when Anurag Kashyap could not show a bullet shot on screen (Black Friday) due to financial constraint but in GOW he went over the budget five times. you can feel the bullet inside your head with blood sporting-out, oozing and dwindling all the way. The growth is not only shown in terms of budget but also a new pattern , where you've invested in actors and research'd story. Every department Camera, Screenplay, music, Lyrics, or cinematography is well rehearsed and close to the story of the land. You will not find Hindi glossy songs or dance out of the swoosh of hand . Even the "item boy" played brilliantly by Yashpal Sharma is close to the earth. Launda-Dance was all the new thing, never entertained on silver screen. This was the show of brilliance, where Sharma is singing Lata Mangeshkar the way a Bihari sings.
Tigmanshu Dhulia was so subtle and in the skin of the character that real Ramadhir might take a lesson from him. His casting was so perfect and on the terms with story. No character was built supersize.
The theater was burnt by Bajpayee and further destroyed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He was the Al Pacino of this Bhojpuri 'The'Godfather. Nawazuddin was so intense with his eyes that glares were seen despite it was covered by dark aviator sunglasses. His smile when the Hunter song was played and the police interrogation was not to be missed. The black skin and lips were purposely brazen to support Chillam (Charas) smoking. The unintentional revenge in Varanasi was also best directed scene in the flick, the way Pacino shot the polce chief inside the Italian restaurant. The movie was paced on the path set by
Francis Ford Coppola, Sergio Leone and of course Quentin Tarantino.
Kids cleaning train's toilet, Beef market and butchers, the living quarters of muslim, Muharram festive, and chinaware for a non hindu was so well taken care, it was so close to life. RGV's way of keeping your supporting cast as real as it could was good. The Jail scene and Manish Tippoo's Bhoos came to conviction. This is the movie where bombs are thrown but not blasted until thrown again, Butcher asking for automatic Guns to beat Atom Bombs, and beating your nemesis by footwear. These small details will hurt you so hard that you will smile and might even laugh and clap.
Pankaj Tripathi was another cast which was full of inner venom and potential , as Querashi. Vipin Sharma and Jameel Khan also had good share of screen presence as side kicks and they were well portrayed. Huma Qureshi was the sex-appeal of movie came at the end of first part and Rajeev Ravi didnt miss the opportunity to showcase her in the best Ray-bans proposing Amitabh. The scene between Nawazuddin and Huma is another real incident driven, where libidos are shown etiquette.
The master punch was the end of movie, end of Sardar khan, dragged to the Flawlessness with holes in the head and a pistol in the hand , when Manoj Tiwari blurtted the anthem "Jiyo ho" with such a adrenaline energy that you remain glued to your seat.
Sublime Excellence.
A rare feat. 5/5
Ekdum Bhokali.
