Gulaal is an angry film filled with angry characters; however, even though there’s no denying the movie’s latent (though not completely tapped) force, it somehow failed to make me share its anger. The movie starts off explosively, with Kay Kay Menon in the process of giving a seditious speech to radicalized men to enforce his vision of having a separate state for the Rajputs – a clan revered for its battlefield bravery. Yet, the same passion didn’t get carried over till the end, thus diluting the strong political and nihilistic themes of the movie. The acting in general was very good, with the strongest performance being that of Abhimanyu Singh whose powerful portrayal of a guy steeped in vitality and deep contempt for the world around him, and who lives in a psychedelic neon-lit bar, was utterly memorable. And like Dev D, the background score and cinematography, too, are extremely impressive. The downturns, however, are the somewhat scrappy editing that made me loose track of the plot more than once, lack of development of a couple of characters which had great potentials otherwise, and a weak turn by the chief protagonist of the story (which becomes all the more glaring thanks to the terrific support cast). Gulaal had greatness written all over it; unfortunately all it ends up being is no more than just a satisfying watch.
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Genre: Drama/Political Drama/Existential Drama/Gangster Movie
Language: Hindi
Country: India
