I felt embittered! Now whatever definition might my intelligent readers may hold of being embittered but I was certainly. And honestly I did not enjoy it a bit. This was my condition post Dev D. Before jumping into the conclusion that the “A” scenes or certificate were my problems and pointing at me, “Ohh do you belong to that "U "certificate category where you cannot understand the need of the hour?”.No! That was not my held up. But then let me not drift from my current state of my mind.
I am soaked in The Colors of Gulaal!
If I expected a bright and intelligent catch from Anurag, this is it! Churning up the story which preludes on the fact that it is a tribute to the poets pre independence , and the mention of Saahir Ludhiyanavi was enough to arouse my interest. The concept could not be termed as original and sounds like so many others made on the same league, for instance Shiva, a straight guy falling in the mess of politics under certain circumstances.
Dilip (Raj Chaudhary) becomes a resident of a bar built by British pre independence, in absence of a hostel availibility. In his pursuit for studying law he ironically ends up being a party to the antonym of law, Politics! After several “brain-washing “ sessions and “nude encounters”, his quest to avenge leads him to the Dukey Baana(Kay Kay Menon). From there starts a regular puppet session from where he passes from hand to hand just dancing on their tunes. Faces and circumstances just keep on bringing worst side of Politics, and Dilip just gets churned up in the whole game of Power and Ambition. It culminates on the fact:
A powerful tool which drives the Human Mind is Neither Love, Nor Power, Nor Money. Its Hatred !and the Strength Derived from this hatred ;which becomes an instrument to achieve the Final Ambition!
The Casting is brilliant and Kay Kay Menon as Dukey Baana looks right from the pages of a wronged Rajputana. Mahie Gill as Madhuri does an effective cameo and after Dev D, this is an established fact that she is here to stay. Jesse Randhwa as Anuja is one of the silent actors who speak more from actions than dialogues, she is the surprise package. Aditya Srivastva as Karan brings on the worst and most effective face of ambition, the one driven by extreme hatred. But the characters whom you will carry back home are Raj Chaudhary, Piyush Mishra and Ayesha Mohan.They breath life into the movie. Raj Chaudhary as Dilip has done an effective job of being the next door guy being at the wrong place at wrong time. The most appropriate choice for the role of a spectator cum joker(sootradhar) who has a hand over the pulse of circumstances, is Piyush Mishra as Prithvi Bana .The kinds which used to be in old folk fables. His act is par excellence and the movie would have appeared like a bland dish without him.Ayesha Mohan as Kiran is somebody I was ready to dismiss just like that till she brings on a brilliant turn in the cinema post interval. She is integral to the story, a bright spark in small package! The three characters which need to be discovered are Abhimanyu Singh as Rannanjay, Deepak Dobriyal as Bhati and the one playing the role ofArdh Nareeshwar. Their screen presence is dominating and speak of extreme precision.
Music again gets a bow from me and there is no doubt that if the music director himself decided to be in the movie using poems written by poets pre independence, his take would be brilliant. The one which hits most is of course “Duniya” sung by Piyush himself, while “Sheher” crowds you with its music and https://lyrics. The others also come in at appropriate places and never waiver the attention or appear like a nuisance.Just add on to the conventional touch of the movie.
Explaining the “A” certificate is its objectionable language. Not desirable for kids and people who have an objection to usage of swear words in movies. Though they just fit in the script like a hand in the glove.
Coming to the script, Anurag’s script uses Rajasthan as the backdrop brilliantly or I would say effectively. The feel which runs in many “wronged” Rajputs of Rajasthan and their sole aim to save Rajputana at any cost, acts as the pedestal.He commences the story at slow pace and starts speeding it up effectively, till it sprints up, with the viewer trying to catch breath, and climaxing at the peak! This is what I call is the brilliant script, unlike Dev D where the pace was fast (brilliant in fact) in the start, dipped somewhere post interval and ended abruptly making me wonder that did I miss something?. The Trio of Anurag, Raj Chaudhary (acting as Dilip)and Aparna Malhotra get it right finally. Gulaal brings home the message which Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra was trying to convey through Delhi 6, but failed miserably , the Dark side of human nature. The message is subtle and strong and reminds of old Shakesperean tales of deceit and manipulation. Somewhere along the lines the movie might remind you of Omkaara. But on and on its Anurag’s credibility totally.Finally Mr. Kashyap has been able to justify the 8 years wait.
It is like an old wine, which grew better with time. But For only those who can handle it!
My Ratings:4.5 stars