Masand's Movie Review: Gulaal, a fascinating flick

PROVOCATIVE, YET POIGNANT: Gulaal serves up a palette of diverse characters and flirts with interesting issues.

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Director: Anurag Kashyap

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Mahi Gill, Raja Singh Chaudhary, Abhimanyu Singh, Piyush Mishra

Gulaal, directed by Anurag Kashyap is an endlessly fascinating movie about politics and the youth, about love and betrayal, about reform and revenge. It's a film with many layers, and one with solid drama at its core, which makes it such an engaging watch. Kashyap knows the world he's showing us in this film and takes us through it with an assuredness that I found missing in his last picture, Dev D.

He serves up a palette of diverse characters and flirts with interesting issues like campus ragging, student activism, caste biases and the thirst for legitimacy. Set in Rajasthan, Gulaal's central premise involves the efforts of the erstwhile royal community to claim back their Rajputana province from the democratic government.

The film follows meek law student Dileep Singh (played by newcomer Raja Singh Chaudhary) who arrives on campus to pursue graduation and falls into the company of an older student and royal sprog Rananjay Singh (played by Abhimanyu Singh) which changes the course of his life completely. When the local kingpin Dukey Bana (played by Kay Kay Menon) convinces Rananjay to contest college elections on behalf of his Rajputana party, little does our protagonist Dileep realize he too will get sucked into a world of corrupt politics and crime.

Without going into too many details, let's just say Dileep ends up standing for and winning the college elections in place of his friend and roommate Rananjay, and discovers subsequently he's just a pawn in Dukey Bana's larger plans.

There is also the matter of a girl; in this case the ambitious, illegitimate daughter of a royal who loses the campus election to Dileep, but finds another more deceitful way to realize her ambitions. Much of the charm of Gulaal lies in its setting; Rajasthan's varied landscape - a clash between tradition and modernity, becomes as intriguing a character as any, and Kashyap shoots this terrain realistically, rough around the edges even, sucking us into his dark, brooding drama from the word go. Rich with characters and sub-plots, Kashyap opts for a straightforward narration, making this film his most accessible since "Black Friday".

Gulaal is remarkable also for the brave manner in which it mirrors the dangerous political scenario in Mubai by using the Dukey Bana character played by Kay Kay Menon as a metaphor for fundamentalist leader Raj Thackeray and his MNS party. The masterstroke in Gulaal however, is its music. Piyush Mishra, as the eccentric poet Prithvi Bana - an outsider in this violent world - delivers evocative numbers that are hard to get out of your head for the sheer honesty and brutality of their lyrics.

By way of indulgences, there is the unexplained character of the Ardh Narishwar, and also the film's sluggish pace. At two-and-a-half long hours, Gulaal is loose and meanders in places which is a pity because it has the potential to be a taut thriller. Nevertheless it's eminently watchable for its characters and the actors who play them. Of the ensemble, it's Kay Kay Menon as Dukey Bana and particularly Abhimanyu Singh as Rananjay who stand out with powerful performances that remain etched in your memory. I was a little unconvinced by Raja Singh Chaudhary's performance as Dileep, who plays his part adequately but fails to internalise the catharsis he goes through in order to reach upto the film's horrific end. Similarly underdeveloped was Jesse Randhawa's track as the young teacher whose life changes permanently after a shocking incident of ragging.

These are, however, mere nitpickings in a competent, compelling film that is in equal parts humorous and courageous. Unlike No Smoking and even Dev D to an extent which alienated some audiences because of their indulgent storytelling style, this one is not a difficult watch.

I'm going with three out five and a thumbs up for director Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal; it's provocative yet poignant, and that rare kind of film that transports you bang in the middle of its action. Watch it to understand why Anurag Kashyap is one of the most exciting voices in Hindi cinema today.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

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