Gangaajal

A few years back my grandmother told me about an incident that happened when family was coming out of theatre after watching Hrishikesk Mukerjhi's 'Satyakam'.My grandmother told me that one of my cousin grandfather commented after watching the grim movie that'We watch movies to better our mood,not to spoil it'.I guess many people echo this feeling even today after watching a serious-hard hitting saga like Gangaajal.

The movie begins with the coming of SP Amit Kumar(Ajay Devgan) to an imaginary town of Tezpur.He is acoompanied by his wife(Gracy Singh).Kumar is very perturbed to see the condition of law-breakers and law-keeperes in this crime filled city.Sadhu Yadav(Mohan Joshi) and his notorious son(Yashpal Sharma) are the self-proclaimed crime kings of the city.They have reduced Tezpur to a corrupt,violent and terrible city.The police officers charcters range from honest Khan(Ayub Khan) to corrupt yet brave Bachcha Yadav(Mukesh Tiwari) to totally corrupt (Akhilendra Mishra).Even the IG(Mohan Agashe) also has close inks with Sadhu.Amit tries to pump life in the dead system and succeeds to an extent.However when angry policemen start giving criminals the punishment they deserve by blinding them in jail(a violent depiction of the Bhagalpur blindings) and pouring acid over them(Gangaajal),the condition goes out of hand.What follows is a series of events which confuse Amit as much as it confuses the viewer as to what is right and what is wrong.While Amit feels that criminals should be dealt strictly,the concept of Gangaajal(acid pouring) is a total no-no.What should be done and what should not be done is the question which keeps lingering in the mind of audience hours after the saga has ended.

To start off with the negative points, it has to be said that the concept of police fighting the criminals has been done to death.Prakash Jha's saga ranges from intense to grim to drag.infact the last half an hour is unecessarily dragged and tests the patience of viewer.Anothet negative point of the movie is that it is too violent.The scenes of policemen blinding the prisoners is chilling but at the same time too gory.The usage of swear words many times in the movie will not be accepted by the family audience.The song sequence looks forced in.

Now the positive points.Prakash Jha's script shows that he has done commendable research on Bihar.Many of the incidents shown in the movie are real and have been handled very ably.Jha's direction is first rate.He has succeeded in giving that rough look and made the movie in a very realistic way.Unlike other cop movies here the hero does not use the barrel till the end as a mean to end the menace.Ajay devgan one again shows his talent as an actor and screen presence as a star.He looks every bit the police supritendent and acts amazingly controlled.The way he uses his eyes,lights his cigaratte and dailogue delivery is absolutely first rate.Mohan Joshi also tries to underplay his character but falls flat.Yashpal Sharma hams.Akhilendra Mishra is hopeless.Mohan Agashe as usual is horrible.Ayub Khan is ok.However after Ajay Devgan if any actor makes an impact it is undoubtedly Mukesh Tiwari.In the role of a police officer Tiwari has given a sterling performance which is award-worthy.

On the whole despite having its set of flaws,Gangaaajal is Still several notches above a normal hindi movie.It is quite capable of creating a controversy for its realism and very capable of getting Jha and Devgan both awards as well as critical acclaim.

Movie is amazing, the movie depicts what actual liberalism stands for. What democracy stands for, and depicts the advantage of living in a civilize form of government. If we do not take care of the values that make us unique we can turn into savages as well. We do have such tendencies. There are on going debates about criminal justice system being broken in democracies. The golden rule of law, rich people have better chances of getting away with a crime. Although film shows that law or constitution is not weak in sense, but it is lack of good citizenship by us that makes it weak. Faith in the civilization, law, constitution, and democracy. The rights like freedom of press, and speech. The movie is all about that. It is finely depicted. Prakash Jha is an admirable director and good story teller. Ajay Devgan's enaction of the main role is wonderful. He deserved accolades or awards for his role. It was played with maturity and sensibility. He didn't go over the top as most actors do when they get a powerful role. He played it real and controlled. Gracy singh was OK. Mukesh Tiwari was quite good too, he wasn't loud as his other movies, he was quite controlled too. Mohan Joshi played a typical villain, he did it probably millions of time. Yashpal Sharma too was simply just OK. There was nothing amazing to do for villains other than what they did in other movies. The cop gang was good too. The jail cell incident gave me goosebumps because it was based on real incident, it was barbaric. it was funny to me how they only had one curse word allowed in the whole movie. haha. The movie was not just a cop movie about anti corruption. The message hidden in it was far greater. It was about a death of human civilization, and how when it dies the fundamental rights are crushed with it. The rights of freedom of press and freedom of objection to majority. Movie showed transformation democracy to anarchy back to democracy at the end. It was simply great, I didn't expect to be such a good movie but it is. Faults in society is curable, but the cure starts within ourselves first.

Firstly I must say I was very, very impressed with the realism of the whole atmosphere throughout the film, the initial setting is enough to engage your whole mind to the screen. Well, what makes the film shine so much? there are about several reasons.Ajay Devgan gives his very best performance here, as he did in 'Legend of Bhagat Singh'. Devgan manages to capture every emotion possible, by a man who is a policeman but also a human being, Gracy Singh does a decent work as well, despite having very brief appearance. Apart from Devgan's powerhouse performance, it's practically the whole cast that deserves to be applauded for doing justice to their various roles as well, above all Manoj Joshi and Yashpal Sharma deliver brilliant performances that just breathes even more life into the film. There is not a single cast actor who hasn't done any justice to his character, therefore 'Gangajal' is a small masterpiece and one of the rare gems of Bollywood drama. because of its honest team work by the whole cast and crew. A film you simply cannot ignore. Without a doubt, it's a 9.7 out of 10!

After Shool I knew there w'd be more in the row . not as good as shool was but in one way you feel good by watching nice good things happening to bad people and in that way Movie simply rocks. Gracy singh looks very nice and a typical indian wife. And I don't find whom to compare Ajay Devgan. He has become a perfect actor after starting from Phool aur Kaante. 3 cheers for him..

but I have one question: Why Ajay Devgan was not there in Apoorva's wedding. WHY NOT?????? He should be there.

but anyways apart from that one I simply love this movie. excellent in everything. and after watching this movie I want to kill all the MINISTRERS:-P... I guess that's what movie wanted to say and it succeed too..

if you haven't watched it go and watch . Don't go for Kal ho na ho kinda crappyu movies. this one is much much better!!!!

The two mistakes: The script turns out faulty at two instances. The first one is Magni Ram's suspension and its reversal. The second instance is why Officer Amit Kumar did not attend Apoorva's wedding until the phone call was made to him.

The reason why movie outshines: The movie is how police and people of Tezpur turn violent against crime in their area, after posting of Officer Amit. In further run what is described is his journey on how He acts out to save people from becoming criminal. The speech that he gives at the end is phenomenal. One of the factors that I would like to put light on is local press described in the movie. How society runs is captured well.

Final Verdict: The movie highlights the essence of democracy. One must definitely watch if they like serious cinema.