Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/gully-boy-movie-review-berlin-film-festival-2019-ranveer-singh-zoya-akhtar-baradwaj-rangan/
Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy acknowledges its inspirations right on top: “This film is a shout-out to the original gully boys, Naezy and DIVINE.” Naezy’s life was briefly chronicled in Disha Noyonika Rindani’s documentary Bombay 70, where the rapper explains that his given name, Naved, means “messenger of happiness.” The name of Gully Boy’s protagonist (played by Ranveer Singh) is significant, too. He’s Murad: “desire”. And his desire is break free of his circumstances. It’s not easy. When his father (Vijay Raaz) brings home a second wife, the sounds of the shehnai echo across their little pocket of Dharavi. Murad plugs in his earphones, and for a while, another music — his music — fills his world. But quickly, his father yanks the cord and the earphone slips out. It’s back to the shehnai. The neighbourhood engulfs him all over again.
Even outside, at work (he’s employed by his uncle), he’s never allowed to forget who he is, where he’s from. This uncle (Vijay Maurya, who also wrote the dialogues; the screenplay is by Zoya and Reema Kagti) reminds him that he is destined to be a servant: one who serves others, like his father, who drives around a society lady. A lot of the time, the cinematographer Jay Oza locks his camera onto Murad’s face — it’s as though the man is boxed in not just by fate but also by the frame. But Murad has other plans. The rather on-the -nose song Ek Hee Raasta goes: Chalte chalte kahin ek mod aata hai / Seedhe raste se bilkul alag / Koi deewana hi hota hai jo udhar jata hai. Translation: Only a madman will take the path less travelled, and Murad is that madman. He discovers he can give vent to his feelings with lyrics like these, which are tailor-made for rap. Or as Naezy’s mother in Bombay 70 would put it: “English ki poetry zor zor se bol raha hai.”
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Sri Prabhuram
February 10, 2019
Would you consider this or LBC to be Zoya’s career best film?
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Saket
February 10, 2019
Fantastic review, as always, BR.
I will comment more after watching the film, but I do share your concerns regarding Zoya Akhtar’s sensibilities. She knows her craft well, and she knows how to make even mundane scenes more interesting. But, I’m not sure she has found her voice yet. She’s still someone who’s looking at cinematic stories from the outside. What she lacks (and filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap possess in abundance) is the ability to hit the viewer with that sucker punch. She’s sometimes too soft for her own good.
Having said that, there are clear signs that she is improving with each film. I liked Dil Dhadakne Do much more than her previous films. In many ways, it was the anti-K3G film — a big up yours to KJo’s channelling of nauseating (and fake) filthy-rich background stories. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but by adopting a satirical tone, it at least provided a semblance of balance. The film suffered on two counts: it needed more of Ranveer Singh and Shefali Shah, who was spectacular playing a very complex role. Zoya chose to focus on Priyanka Chopra instead, and her character never was that interesting to begin with. Well-intentioned messaging or not.
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Dracarys
February 10, 2019
“A lot of the time, the cinematographer Jay Oza locks his camera onto Murad’s face — it’s as though the man is boxed in not just by fate but also by the frame.”
– it’s a beautiful line!
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MANK
February 10, 2019
Dil dhadakne do was a terrible film all around starting with its stupid premise. It was like watching paint dry as you said in your review. I think Zoya’s best was in lust stories. For a writer filmmaker who suffers from LHHE , it was great to see her use silences so brilliantly there. It was almost like a silent movie with Bhumi pednekar giving a great performance
I am glad for Ranveer. He seems to be pushing the boundaries as an actor. I hope he tone down his off screen behavior though
Great review BTW, now waiting to watch the film
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hakimokimo
February 10, 2019
I was dissatisfied with Ranveer’s performance in Padmaavat. So Happy to see him excels in Simmba and Gully boy.
I wanted to watch the movie before reading your take. But I couldn’t resist. Awesome review
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vagabonder
February 10, 2019
Gully Boy feels like Zoya’s back to her Luck by Chance days (still her best film IMO) albeit, going by your review, with a softer edge. Regardless of the quality of the films she’s produced after LbC (and ZNMD did annoy me immensely), she brings out the best in her actors and as far as actors go, both Ranveer and Alia are dynamite. So looking forward.
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csimumbai
February 11, 2019
I am a bit confused by your reservations BR. The slang was adequately ghetto, but a healthy dose of rage on Murad’s part (not ‘generic’ aspiration) coupled with depictions of struggle would have made it more palatable for you. And Safeena is marvelous precisely because she is harnessing her rage and bucking the stereotype of a docile Muslim woman. Seems like a) there is a lot of fetishization of rage on your part and b) your assumptions about ghettos, Muslim masculinity, and femininity needs unpacking. When the film comes out, one will have to do the same with Z. Akhtar too.
