Gangs of Wasseypur II

Before going to bed last night, after watching GOW 2, I told a friend of mine that I really wanted to dream of hugs, kisses and puppies. I cant rem... read more

Before going to bed last night, after watching GOW 2, I told a friend of mine that I really wanted to dream of hugs, kisses and puppies. I cant remember now if I did but thats better than waking up in the middle of the night to hanging heads, bulleted bodies, blood, gore, guns okay Ill stop. It wasnt as though I wasnt expecting this. I was. Part 1 and the trailers/teasers for GOW 2 prepared me for it. And though I may have had my hands ready to cover my eyes through the movie, it was one movie I wouldnt have missed for the world. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. So incredible that Ill probably be back in a theater watching the two parts back to back sometime this week.

My review started a little dramatically, but there is more to the film than violence. I loved Faizal Khans chemistry with his wife. Actually, I loved Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) in general. Period. He was funny. Got stoned in style (which if youre a stoner, or were a stoner, youll find hard to keep watching for 2.5 hours), apparently awesome in bed, great with guns, great with the family basically a badass. The other characters too, especially Perpendicular and Definite played their roles really well.

The story has a twist. Or many actually. And if you struggle with Hindi you may take a little longer to finally get in the loop of whats going on. The direction is superb. Script even better. Music out of this world Dil Chhi Chha Ledar still stuck in my head. And so is Nawazuddin Siddiqui, what an incredibly talented (and good looking) man.

Dont miss GOW 2.view less

Watching a 3 hour movie is an intense experience, and specially when it is an Anurag Kashyap flick. He does not allow you time to breathe or sit ba... read more

Watching a 3 hour movie is an intense experience, and specially when it is an Anurag Kashyap flick. He does not allow you time to breathe or sit back, and I have just spent 3 hours leaning forward, sitting at the edge of my seat (almost falling out of it sometimes).

Now, when I look back at the entire 6 hours odd that I have spent in Wasseypur, I will say that it was time well spent. Watching a movie that establishes benchmarks in Cinema and is eons ahead of the competition is definitely a treat to the senses, and Kashyap truly deserves a standing ovation for having the gall and the guts to create this one. Wasseypur is flawless in each and every aspect of film-making, and I will try to justify why.

Script - You cannot run an express train without fuel, and GoW doesn't attempt to deliver on chaff either. Thus, the story and the concept are both written on a large canvas, with carefully weaved in detail. I was amazed, and at times overwhelmed at the kind of detail which could have been overlooked and nobody would have noticed. Consider for example, the film poster of DTPH and the mention of DDLJ during 95-97. Also, the fixation with 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhee Bahu Thi' in 2004, and the introduction of pagers. Also recall, in the first part, how Ramadhir's wife gets flummoxed when he invites Sultan for Lunch.

Screenplay and dialogues - To go over-the-top in Indian cinema is considered granted, and film makers get awfully craptacular in the name of providing visual extravaganza. Cars blow up 50 feet in the air as a matter of routine. Women are glammed up and men beefy.

Another place where GoW retains the authentic/rustic feel of the place where it claims to belong to. I am in absolute love with the accents and the dialogues, like the one where Faisal Khan assures his mother that revenge would be sought. And boy, does Ramadhir Singh get it right when he exclaims, "Jab tak Bharat me saneema rahega, log ch***a bante rahenge !" Anurag and Zeishan certainly know how to entertain and insult the audience with one-liners as crisp as this one.

Direction - That Kashyap is India's best amongst his contemporaries can be proved by one scene, and one scene alone: Faisal moving his family and subsequently himself during a murderous attack on their home. The camera continuously tracks the actor for the entire scene, and it looks as if the shot has been canned in one continuous take. This delightful sequence is a personal favorite and certainly a first for Bollywood. A similar moment in the first film is the last one after Sardar Khan is shot. Which leads to the question, "Why does everybody else find it so bloody difficult to combine cinematic excellence with realism ?" Certainly doesn't seem to be an issue with Anurag Kashyap.

Starcast - This is no ordinary group, but a motley bunch of actors who are the best of Bollywood. Want to make your own film ? GoW makes it awfully easy by giving you the list of winners from a national acting competition. Each actor, starting from the leads Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Manoj Vajpayee to the wedding/funeral singer Yashpal Sharma require separate reviews and articles for themselves, and there is no point delving deeper into their capabilities.

