Gulaal is a work of genius and there are two of them involved. Anurag Kashyap is obviously one with wonderful art direction and camera angles / perspectives that no Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra could ever think of.
In Gulaal he makes an angry, gritty film with a storyline incredibly unique and a cast and treatment worthy of Hazaar Oscars.
The Plot :
The film is set in the city of Rajpur, Rajasthan where Rajputs rule the roost and a defunct kings' son dreams of having a land of their own (Rajputana).
Caught in this quagmire are two young guys. A simple scared rajput boy Dileep (Raja Chowdhary) and his royal blood friend Ransa (a superb Abhimanyu Singh). When one of them gets seriously ragged by a bunch of hostel goons, a local gangeteresque Rajput Dukey Bana (KK) incites them to fight the university elections.
His motive is to get more money and enlist more men in his war for a free Rajasthan.
Further sub plots reveal an illegitimate son and daughter of Ransa's King father who are scheming to be recognized as royal blood. A distraught humiliated teacher (Jesse Randhawa) looking for redemption and a dance girl (Mahi Gill) romancing Dukey Bana.
Anurag Kashyap mixes these premises with a contemporary feel and art directs to the key.
The Other Genius :
The other genius of the film is Piyush Mishra. His dialogs, lyrics and modern day satirical shaairyi are the best produced maybe ever. Not to mention his own acting as a John Lennon worshipping elder Rajput Prtihvi Bana who imagines there will be peace and satirizes through the film with a rather weird homosexual half painted mime 'Ardh Nareshwar'.
The beauty of Anurag Kahsyap movies is that he keeps bringing into limelight some hard core awesome talent. Talent, which would never be recognized through the dynastic web of Bollywood and considerably dumbed down and sold out Khans.
He introduced Amit Trivedi in DEV D and now Piyush Mishra in Gulaal, without who's work each film could have been dismissed as easily as Kashyap's earlier 'No Smoking' was
The Cast:
The ensemble cast also delivers Kay Kay Menon hits home as usual as the all-powerful Dukey Bana who dreams of a separate state of Rajasthan. As does, Aditya Srivastava, as the scheming bastard child of the king. Raja Chaudhary as the reluctant normal guy is super convincing for what is a complex character A Must mention of Ayesha Mohan as a super cute 'Pink Floyd' strumming femme fa-tale who plays the main pawn in the game of manipulative politics
But ultimately the guys who steal scenes remain the loyal right hand guy Bhati (Deepak Dobriyal) - , the band master dressed royal Prithvi Bana (Piyush mishra) and a really Rajput like Ransa ( a balls in mouth Abhimanyu Singh)
One thing I did not like:
The film could have been more crisp, the characters of Mahie Gill and Jesse Randhawa did not really gel with the plot and the almost insane actions of one character towards the end were a little hard to digest. It appears somebody was in a hurry to release the film.
Yet I would go on to say that this is Indian Cinema is at its best and yet it appears far from what Anurag Kahsyap can actually achieve!! The word of caution is for the public and more importantly Indian Cinema, ignore this stuff at your own risk!!
In Gulaal he makes an angry, gritty film with a storyline incredibly unique and a cast and treatment worthy of Hazaar Oscars.
The Plot :
The film is set in the city of Rajpur, Rajasthan where Rajputs rule the roost and a defunct kings' son dreams of having a land of their own (Rajputana).
Caught in this quagmire are two young guys. A simple scared rajput boy Dileep (Raja Chowdhary) and his royal blood friend Ransa (a superb Abhimanyu Singh). When one of them gets seriously ragged by a bunch of hostel goons, a local gangeteresque Rajput Dukey Bana (KK) incites them to fight the university elections.
His motive is to get more money and enlist more men in his war for a free Rajasthan.
Further sub plots reveal an illegitimate son and daughter of Ransa's King father who are scheming to be recognized as royal blood. A distraught humiliated teacher (Jesse Randhawa) looking for redemption and a dance girl (Mahi Gill) romancing Dukey Bana.
Anurag Kashyap mixes these premises with a contemporary feel and art directs to the key.
The Other Genius :
The other genius of the film is Piyush Mishra. His dialogs, lyrics and modern day satirical shaairyi are the best produced maybe ever. Not to mention his own acting as a John Lennon worshipping elder Rajput Prtihvi Bana who imagines there will be peace and satirizes through the film with a rather weird homosexual half painted mime 'Ardh Nareshwar'.
The beauty of Anurag Kahsyap movies is that he keeps bringing into limelight some hard core awesome talent. Talent, which would never be recognized through the dynastic web of Bollywood and considerably dumbed down and sold out Khans.
He introduced Amit Trivedi in DEV D and now Piyush Mishra in Gulaal, without who's work each film could have been dismissed as easily as Kashyap's earlier 'No Smoking' was
The Cast:
The ensemble cast also delivers Kay Kay Menon hits home as usual as the all-powerful Dukey Bana who dreams of a separate state of Rajasthan. As does, Aditya Srivastava, as the scheming bastard child of the king. Raja Chaudhary as the reluctant normal guy is super convincing for what is a complex character A Must mention of Ayesha Mohan as a super cute 'Pink Floyd' strumming femme fa-tale who plays the main pawn in the game of manipulative politics
But ultimately the guys who steal scenes remain the loyal right hand guy Bhati (Deepak Dobriyal) - , the band master dressed royal Prithvi Bana (Piyush mishra) and a really Rajput like Ransa ( a balls in mouth Abhimanyu Singh)
One thing I did not like:
The film could have been more crisp, the characters of Mahie Gill and Jesse Randhawa did not really gel with the plot and the almost insane actions of one character towards the end were a little hard to digest. It appears somebody was in a hurry to release the film.
Yet I would go on to say that this is Indian Cinema is at its best and yet it appears far from what Anurag Kahsyap can actually achieve!! The word of caution is for the public and more importantly Indian Cinema, ignore this stuff at your own risk!!