Gunday

I was in a conversation with a good friend last night and she asked me what I thought about Gunday.  My reply to her was, “It seems like an overly done up movie with more emphasis on looking good and creating hype than focusing on quality cinema”.  Her reply to me was to go in without a bias.  I did exactly that.  But at the end of the day, my expectation was met.

Gunday is a trite formula story from the Bollywood of yore.  The one in which 2 orphans grow up together under very challenging circumstances and stay together till they come of age, fall in love for the same woman who becomes a wedge in their friendship and eventually leads to their downfall.  Sound familiar right?

Well then you would also know that I do not have a problem with old formula stories so long as they have been executed well and offer that little difference.  Unfortunately the little difference in Gunday was a bit too little for my comfort.  Some of the differences would include the reaction from Bala (Arjun Kapoor) and Bikram (Ranveer Singh) when they realize their mutual infatuation for Nandita (Priyanka Chopra).

Bala and Bikram find themselves as orphans from the other side of the border (Bangladesh) at partition.  They are treated like refugees as they grow up and get even more close.  Slowly but surely, circumstances turn them towards crime.  What begins as a small attempt at stealing coal, eventually moves over 14 years to an empire that controls coal and teak in all of Kolkata.

Enter ACP Satyajt Sarkar (Irrfan Khan) who is charged with getting these goons i.e. Gunday to justice.  A little later, Nandita enters their world and our heroes get into a pact that says, “Jo hara who banega saala. Jo jeeta who Rajesh Khanna” (the movie is set in the 1970s.  Before you know it, Bala gets wrapped in a murder that forces him to leave town, Nandita & Bikram are a pair, Bala gets jealous and comes back to kill Bikram.

To its credit, Gunday is an extremely fast paced movie with a lot of larger than life action.  But ironically the dialogues and narration do get you to stifle a few yawns.  Like, “Hmmm.  Rum? Ab dekho Dum” (did I hear that?).  Few dialogues stand out and not surprisingly, all delivered by Irrfan Khan.  Also to its credit are a couple of decent songs of which “Tune Maari Ghantiyaan” will stick around for some time to come.

Ranveer Singh is super confident as always but I am reminded of another dialogue from the movie itself, “Ahankaar ki aag, tezaab se bhi tez hoti hai.  Ek baar jo ho jaaye, toh seedhe dil pe lakeer kheenchti hai”.  (Arrogance is more dangerous than acid because it scars your heart in no time).  I only hope that this line doesn’t apply to him.  The build up to, performance in and the behavior after reflects that my fears are validated.

But keeping that aside, Ranveer is the only one who seems to be able to hold his own when Irrfan is on screen.  Arjun Kapoor barely manages to stay in character although I do believe that he can be a really solid villain over time.  Piggy Chops is decent as always but what will be grabbing headlines would be her sarees with low cut / low back blouses – but then she is a cabaret dancer and maybe that allows her to wear these clothes even when she is out shopping for Ileesh (Hilsa).

The most hilarious part of Gunday would have to be the fish fight where one of the characters tries to hit Bikram with a foot long fish – pretty effective weapon I must say.  Other than all of this, the script has a few thousand loop holes and a few hundred other points that haven’t been qualified or defined clearly.  Yet another Yash Raj movie that takes the audience for granted.  How long will this continue? 4 on 10.  Watch on TV if you really want to.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMMEODhZUfA