Gulaab Gang

GULAAB GANG is a political thriller directed by Soumik Sen, starring Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla.

The film revolves around how a woman named Rajjo (Madhuri Dixit) started the Gulaabi Gang, who fight to prevent injustice to women, and teach education to children for free. However, the Gulaab Gang gets compromised with the entrance of the corrupt politician, Sumitra Devi (Juhi Chawla).

Gulaab Gang had gone through a lot of controversy near the release date, and in addition to that, the trailer and soundtrack hadn't quite pleased the critics. That being said, the film was only recognized due to the fact that two of the most iconic actresses in Bollywood were sharing the big screen together.

And Gulaab Gang pretty much delivered what we expected in terms of acting. Madhuri Dixit gave a stellar performance but Juhi Chawla clearly overpowers her, playing the film's antagonist. But the film does have many flaws. Firstly, the plot isn't very steady as it tries to focus more on how the Gulaabi Gang operate without having any real plot to help the audience refer to what's going on. It is that same reason why we aren't really on the edge of our cinema seat, wondering what is going to happen next. Juhi Chawla is only introduced a few 20 minutes before the interval, and it is only then where the real (I think) plot begins. One more problem was that Juhi Chawla didn't quite have much screen time compared to Madhuri Dixit. That being said, she is STILL able to overpower Dixit's acting, but there should have been equal screen time for both the lead casts. Since the film is dedicated to women's rights, you could see it does quite live up to the main reason why the film was made, however, the plot could have been better. Also, the film tends to be a bit slow, so everyone may not like it for the way it drags its story.

So, in conclusion, GULAAB GANG is quite an okay movie. If you're a die hard fan of political flicks, you might just find this movie good. If you're a die hard fan of Madhuri Dixit or Juhi Chawla, you too might enjoy, purely because the acting keeps this film together. The film tries to be original, but at times, you do tend to feel that it is one of those masala flicks trying to be serious but ends up not being. The film had a lot of potential, which you could say was quite wasted... however, it being dedicated to Women's Day, I will give this film credit for trying to get the message through that women are people and not objects, except in a more violent way to attract all types of audiences.

GULAAB GANG- 5.5/10

After watching the movie on the first day of its release, I was eager to read the reviews. But i was shocked to learn that critics have rated this film as average to poor. If you watch a film wearing magnifying glasses you will surely find errors in every film. But this film, which is made with such conviction surely deserved better reviews. The highlight of the film is its star cast. Juhi Chawla is excellent as the evil politician. She brings so much life into the diabolic character that you get goosebumps whenever you see her on screen. Juhi is totally believable as as a malignant and immoral lady. Madhuri too has acted well, but something was lacking in her characterization , due to which this does not make one of her memorable performances. Rest of the cast is also good. The actresses who played madhuri's associates have delivered a great act. Despite having no male lead actors, the film is thoroughly entertaining. It is thrilling to watch the confrontation between Madhuri & Juhi. I wish the critics had set aside their double standards and watched the movie from audience's perspective. This film is far better than multi million grossing films which i feel are making fool out of the audiences.

The combo of 2 of the Bollywood Top Divas is out in cinemas with a high frequency slogan "Women Empowerment". The film is full of undulating situations, emotions, action and drama. The acting skills of Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla are well suited to the overall plot. The supporting actors and actresses are well balanced. The talent of Juhi Chawla has been proved finally and she has been on the stronger side of her personality signature. Madhuri Dixit was too inspirational but the action sequence filmed on her gave a bit clumsy and super hero touch that looked a bit out of reality. The film should have been advertised and promoted more.The respect and dedication extended towards Madhuri in the film is sketchy and should have been elaborated a little. The storyline developed well in the first half but it looses its tempo and effect considerably in the second half. The situations and cinematography should have been more convincing. The dialogs were effective, fresh and innovative but were out of synchronization with the situation during 2nd half. The music remained out of soul, touch and melody. An item song at an appropriate situation could have paid rich dividends towards the commercial aspect. Overall the film did a good job and can make the audience stick to their seats. Bollywood is rapidly advancing towards women excellence in films and female actors are merely a show piece now. The film is dedicated to women empowerment and nothing could have been a better gift for women on this "Women Day" than "Gulaab Gang". An intense, vocal, bold and a must watch drama packed with impressive acting skills and dialogs.

Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, two big stars of the late 1980-90s, vied for top slots in an industry which has a common habit of pitting one star against the other. But they actually were so different. The former is a huge megastar, quite a cultural icon, charismatic and sincere in her screen portrayals, a stupendous dancer and amazingly beautiful. The latter is quirky, very beautiful and attractive, a natural performer known for her bubbly personality, and above all a gifted comedienne who later upgraded her talent with phenomenal performances in offbeat films. While later decades saw rivals of sorts often act together in films (see the famous Preity Zinta-Rani Mukerji pairing in many films where most of the time the former somehow got better parts), Dixit and Chawla never worked together.

And you would expect that when the time came to cast them together in a film, these two formidable ladies would be given something at least as good as much of the stuff coming out today in Hindi cinema. But sadly, the filmmakers took these two stars and, in a weird sort of choice, decided to keep the film in the 1990s in terms of both style and narrative as well as stereotypes that come with it. Gulaab Gang is supposedly based on the real-life vigilante female group Gulabi Gang. Now, I know that many consider this group of women quite heroic, but I wouldn't think of turning them into wild action stars on film. While the film has some great colour and cinematographic work, it is amazingly regressive in terms of filmmaking and the ladies can't help it enough. Or maybe they can? Well, partly.

So, Dixit's charisma is undoubted, and she sure is an actress who knows her stuff. She is very good here but then she is clearly not very good at picking her films. In an age when contemporaries have been able to enjoy the benefits of the changing face of Indian cinema and experiment with better roles, she picks a part which is supposedly based on a real-life figure but eventually is just a recap of countless roles played by Hindi film heroines in the 1980s and early 1990s. The action sequences are really ridiculous in their absurdity. It almost feels like Hindi cinema went a few decades back in a weird tribute to the horrendous films made back then. Worse even is the quality of the dance numbers, which do not exhibit the real dancing skills of the great dancing queen that is Madhuri Dixit.

Juhi Chawla, on the other hand, is tremendous. It's amazing how brilliantly she manages to maintain her famous, lovably vivacious persona while playing a monstrous woman so immoral and drunk with power, and make it feel so real. Her every expression is a sight to behold, and the hidden intentions in her smiles are quite chilling. It's a feat that only a natural performer like Chawla can achieve, of being both enjoyable and quite intimidating in this otherwise stereotypical part, and she is doubtlessly the film's ultimate star whose absence from the screen makes the show almost worthless. Between the fake action sequences and the clichéd proceedings, she becomes Gulaab Gang's sole redeeming quality. You almost love to hate her. Watch this film for her ceaselessly entertaining villainous turn.

Too many jumps doesn't let the story flow in a linear manner. I understand that there are a lot of by stories that need to be established but the jumps are way too many and the first foray in watching the film is that of disjointedness.

And why the delay in embracing the protagonist? And when finally she emerges from behind the veil, the entry lacks voltage.

And then comes in the antagonist and she doesn't fail. And the face off well that doesn't fail either. Both stand their ground and it's electrifying.

It's not a question of who had the meatier or glamorous role but JC over shone MD. JC was the character and vice versa. I was seeing Sumitra in each frame through all her mannerisms whether it was biting her lower lip or having that clove (atleast that's what I think it was).

Considering that the film is all about the leader of the GG, the magic, passion and the rawness just don't emerge. She excels in what she's the most graceful at but otherwise she just sparked intermittently.

There was more than a kernel of a story and considering its the directorial debut of SS, a good effort. Much will be expected in the second outing though. The reason why I couldn't add in a better adjective is because of a number of reasons. The number of songs and their reasoning for them to be? And what's with the shoddy editing? Storytelling is an art - why butcher it?

All in all it was a valiant effort and as I mentioned earlier given the sheer talent of SS, one expects a whole lot more.