Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur - 2

Dang. Three minutes into the movie and you are dodging bullets already. If you don’t like guns, explosions and blood-spatter, this is not for you; please stay at home and wait for the release of ‘Barfi’

Thumb rule: If thou art a sequel, thou shalt be compared, no holds barred. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Deal with it.

GOW 2 does away with creating backdrops for who-we-are, where-we-are and what-we-do. Throwing the background out with the bath-water, it gets straight down to business right away. Son avenges father’s assassination, rival gang counter-strikes, brother’s killing is avenged and all hell breaks loose. The law is surrendered to the goats, and every other wasseypur chap metamorphoses into Mei-bhi-Don [keeping in sentiment with the movie’s obsession with Bollywood fare]

The movie is intense, make no mistake about it. One has to be observant, as there are many characters involved, although a tad lesser than the prequel. The pace shifts to low-gear at times, as the focus changes from story-telling to character-definition, so bear with it.

Abuses are hurled across rooms and gullies, as if they were second nature. Girlies, you may not appreciate the crassness, so be sure you want to walk your pretty heels into this gore-fest.

I liked the scenes where the music band belts out filmi songs, both sad and not-so-sad, at opportune moments.  Humour, under various guises, is interlaced with the otherwise-gritty tone of the film, to even out the odds of enduring a 160-minute murder-death-kill saga [BTW, I hijacked this ‘murder-death-kill’ from an old Stallone flick, just couldn’t resist it]

The storyline has its fair share of twists, including some involving the character called ‘Definite’, Sardar Khan’s step-son.

Ramadhir Singh is shown to be mellowed down, compared to his act in the prequel. His death being the ultimate motive of Faizal Khan, the protagonist; his image has not been crafted as well as GOW 1, which makes him appear to be a pushover, and not a worthy adversary. But then, he has been around for like, forever. Maybe age got to him before the bullets would. Farhan, guardian of the Khan family, is a mute spectator, at most times. Maybe because he is no position to advise Faizal, given the unpleasant history between them. Mohsina, w/o Faizal Khan, is a breath of fresh air. Sporting Ray-Bans’, she carries of the rural ‘gangsta wife’ role with aplomb. With a homely-haughty mix, she is one to watch out for. Shama, w/o Danish Khan, is sweet [does a short jig in a family get-together, watch out for it]

The overall casting is commendable, with the selection of ‘Definite’ being spot on. The hairstyle, leather jacket, the infamous 100c RX100 bike, all come together to provide a ‘definite’ appeal. Some dialogues are noteworthy but alas, are nowhere in the league of the prequel. Lines like ‘Jaan hain – ya toh allah legi, ya muhallah legi’ are lost in the muffled, ganja-indulgent voice of Faizal.

The 10-minute drama, when Faizal Khan’s house is under attack, could have been handled better, especially Faizal’s response.

The storyline should have been more tightly wound, 30 minutes could easily have been cropped. Bits and pieces, like the thieving kid ‘perpendicular’ and his antics have little to do, with carrying the story further. Also, the scooter-chases-bike episode was stretched too much and got kinda boring. The part where Faizal’s wife croons a motivating melody into his ears, for the second time, actually made me wince.

Director Anurag Kashyap has packaged this high-drama with so many characters, sequences, events, etc., that I had to resist my urge to give a shout-out, ‘Saale, ab kya sab kuch aaj hee bolega?’

I am not attempting to slam the movie, it has its good bits, but hey, truth be told. Faizal/Fazlu  is no Sardar Khan [Manoj Bajpai], he simply lacks the street cred. But keep aside the obvious comparo, and Faizal carries it off [I would rather have K.K.Menon play out this role, but then the casting director failed to consult me]

All-in-all, if you liked GOW 1, go for this one as well in-tow. You’ll miss Sardar Khan, but it will do you well to know how the entire revenge-fest turned out. Heck, the entire lot viz. the Khans, might as well be called the desi ‘avengers’.

Knowing the type of filmi buffs we are, just don’t go expecting the moon and you should be okay.

Popular reviewers in India have gone totally ape over this movie, with rave reviews all over. But hey, I tell my own story. You choose who you want to go with.