Gulaal Movie Review

Directed and Written by: Anurag Kashyap, 2009

The euphoria over Anurag Kashyap is rising, even though he has shut himself off from the world in his Mumbai home. And not just for any reason. The man who made groundbreaking movies like No Smoking and Dev D is back again with his former project shelved in 2003 – Gulaal.

Gulaal is ever so slightly different from Kashyap’s genre in Bollywood. It is, in its basics, a scaled down version of a piece of the intense politics in India – seen through the eyes of the “budding” new generation. An incredibly and beautifully complicated story where multiple threads entwine themselves in the lust for power – this movie has it all for successful portrayal of Indian politics – the futility, the irony and the passion, all are present.

The movie begins with the uninitiated puzzlement in Dilip Kumar Singh’s eyes as he enters his rented room in the deserts of Rajpur, a fictional town of Rajasthan. The 28-year old postgraduate is there to study law. Little does he know that there can be no law in the city. Small and insignificant it may be, yet even Rajpur is not free from the flutters and storms of politics. In search of love and a career, Dilip Singh enters far too deep into the growing revolution for a new nation-state of Rajputana to ever come out alive.

Gulaal moves very fast – the scenes almost jump on top of each other, encompassing the details of months in 2 and half hours. And all throughout the film, the fear unleashed by the local political leaders is as well portrayed as could ever be – courtesy Piyush Mishra’s music.

The highlights of the film are the characters and the dialogues. The latter are very well thought out – while on the one hand, they are colloquial, they are also effectively poetic and strike deep.

Kashyap’s characters are the best part of the movie, the one major thing that separates him from most of the contemporary directors – he has made this entire film only based on the character interactions. And it is the characters that make this film so turbulently captivating that it is bound to draw you back again and again to this movie. All the characters have their role to play and are very real and – equal. Even the women in traditionally downtrodden roles – the raped/ ragged young teacher, the cheated wife, and the mistress – everyone somehow retains their human dignities. Duki Bana’s wife gets barely a total of one or two minutes of screen space – yet her last dialogue with Bana make her an unforgettable character. Mahie Gill of Dev D fame electrifies with the few minutes of her guest role; when Abhimanyu Singh carelessly says that a beating is all she’s worth, you can’t help agree.

There is much to be learnt from the film in retrospect. Prithvi Bana is a character present only to mark the vanity of Duki Bana’s confused calls for “Kranti”, a character just begging to relapse into useless and distracting comic relief. Yet he shines as an important member of the story. Only Prithvi Bana, Duki Bana’s wife and Anuja survive the onslaught of mindless politics – the only people, if you’ll note, who could tolerate the world as it is and still dream of a future brighter than that of Duki Bana.

In the end, the effect is rather angsty, frustrated and tumultuous – the very embodiment of dirty politics in play at every level of Indian life. Gulaal lives up to its name in a very abstract way – again Anurag Kashyap’s trademark. It is not the red powder used farcically in the movie which the name implies, but rather the unchecked flow of red blood which must accompany the characters’ fruitless struggle for power. It implies the tears that must flow to wash away the mask of Gulaal.

If you’re anything into Bollywood’s new matured avatar, not mentioning Anurag Kashyap’s fan, this movie is a must watch.

Rating: out of 5

Freaky Friday 2003 Review

Freaky Friday is one of those less popular jewels, a fun, light-hearted story with a deep message. It brings together humour, tears, fun, and love, without ever overemphasizing its point.

Tess and Anna Coleman are a stressed out mother and pair duo, each juggling work and boyfriends and constantly blaming the other for “ruining their lives.” This story is about how by a supernatural intervention, they come to understand each other better. Jamie Lee Curtis is outstanding in both the roles of Tess and Anna – she is the one that holds the entire movie together. In the film’s own words, Jamie ROCKS!! Her perfect comic timing, her dazzling smile and her ludicrously crazy acting as Anna makes Freaky Friday the fun thing it is. She brings alive the love between Tess and Ryan. Lindsay Lohan does a good job as well, but is never convincing in the role of the mother as Jamie is in a 15 year old’s shoes.

The dialogues and small details are intelligently added, and the film fits together very sweetly. Several typical old generation- new generation conflicts are addressed wittily. Of course, the way the switch of mother and daughter was affected in the first place is a bad patchup, but hey, we can forgive that because that’s what led to this great movie. You can even forgive that Jake was such an airhead.

The “I don’t wanna grow up” band song sounds awe-inspiringly cool in the movie, especially at that point when Tess is stuck on the stage, not sure what to do and then Anna comes to the rescue.

The last part of the film becomes heavy with emotions, as both mother and daughter realize that neither could’ve done any better as each other; and then comes the rehearsal toast, where selfless love straightens out their fortune. I guess we all need to take a lesson from this movie and think twice before blaming someone else about our problems.

Brilliant acting, fun lines, rocking songs – what other reasons do you need to watch this movie?

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