Gangs of Wasseypur

It is very difficult to find fault with the likes of Anurag Kashyap because more often than not, he makes masterpieces. Masterpieces which are fleshed out to the level of detail that leads to most people to interpret the movie as too slow. Like I mentioned to someone a couple of days back that movie makers such as Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee put so much of emphasis on characters that the intensity often comes at the expense of pace and is not appreciated by most people. Gangs of Wasseypur is no different from any such movie that you have seen from Tipping Point productions.

GOW gets to the table the atypical commitment towards making a movie that one has come to associate with the likes of Anurag Kashyap only. The emphasis on each character and each frame is stunning. And in this case, Kashyap has gone to great levels to get the back story absolutely in place before moving on to the actual story, for which we will have to wait for a while. The back story itself has taken over 150 minutes of which the first 90 minutes itself gets to a point where you actually start to wonder – is there an interval to this movie? So on a not so serious note, ensure that you relieve yourself before the movie starts lest you are not able to hold back too long

The back story starts way back in the 1940s where the roots of Wasseypur are established. It is a small village on the outskirts of Dhanbad – primarily dominated by the Qureshis who gain their livelihood by robbing trains of the British Raj. A new smart alec Sultan Khan throws a cat amongst the pigeons and earns the wrath of the Qureshis who are actually butchers by profession.

He is banished from the village and starts to make a living in Coal Country where he is noticed by a new Thekedar (Contractor) Ramadhir Singh and taken under his wing. Sultan eventually gets eliminated by Ramadhir when inadvertently learns of Sultan’s ambitions to take over from him. Many moons later Ramadhir is a politician and Sultan’s son Saradar has grown in stature and slowly but surely starts avenging his father’s killer.

Part 1, spans 3 generations of the Khans and the Qureshis with Ramadhir being the constant feature across all of them. GOW, one may rightfully feel, is a bit stretched because after all of this, we still have another part to go. If there is a flaw, this would be it. And that in some scenese, Anurag’s human nature comes to the fore with some silly consistency errors and some even sillier factual errors. Albiet not visible to the normal human eye for certain.

One this is for certain though. The performances from every single person – lead or supporting is stunning – superb work by the Casting director – Mukesh Chhabra. The extras may not have done too well though which is very unlike Kashyap again. The screenplay is absolutely Jharkhandi and so is the music from Sneha Khanwalkar. Both keep the interest and humour alive in the movie which would otherwise have put the audiences to deep sleep. I was unable to catch the name of the editor but without the superb cuts, GOW would not have turned out to be a brilliantly finished movie.

That its an Anurag Kashyap movie in itself is enough reason to watch it. But that it is a very well made one will only make it better. But be prepared for the slow pace. 7.5 on 10 as of now. I may take the rating higher once I have watched 2. Mind you, watch 1 and you will not be able to skip 2. Enjoy!!! Oh yes, I forgot – extreme violence and super gory scenes – not for the light hearted.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/user/Viacom18Movies?v=j-AkWDkXcMY