Did you get the caption ?? Nevermind, if you didnt. You are not supposed to. Its just my lame attempt at achieving what I’ll call "adjectival masturbationary climax". Honestly I had more fun reading the reviews of "Gangs of Wasseypur" than I had watching the movie. Why ? Because of the fertile use of adjectives by reviewers. My head had already been lolling back lately courtesy indiscriminate bombardment with hollowingly fertile phrases like "stupendo fantabulously fantastic" at TV shows or "Significantly Important" and "Critically urgent" at my office. But when I read a couple of Reviews I realized this had been elevated to a form of Art. So when a movie has a confusing storyline, it is defined in Reviewer’s terms as having "Texture". If you are having difficulty following the zig-zag path of the camera, the cinematography is "breathtakingly all encompassing" and when you don’t understand whats going on, you can get away labelling it as "avant garde". Buzurgon ne sahi kaha tha - "Beta jyada angrezi bolne/likhne walon se hamesha door rehna".
OK, enough of digression. Gangs of Wasseypur was a much awaited movie far as I’m concerned since I was privy to a lot of "insider stuff" on the real life story behind the movie, one of my uncles having been in the "coal belt" for a long time during the 70s/80s/90s. Revenge Sagas have a starting point but scarcely if ever, an ending one. So the movie is about killing, counterkilling and still more countercounterkilling. The story is set in the backdrop of Coal mafias of Dhanbad, the centre of Indian Coal Mining activity and also the centre of developmental "neglect".
The Good - If "True to Life" movies are a hit with you, this would be up your street. Portrayal of life/lifestyles of the 70s/80s and 90s is a major plus with the movie, whether it is the contemporary background scores, the carefully designed sets or the funny reproduction of "Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki". The script is the spine of the movie with lots of impressive/catchy dialogues regularly thrown in.
The thing that I like about AK is his habit of using low profile (but fantastic) actors who get into the skin of the character. During his initial movies, he might not have had the money but now that he has it, he’s still managing to resist the temptation and sticking to hiring realistic faces (the Theatre Brigade) for his films rather than the Bebos, Katrinas and SRKs of the world. We all know Manoj Bajpai’s acting prowess needs no corroboration. Nawazuddin Siddiqui looks every bit the "lean and mean" gangster he supposed to play in Part 2 while Huma Qureshi is - to be adjectivally superlative - stunningly voluptuous. Likewise Jaideep Ahlawat as Shahid Khan and Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir Singh have been impressive, to say the least. Reemma Sen may have added a "M" to her name but the only thing we are glad to see is her back, quite literally :-P
The music is very catchy as you’ll doubtless already know by now. "Ik Bagal" by Piyush Mishra has fantastic https://lyrics. Very poetic. ’Kehke Lunga’ or ’O Womaniya’ are again very like the music played in those parts. "Hunter", the most catchy of the lot might even have achieved cult status but for the fact that the metre/tune seems heavily inspired by "Nani Teri Morni Ko Mor Le Gaye".
Lastly, for old fashioned guys like me a 2:45 hour movie means more "paisa vasool".
The Bad - Like all epics there are many subplots developed by the makers eg., Sardar’s 2nd family. We don’t know how many of these subplots are relevant to the story or would be developed in the 2nd part into a major ingredient of the story. But if they aren’t, as is rather likely, Mr Kashyap may have been guilty of unnecessarily prolonging an "Epic" into two parts when he could have been better off making a 3.5-4 hour movie.
The Ugly - Not much except the violence and the so called "cuss words" (which we might gladly use in day to day life but frown while coming across them in cinema). Thank God we are spared of Kalki "Kullakshin" but true to his style, AK still indulges, even if another department. This time in display of gore. Which is why any comparisons with Cuppolas of the world come a cropper. They manage to say more with quarter the gore than AK manages to with so many ’full Monty’ carcasses hanging around. There’s just too many instances of hanging carcasses, needless butchering and generous dose of red blood.
If a TV reporter were to ask me his favorite question - "aapko kaisa lag raha hai ?", on my way out of the theater, frankly I wouldn’t have an answer. The movie titillates you, scares you, confuses you, angers you, impresses you….in short entertains you in every possible manner yet leaves you without a lasting impression. The Whole is simply not the sum of parts !!!
PS - Don’t forget to stay behind after the end-credits for a trailer of Part 2.