(By Akshat Sharma) Spread in two parts ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ is India’s first ‘true blue’ desi gangster saga. Hollywood has produced its fair share of gangster movies with directors like Coppola and Tarantino being the flag bearers of such kind of cinema. Bollywood, on the other hand, has been scared to push boundaries all these years because most of the directors in India believe that Indian cine-goers do not want to watch cinema which is raw and real at the same time.
Anurag Kashyap understands the kind of cinema India appreciates and his ‘Gangs of Wasseuypur’ offers an interesting commentary on mainstream Bollywood which runs parallel in the narrative. Most of his characters in the movie are inspired by masala movies. Right from Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Trishul’ to Shahrukh-Salman’s ‘Karan Arjun’ Bollywood potboilers serve as a reference point to the string of characters splattered all over in the movie.
Wasseypur is a non-descript town where revenge runs in average man’s blood corpuscles. Even the women living here have a special liking for such dark emotions. So much so when Sardar Khan (Manoj Vajpayee) is murdered in broad daylight female protagonist Nagma (played by Richa Chadda) threatens to severe her fingers if her son Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiquie) doesn’t seek revenge. Faizal Khan gets sucked into Mafiosi like the way Michael Coroleone in ‘Godfather’.
Death in Wasseypur evokes a mix of strange response. Strange because although death in Wasseypur is mourned by the people but it is also viscerally celebrated. The local brass band singer sings songs like ‘Yaad teri aayegi’ and ‘Teri Meherbaniyan’ as the people mourn the death of their beloved in the background. The mourning soon gives way to revenge and the streets of Wasseypur witness the characters running on streets, spraying bullets and hurling expletives. Faizal Khan on his journey to take revenge indulges into activities like ‘steel business’ and runs a crime cartel in town.
He also finds time for his feisty wife Mohsina (Huma Querishy ) but their love is not the kind which we witness in movies. They don’t sing, dance or even pretend love. Their love is quite biological as it begins in the night and continues all night. Mohsina doesn’t want anything more out of this relationship. She only wants him to be safe and alive. Mohsina also croons “Nervousao Nahin Mura” to give her husband some comfort when his nerves are frayed.
Second part of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ introduces a litany of characters that have weird but interesting names and they are ruthless. For them there are no rules as their ‘golden rule is that there is no rule’. Perpendicular, Tangent and Definite form are the new breed of killers in town. They walk violence; they talk violence because they believe it is the only way to survive in this jungle.
‘Gangs of Wasseypur 2’ begins and ends with murder. It began with Sardar Khan’s murder and ended with Ramadheer Singh’s (Tigmanshu Dhulia) cold blooded brutal murder. In between these two murders Anurag Kashyap presents multiple chase sequences, fiery gun shots, brutal killings, humours situations and a filmi romance. It may sound absurd but Anurag Kashyap is the king of ‘absurd but clever cinema’ in India.
Anurag Kashyap deserves all the compliments he has received in the past couple of months. He is the man who knows his cinema and craft. After struggling all these years to find certain space for his kind of cinema in Bollywood finally with ‘Gangs of Wasseyour’ he can be assured that there are cine-goers who are willing to watch stories.
Spending money to watch quality actors like Nawazuddin, Richa Chadda, Tigmanshu Dhulia giving credible performances on screen is definitely a good idea if you do not have aversion to real life characters. The movie is set in rural background so do not expect them to have a polished fashion sense or diction. So deal with ‘Phaizal’ instead of chaste ‘Faizal’.
