Gang of Ghosts (Hindi 2014)

Most Satish Kaushik movies are fraught with corny lines that make your cringe.  Usually he is also in front of the camera to delivery these liners in his typical poetic manner but this time around he decides to stay behind.  Let’s have a look at some of these vignettes from Shri Kaushik’s latest release – Gang of Ghosts.

1. Ghostwriting karte karte mein writer toh ban nahin saka par Ghost ban gaya (I could not become a writer by Ghostwriting but I did become a Ghost)
2. Couch ke bina meri casting hui hai (I have been cast without the couch).
3. Appointment leti toh khud se disappoint ho jaati (If I had taken an “appointment” I would have been dis”appointed” with myself)
4. Hum sabko pain deke khyub champagne pee rahe hain (They have given us pain but are drinking champagne)
5. Jeete Jee joh deti thhi woh marne ke baad bhi deeti raho….. Pyaar

Thankfully, one has come to expect these dialogues from Satish Kaushik movies so it will not come as a surprise.  Or so I guess.  In fact, I found myself actually laughing at some of these lines.  Maybe it was because he did get his casting right (excepting Mahie Gill).  Actors like Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Yashpal Sharma and Saurabh Shukla have more or less mastered the fine art of slapstick.

Kaushik could have done well to dock an item number (considering he already had one to finish things with). I guess it was contribution towards the Paoli Dam Employment Benefit Fund – a nice gesture from Shri Kaushik and Co.  The movie could have done without 10 minutes in the first half (you are left waiting for the interval) and a tad more than 20 in the 2^nd.   A tighter finish would have helped get the level a bit higher.

Sharman Joshi is as effortless as you can imagine.  He has been, is and will be one of the better actors to have come into Bollywood in the past decade or so.  I do believe that his best is yet to come but till then, we will have to make do with his appalling choices of movies like War Chhod na Yaar and Gang of Ghosts.

The support cast has been mentioned earlier but could have done with some good lines.  Mahie Gill, sticks out like a sore thumb.  For all the wrong reasons.  It has been widely established that her moment of truth was Dev D.  Some people just don’t know that you should quit when ahead.

Satish Kaushik has definitely tried to weave in some good messages also that are directed mainly against the slow but sure conversion of cities, particularly Mumbai, into a concrete jungle.  He has attempted to be satirical as well in many sections but there is only this much he is capable of.

The best line in the movie was when Raju Writer (Sharman) says, “Naakaamyaab ho toh woh karte hue naakaamyaab ho jisme mazaa aaye” (Even if you were to fail at something, it is better to have failed at something you enjoyed doing).  Great words.  If only Satish Kaushik learnt from it and focused on the enjoyment and not the failure.  4 on 10.  Maybe worth watching on TV or DVD but not worth the big screen.

And of course it has all been copied from an exceptionally successful Bengali movie from 2 years back called Bhooter Bhabishyat (loosely translated as Future of the Past or Future of Ghost) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhooter_Bhabishyat.

Watch the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiQ-rkCPRNc