Review By: Arun Gavkar Review Date: 12 May 2009
Anurag Kashyap leaves behind the emotional atyachar of Dev D for an equallyviolent and chaotic world of student politics in Gulal. Of course, according to reports, he made Gulal much before his post modern take on Devdas.
Hence, the relative roughness of script and characterisation that fills you with ennui, as you try to keep pace with the on-screen degeneration of love and politics. However, the effect does remain largely hypnotic as Kashyap once again uses cinema as a powerful medium of social comment.
With its protagonists nightmarish ambitions to change Indian democracy into an exclusive monarchy of a single community, Gulal becomes a topical critique of every contemporary political movement that talks of the supremacy of one community or region over the rest.
The film maker manages to create a riveting first half but fails to keep the momentum high in the second half. In fact, he almost loses the plot in the latter half.
In the backwaters of Rajasthan, the rule of law and the march of modernity seemed to have completely slipped by, as Kay Kay Menon heads an underground movement to launch a civil war against the government. Funded by the erstwhile maharajahs who have never forgiven the government for taking away their privy purses, the movement aims at recreating the kingdom of Rajputana, independent of the Indian state.
In a fiery invocation, Kay Kay exhorts his followers to ready themselves for an armed struggle against the duly elected government and tries to draw recruits from the local student community. It is this blend of macro politics with student politics which forms the core of the drama, where Dilip Singh (Raj Singh Chaudhary), an apolitical new student, is involuntarily sucked into the vortex of blood, hate and violence.
The normal student union elections take on a dangerous hue, as Kay Kays protegee is brutally murdered by his illegitimate brother (Aditya Srivastava) and the nerdish newbie, Dilip, is forced to become the fall guy. Dilip manages to become the general secretary in a rigged election, much to the discomfiture of his rivals: the brother and sister duo (Aditya Srivastava and Ayesha Mohan), who have their own sordid history to contend with.
The soured siblings are willing to go to any extent to gain power and honour, even if itmeans selling sexual favours or killing people. Ayesha, the guitar-strumming vixen, first plays the game of love with the gullible Dilip, snatches the student union from him and then ups her stakes by seducing Kay Kay, the man in charge. Now thats something Dilip, the demented lover cannot accept and the plot suddenly slips into denouement mode. The beginning of the end....
The rebellion of the simpleton, Dilip Singh becomes the weakest link of the film, where every thing runs helter-skelter towards a clumsy climax. More importantly, many of the characters are left completely unsketched, specially Jesse Randhawa, who floats through the film after a dramatic introduction. Performance-wise, its Kay Kay Menon, Piyush Mishra and Deepak Dobriyal who create some mesmeric moments, while Mahie Gill as the lowbrow mistress manages to charm you once again with her brief and loud cameo.
Piyush Mishra, as the Lennon-loving, voice-of-conscience Rajput deserves a special mention for his powerful lyrics and music that carry the narrative forward, even as they render a forceful critique of the state of the nation.
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Good: All Movie
Bad: Nothing
Recommend: Yes
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