I say brilliant, because sans that word it would be very difficult to describe this movie with any other adjective. Yes it is dark, it has a lot of parallels to a "DEV.D", with gloomy, drugged and unpegionholed characters. But what this movie does, is create this world of politics and love, with untouchable realism. The movie starts with a K K Menon speech, the word speech here is an understatement, the fiery write up and an equally fiery delivery leaves you mesmerized, almost reminiscent of the last rhetoric of KK Menon in "Shaurya". The film then goes back a year in time and narrates the transition of a nervous ordinary student, Dileep (Raja Chaudhary), from being a sidekick to Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh) to being a fearless gun wielding spurned lover. A special mention for Abhimanyu Singh's powerful performance, which makes the first half entertaining and gripping. The story revolves on Mritunjay's ( K K Menon) attempt to create a political force for a separatist movement " Rajputana" seeking independence as a separate entity. To achieve his objectives he uses everyone as a pawn, from the royalty's money to the student's popularity, in effect leading to the conflicts and rhetoric. Mahi Gill after "Dev.D" does a small but great part. There are a lot of characters portrayed in the film and everyone has a story to tell, and all of them have shades of gray, which I think is very typical Anurag Kashyap now. Although some characters and their stories are left incomplete (intentional you would feel), the overall characterization is (at the cost of repeating myself) "brilliant". The characters of Anuja and that of the "Ardha-Nareshwar" are done very well and add a bit to the overall story; however, at the end, you are left with a feeling of them being nothing more than useless subplots to bring in theatrical effects, again signature Anurag Kashyap. The music complements and in effect adds a lot to this movie. The lyrics are hypnotic, and the beats are very traditional and yet modern. Piyush Mishra, gives a fresh and psychedelic feel to the lyrics. The item numbers of this movie ("Ranaji" and "Beedo") have more poetic brilliance than all the title songs released this year. I am not even going to comment on superb songs like "Duniya", "Aarambh" or "Seher". Overall a must watch (not for the family), if you loved "Dev.D" you will surely like this. Though the second half of the film has loose ends and tends to overcomplicate the storyline, it still leaves an indelible mark on your minds, and rattles your thoughts.
Review of Gulaal
