Gulaal

just moments after seeing the movie, I am speechless about it. A pretty heavy, engrossing and brain-consuming movie, its definitely not for the casual cinema-goers. For the more adventurous or socially opinionated people, its worth a watch. personally, i'd watch it over again, being a brilliant take on manipulative politics. One may compare it with other movies based on politics, but the major difference in this is that it relates with the simple minded, down to earth common man and how certain events can bring a destructive change in his mentality.

Set in a topical theme of Rajasthani traditions, it sets an account of how a straightforward, common, hard working man faces challenges of the grim modern world. The theme is engrossingly fast, manipulative and gripping (provided you don't expect an action filled murder mystery). So much being said and shown in the movie in so less a time, makes your brain racing on the heels of the movie.

Apart from the story line, the other most credulous thing about the movie is its ensemble cast. the only famous star, Kay Kay shines with his aggressive attitude perfectly. The main protagonist makes a stark resemblance with the innocence of superman's parallel life as a worker newspaper company.

Another very important positive are the songs (not all but some of them). Using old classics like 'Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To ..' and Indian Bhajan's/Patriotic numbers and mixing them to make them relevant to the movie is a brave attempt, which has surely paid off for Anurag Kashyap.

Though my only worry about the movie is that for which kind of audience is such a movie prepared ?

Anurag Kashyap may well be the fountainhead that lets Bollywood finally get back on its feet. After the indie movement in the 80's, the Shah rukhs and the Salmans took over....and thus followed years of mindless duds.

Gulaal tells the story of a Rajput boy losing his innocence in the murky world of politics and betrayal. Interwoven with this are tales of deception, greed and apathy for mankind.

What happened in Rajasthan years ago makes it a perfect backdrop for this tale and the clever use of lyrics also let Kashyap rant about all that is going wrong in the world.

Gulaal, much like Kashyap's other film makes the viewer think long after the movie has ended. There are no definite endings and characters cannot be labeled as good or bad.

Even if you are a fan of mainstream bubblegum Bollywood, this movie deserves a dekko for the performances alone. Kay Kay has never shone brighter, Abhimanyu Singh leaps ahead of the pack and the Raj Singh shows a lot of promise.

I like my share of masala ficks, but this isn't Bollywood...this is Indian Cinema at its best....a must watch

This is the 3rd AK's movie I watched and as usual this one also filled with power packed performances. The best part of the movie was the songs. You may not like the songs without watching the movie. Piyush mishra is a immensely talented actor and to my surprise singer too. The lyrics of the songs sung by him are philosophical and sarcastic at the same time. You may laugh his songs off but it will definitely make you think. Deepak Dobriyal is another truck load of talent. I am sure his role as Bhati will please both critics and viewers. Not to mention KK Menon and the protagonist too are treat to watch. Watch this movie if you want your money worth.

Gulaal is a extremely well scripted and characterized piece of cinema. Each and every character is carved brilliantly and the characters are so real and so different from usual flicks. It is a story of a simple and innocent graduate and how his life gets affected by politics and the way it has been shown is simply amazing.

I love the way Anurag Kashyap tells the entire story and the music blends effortlessly except the Songs picturised on Mahi Gill. The background score is awesome.

Cinematography is amazing and the color red is captured beautifully throughout the movie.

Piyush Mishra who has penned the lyrics has done a wonderful job both as a lyricist and music director. Wait that's not all he has also played the role of Prithvi Bana and has done a brilliant job. His dialogues are so bloody good and gets metamorphic at times. All his dialogues are thought provoking and the way he sings in the movie is so different and unusual and impressive as well.

Kay Kay Menon has as usual done a wonderful job as a person who is passionate about his history and his background. He speaks flawlessly and lives up to the expectations.

Raj Singh Chaudhary has done a good job as a simple and innocent student who gets into the trap of college politics. But somewhere we can that amateurishness in his performance.

Ayesha Mohan acted well and may god save men form such women[:D]

But the best performance comes from Abhimanyu Shekhar singh as Ranvijay. His dialogues were mind blowing and he enacted the role of a rajput to perfection.

Deepak Dobriyal as Bhatti has again lived up to the expectations and his acting looks so real.

Jesse Randhawa has done well with whatever she had to do.

Mahi Gill was a let down and I expected better performance from her. I found her irritating at times may be because the kind of character she played will definitely irritate me in real life.

Final Verdict – A must watch for people who love hard hitting cinema. Its is a bloody awesome movie.

I think Gulaal is till date is the best movie directed by AK. The movie goes far beyond Maqbool and Omkara, not undermining them, those two were also milestones for contemporary Hindi cinema, but Gulaal was something extraordinary. Each and every character played perfectly, along with the metaphors, it was a perfect sync.

This is a wholesome product of an excellent script with the most honest and sincere performances. The beauty of AK is that the movie is not what it seems.. like just like in "No Smoking"... where its not about smoking but about personal freedom and the surreality surrounding it. Even in Gulaal, one might find the story very political, about the revolution, college elections but NO, its just the backdrop. The main story is how the main protagonist, Dilip's character develops upon that backdrop. How he gets molded by the different personalities that comes in his life, starting from Ransa, Anuja, Duki Bana, Kiran and then his own remorse. If you closely look, each and every character's role stayed the same, Ransa, Anuja, Duki Bana, Kiran, Karan and Bhaati... they all revolved around the development of Dilip which is something amazing.

The movie is also about reviving personal identity which was aptly shown by the clever politics of Karan and Kiran. And the movie doesn't stop here, the complex female characters add more color to it. Its such a movie where not even a single moment was wasted or was not required. Starting from Dilip being ragged to Dilip being dead, its those characters, the metaphors, the camera-work, music, everything synced so beautifully, it left me spellbound. Its 3AM here, and I just finished watching it and I just couldn't help myself writing about it. Well done AK as your movies always add a new dimension to the Hindi "noir" movie movement.