And finally, the music. It blows your socks off, with bang-on-target lyrics. The best of the lot for Wasseypur 2 is 'Taar Bijli' and 'Chhi Chha Ledar'(sung by aTh 12 year old).

The only problem with Wasseypur is that it becomes emotionally taxing and mind numbing. I zoned out for some time, affected by the absolute mayhem being unleashed.

Take a bow, Mr Kashyap for the best film series of Bollywood. I am going to be a fan all my life.

PS - On the GOW wiki page, the director is named - "Anurag JI Kashyap" :-D.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. view less

I did not like Gangs of Wasseypur 2 as much as I liked the first movie. Maybe, it needs to be seen as one whole movie with 4 breaks to fully enjoy ... read more

I did not like Gangs of Wasseypur 2 as much as I liked the first movie. Maybe, it needs to be seen as one whole movie with 4 breaks to fully enjoy the experience. As it is, it has a huge set of new characters to deal with and if you do not remember everything from the first movie then you are in trouble with the second. The movie seems to lose the energy and wickedness it had in the first part.

Maybe this low energy is a reflection of the tiredness that the central character of Faisal Khan feels in his unwilling role as the don who has taken over his fathers mantle because there is no one else to do it. He would rather be romancing his wife and smoking charas than fighting politicians and running an illegal business. So the movie kind of meanders in a charsi haze of killings and revenges. The second wifes son Definite emerges as the main character in this story of stabbings and backstabbings and shifting loyalties. If there is a Gangs of Wasseypur 3 being thought of, Defiinite will definitely be the star in it.

The music also failed to move me in this movie. I guess, the first part was a surprise for me in all aspects, the setting, the mileu the characters, the dialogues, everything was new and fresh so grabbed me. Now we are like quasi residents of Wasseypur and feel a bit jaded with our surroundings. I also felt the movie was a bit too clever at times that took away from its sincerity.

The humour is wickedly intact though. The scene where Sultan Qureshi gets killed in the sabzi mandi for example is hilarious. Wish there was some more romance though in this part. The first part had whetted my appetite for it tremendously. Also, its too long without the nervous energy to sustain this length.

Of course, you will see GoW 2 if you have seen GOW 1. Its like a sequel to a good book that you have to read. Maybe you will like it more than me. I will refrain from either recommending it or not.
view less

Gangs of Wasseypur II is one of the best movie experiences Ive ever had for an Indian film. Its an experience, which cant even be described by a fo... read more

Gangs of Wasseypur II is one of the best movie experiences Ive ever had for an Indian film. Its an experience, which cant even be described by a four-letter word in the English language. (You decide which one). I expected it to be better than the previous film and I was still surprised by how good it was. The problem with the first film was never the pacing but the screenplay. It was just that it had dull moments. Some of those moments will be better seen in the context of the whole. Part II with a similar runtime has not a single dull moment. I dont usually make juvenile statements like the one Im just about to make, but if you think it does, then the only logical explanation I can think of is that your eye must have been stabbed with a knife.

We saw Sardar Khans (Manoj Bajpayee) story in the first outing and now its Faizal Khans (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) turn to try his hand at a bit of the old *keh ke lena*. Sardar Khan got sidetracked in his quest for vengeance against Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia) and baton got passed on to the youngest son.

Anurag Kashyap decided to make The Godfather Part II first and now pays tribute to the film that several Indian filmmakers from Mani Ratnam to Ram Gopal Varma to Prakash Jha have tried to puke out of their systems. A story goes that the producers of The Godfather werent happy with Coppolas choice of casting Al Pacino. Then the scene where we see Michael killing for the first time was shot, which changed their minds entirely. Faizal gets a similar scene. Only it has a hilarious dialogue about him thinking his father was like Sanjeev Kumar, and he thought he would be Amitabh Bachchan but turned out to be Shashi Kapoor. From then on you look at the skinny ganja-smoking Faizal differently and so do the townsfolk. There is a shot of the ganja smoke and the camera slowly bathing in it. He has two brothers: Perpendicular and Definite. Why was that shot there? Why were these names chosen? Well thats because Tarantino decided to call it Inglourious Basterds and not Inglorious Bastards. (Still dont get it? Ill spell it out for you: Its f*****g cool)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui announces his arrival as a major actor with his powerhouse performance. Zeishan Quadri lends his diabolical eyes to the character of Definite. Another revelation is Huma Qureshi who plays Mohsina. How gorgeous is this woman? I was absolutely floored by her few scenes in the first part and wanted to call dibs on her but now shes going to be catching every guys eye(ahem)balls. Richa Chadda sings Taar Bijli and she remembers her husband/ past and goes into a reverie. For that scene alone, she should be handed every best supporting actress award already. She now has our permeesun to say: *I can act better than any young actress in Bollywood even with my eyes closed*.

