Gangs of Wasseypur 2

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 8th August, 2012
Time : 159 minutes
Director : Anurag Kashyap; Writers : Zeishan Quadri, Sachin Ladia, Akhilesh, Anurag Kashyap; Music : Sneha Khanwalkar
Starring : Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Zeishan Qadri, Huma Quereshi, Richa Chaddha, Reemma Sen, Piyush Mishra, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Raj Kumar Yadav, Aditya Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi, Satya Anand

Take any Hindi film action hero. Say, Salman Khan. This film has a greater body count than all of Salman’s films put together. It also has more bullets fired than all of war movies made in Hindi and more cuss words than, say, all of Vishal Bhardwaj’s films combined.

Now, if all the above doesn’t make you rule it out instantly, it also provides brilliant humour, some interesting characters and unforgettable moments.

The story is simple. After the murder of his father, its now Nawazuddin Siddiqui vs Tigmanshu Dhulia. Nawaz has his fathers henchmen, some new ones (an amiable man named Guddu) and his younger real brother, named Perpendicular (Aditya Kumar) and step brother, named Definite (Zeishan Qadri). Tigmanshu has his old army, along with his son (Satya Anand) and is again aided and abetted by the butcher, Pankaj Tripathi. Other characters who play interesting roles are Huma Quereshi, Nawaz’s love interest, Raj Kumar Yadav as a competing don, Reemma Sen, Nawaz’s step mom, who has a small but crucial role, Richa Chaddha who plays no mean part in instigating her son (Nawaz) to seek revenge and Piyush Mishra, who remains a silent spectator for most of the film.

This soundtrack this time has real bite, a funky psychedelic feel and there is an element of humour even in moments of tension leading to great scenes. A chase scene where, while watching over the target, there is an animated discussion on which vegetables he’s buying and why. The way Nawaz’s new acquisition, his pager, is celebrated. The way the booths are captured during elections. Yashpal’s bravura performance as funeral singer, his funky rendition of ‘Yaad teri aayegi’ complete with the finger count in the middle for the missing beat…

The dialogue is great as well. Whether it’s the ‘Bhai sahib, aaj din kaunsa hai’ from someone trying to make fun of Nawaz, or Richa’s earnest plea to her newly married son ‘Beta, ya so jao ya zameen pe gadda bicha lo’ or Nawaz’s ‘tum ko yaad karke hamare haath thak gaye hain’ for his wife, upon his release from prison or his wife’s classic ‘lungi mein’ when he asks her where he’s kept his pistol. There is a que sera sera approach to life, jokes are cracked even over dead bodies and in the grimmest of situations. Tigmanshu is no less, especially when trying to assess his son, he asks him which movie did he go to and on receiving the reply ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, mournfully pats him on his cheek saying ‘Beta, tumse nahin hoga yeh’.

What I missed were the details. In its hurry to be an epic, spanning generations, we are given very brief inputs on what they actually do in business, what investments are they making (what do they do with all the money they earn, what new businesses do they enter), what are the characters actually like, their inner most thoughts, aspirations. Apart from one scene with Nawaz and Hema, we don’t really understand them as well. This makes it hard to understand the ‘why’ behind some of the actions, betrayals of our central characters.

Nawzuddin is brilliant, mesmeric in a great performance, hope to see more of him. Zeeshan and Huma were the other stand-outs in a film where the level of acting was uniformly high. Tigmanshu Dhulia continued to impress, seems to be equally good whether in front and behind the camera.

The violence, bullets, gore can be, and is, mind numbing. Despite that some of the characters stand out, some moments linger in your memory, some scenes touch you. You are thinking about the film the next day. You wouldn’t mind watching it again, though probably with a remote control in your hand….