Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur

Wasseypur no different from Munshi Premchand’s India

By Himanshu Shekhar

With emotions over melodrama, intensity over acting - Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur is a deft narrative of an India which the suburban middle-class have conveniently chosen to ignore.

Wasseypur is set in the backdrop of the Bihar-Jharkhand border where coal mining, smuggling and gang wars are not just rampant but an integral part of life.

So, any movie based on the coal mafia and gang war is bound to draw parallels. The question you will ask is: Is Anurag Kashyap trying to match Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece - The Godfather? There’s uncanny similarity between the two plots. But to stretch that logic beyond a point would be grave injustice to one of India's most talented directors. The movie, in flashes, takes you to the plight of the coal workers in the region and showcases how youngsters take to arms if deprived of a respectable living. 

From Birju in Mother India to Sardar Khan in Wasseypur, not much has changed in Indian villages. If ever there is a re-birth of Munshi Premchand, he won't have to search for plots. Struggle, hardship, the poor and bahubalis are in abundance in our villages.

That's exactly where Wasseypur gets its hero - Sardar Khan- astoundingly portrayed by Manoj Bajpai.

Sardar Khan injects the common audiences with doses of Biharism (Bakaiti).

Not just the protagonist, but each single character in the movie has been carefully crafted and little details attended. Jaideep Ahlawat as Shahid Khan, Richa Chadda as Nagma Khatoon, Mukesh Chhabra as Nawab Khan, Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir Singh, Anurita Jha, Jameel Khan as Asgar, Harish Khanna as Yadavji, Piyush Mishra as Farhan, Huma Quershi as Mohsina, Reema Sen as Durga, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Faizal, Raj Yadav, Raj Kumar Yadav are names which will be taken seriously by Bollywood from here on.

It will be very surprising if Gangs of Wasseypur fails to be the watershed year in career of these extremely promising actors.

Sardar Khan talks in Bihari, his one-liners, his love scenes with his wife and his extra-marital overtures makes you laugh out of your seats. On the other hand, his extraordinary rebel stare and liberal use of swear words, packed by some scintillating dialogues - Bajpai raises the bar for acting, as far as quality goes.

He kills people, fights Ramadhir Singh (who also happens to be the murderer of his father), cheats on his wife, goes to jail but still you don't want to hate him.

His denial to accept the hegemony of Ramadhir Singh - the Bahubali politician - leads to a war which involves killings of innocent and provokes retaliatory fire, leaving the town in a lurch. All this while Khan's wife Nagma Khatoon's presence is constant in the background. Played by Richa Chadda, Nagma's resolute character is reliable and steady. Demonstrative, if not dominating. Don't be surprised if she walks away with the best female actor award.

Like any Shakespearian plot, revenge and treachery is one of the characters of this movie. That's where Nagma brings a trust factor in the movie.

How often you have seen women happily accepting every injustice meted out by her husband? Unlike Durga - Sardar Khan's extra-marital love interest, played by Reema Sen - Nagma loves her husband unconditionally. Durga on the other hand, cheats Khan and virtually conjures with the opposition gang and successfully plots her husband's (Sardar Khan) death. 

However, with so many sub-plots running simultaneously, one logic of the narrative occasionally starts meandering from its theme.

Harsh and heart-wrenching socio-political realities had often set the narratives in Indian cinema. Wasseypur is no different.

However, there are two types of movies. One, those which present the exact truth regardless of whether it attempts to break the stereotype and leave you optimistic at the end or not. Also, there are movies which leave you with lot of soul-searching but give you hope. Taare Zameen Par and Rang de Basanti are examples.

The background score and the songs in the movie are simply amazing. Interwoven with the script, at no point it attempts to take you away from the reality. Manoj Tiwari after a long time has come from the benches to Bollywood’s actual playground with his song ‘Jiya tu Bihar ke Lala’. Songs in this movie are a blend of Bihari and Bhojpuri and is a refreshing change from the loudness of Mikka & Co.

There are other good songs too in the movie which have an earthly touch. Proper care has been taken to load everything with the taste of the regional diaspora in mind. Woh womania and Keh ke loonga catch you with their folksy boisterousness.

As audience and reader, you have every right to differ with what I feel, but I must say that as a common man, I would wait for something extraordinary from the immensely talented, versatile and perfectionist - Anurag Kashyap.