While my eyes were being shown blood fountains, the soundtrack gave me eargasms amidst the constant bullet showers. The music is not just better in the second installment but also used better. Take for example how the song Kaala Rey has 2 intervals, Moora plays thrice and always in a different situation and my favorites: Taar Biji/Electric Piya and Keh Ke Lunga dubstep. Sneha Khanwalkar joins the pantheon of the best young musicians of our country alongside Amit Trivedi. The future of Hindi film music is safe in these super talented hands.

My absolute favorite sequence in the film is the four-way cellphone homicide virtuoso when Definite has to kill Sultan (the second villain). Apart from the fact that the duology works better as a whole. Now we are emotionally involved as well. You see revenge in movies these days as just an act of cold-blooded vengeance, as an obsession. This film carries it out as an act of destiny. It becomes an aim with its own hurdles and a test of endurance.

My personal test of a good revenge film is when it makes me say the following phrase to the villain in my head: *Die mother**** die!* I decided Ramadhir should suffer the same fate when he said he doesnt watch movies and gave reasons for it. We have witnessed revenge in movies, exacted in many ways but this is something Ive always wanted to see. THIS IS IT. Yes it is graphic, yes it may even be highly messed up but this is the penultimate movie revenge. Yes, this film refused to stop being awesome.

Most filmmakers are inspired by Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. Some get influenced and want to make similar cinema. Most end up looking stupid while doing it without any understanding of their craft and *why* they use violence but only *how* they use it (or not even that). Anurag Kashyap is the only one who could be called Scorsese and Tarantinos love childlove child. Best part? He looks f*****g cool while he does it. It is quite simply one of the best films ababout revenge (in any language). If revenge is a dish best served cold, Anurag Kashyap informs us its also best eaten slow.

view less

I saw Gangs of Wasseypur 2 in a back to back marathon screening following a 2nd viewing of Gangs of Wasseypur 1. By the end of 5 hrs 20 minute I go... read more

I saw Gangs of Wasseypur 2 in a back to back marathon screening following a 2nd viewing of Gangs of Wasseypur 1. By the end of 5 hrs 20 minute I got what I call a cinematic orgasm.

The last time my brain was challenged to pay attention to every single thing happening on the screen was when I had seen an almost five and half hour long film called Carlos in the theatre.

It is nothing short of a miracle that in this age of short attention span and people live tweeting while watching a film Anurag Kashyap has managed to make an extremely engaging and entertaining film that never lets your mind waver off.

If you love the hilarious chase sequence in Black Friday get ready for another one in this film. There is also a extremely funny killing sequence that very strongly reminded me of a scene from Satya.

In a way I see this film as Anurag Kashyaps tribute to Satya and Company done in his own quirky way.

Even if you dont get the details of the family dynamics and the revenge trajectory you can just indulge in the humor and scenes in this film. Like I said in my Gow1 review this is a masala potboiler at its best.

A film in which in a funeral scene you are laughing your guts surely wants you to look at death in a not so morbid way. That is the tone of the film and Anurag sets it right in the beginning.

Though its a Nawazudins film all the way in terms of performance it is Zeishan Quadri as Definte who is a scene stealer and the surprise bomb of the film.

Even though this film is filled with so many new characters still the script and the director gave even the smallest character something to make them memorable. Perpendicular, Guddu,Definite,Shamshad,Sultan are characters that will stay in your mind.

The women though have nothing much to do in the film. Richa Chaddha who was explosive in the first one doesnt age well here.

I wish this film comes as an extended cut as a miniseries on t.v. or dvd.

The use of music whether as a soundtrack or as background is what elevates it from becoming drab and dull. A small example would be the use of the remixed keh ke loonga in the climax. The moment where that song starts is goose bump inducing moment.

The film is filled with one liner and wise cracks some of it was drowned by the applause and laughter of the audience.

I am sure this film will grow on you on repeated viewings.

Word of mouth: Gangs of Wasseypur 1 and 2 is this decades Satya.

Rating : **** ( Very Good)

Ticket meter: worth watching at any cost
view less