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shaviswa
February 11, 2019
To me, Ranveer’s films are the Hindi equivalent of Ajith or Vijay’s films – unwatchable.
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V
February 11, 2019
Shaviswa: Ajith Vijay a! And here I was thinking of commenting that Ranveer could be the Rajnikanth that Bollywood never got. Going by his solid popularity (in social media atleast) as this down-to-earth cool dude, his unconventional looks, his choice of films that take him to the common man & yet have scope for his acting chops, his dreamy personal life story, his eagerness to be friendly – I know Rajni fans will disagree & even I know it is too early to call, but there is this Super Star X factor that I think he has. (Oh and Rajni was also known for his bizarre off-screen acts in the early 80s)
(Then would Ranbir be Kamal?? Insider, Good looking, Unapologetic about his relationships, certified acting skills, wavering popularity, smug etc)
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Apu
February 11, 2019
It might be because I steer clear of SLB movies that I have not watched Ranveer as much as I had wanted to, ever since I saw him in Band Bajaa Baraat. For me he was a breath of fresh air in Dil dhadakne do (OT: I also liked how Priyanka remained true to the character and was against her type), and liked his showy-then-broody turn in Simmba.
His looks and body language seem to be very fluid and adaptive to a wide range of roles. Not sure how far his talent stretches though.
I am looking forward to this.
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shaviswa
February 12, 2019
@V
Please…..your comparison is not even close.
I saw one or two films including Padmaavat….and was least impressed by his histrionic abilities. He may play psycho roles well though.
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Apu
February 13, 2019
Shaviswa: Watching only two movies of an actor including one in which he enacted the role of a thoroughly evil villain for a theatrical director is hardly a way to judge an actor’s histrionic abilities. If watching Ranveer as Khilji makes you feel that he is good in psycho roles, then he must have done a really good job in that role, no?
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 13, 2019
Ah why does this smell of nepotism – surround this film. I mean Zoya sure has proven her mettle, but why do I see directors constantly compromising on the casting. I really do feel that there are lot of good actors out there – but directors jus seem to refuse to look beyond the industry usuals.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 13, 2019
Zoo a Hindi film by Shlok sharma, was not entirely based on rap but used it as a constant leitmotif.
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Anu Warrier
February 14, 2019
Ruminating Aesthete, why do you feel that Zoya has compromised on the casting for this film? From interviews, I gather that both Ranveer and Alia were her first choice – the first time ever, she said, that she got her choice of actors. And with Ranveer, he’s always been into Hip-Hop and Rap music, so it seems there’s a synergy at work even before the film took off.
Besides, while I agree with you that there are a lot of talented actors, Ranveer and Alia pretty are talented too. Alia may be in the industry because she’s Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter, but in her short career, she has proved that she is still where she is because she has talent.
Why is it that talented film kids shouldn’t be in films? Or we wouldn’t have had a Rishi Kapoor or an Aamir Khan or a Rani Mukherjee or a Konkana Sen Sharma or a Shabana Azmi, for that matter. No?
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Anu Warrier
February 14, 2019
Actually, you also say that Zoya has proved her mettle – but then, if you go by your argument, there are far more talented directors than her and she shouldn’t have been given a chance either, should she have? She’s also a filmi kid.
So how do we decide which filmi kid should be given a chance and where do we draw the nepotism line?
I mean, I can understand how nepotism gives star kids more opportunities than the average Joe or Jane. But to say ‘nepotism’ every time any kid from the film industry steps in – either as actor or director or technician – makes it seem like the children of anyone working in the film industry shouldn’t even bother trying to work in that industry. Would we say the same for, say, scions of business houses? Or say children of parents in any other profession? Lest they get their chance due to their parents’ name and social currency?
And if you [general ‘you’] tell me that no other parent in any other profession makes it easier for his/her children to join that same profession, let me remind you of the ‘old boys’ club’ and what, in management speak, is called ‘networking’.
It sounds better than ‘nepotism’ but it’s just the same wine in a new bottle.
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Madan
February 14, 2019
Being the son /daughter/relative of some big shot in the industry does make entry much easier (Julia Roberts/George Clooney). But if the films they star in don’t run, it’s much more r brutal to them than many other industries where teamwork can mask an individual’s failure. In that sense, it’s like sports if not quite as brutal. Sunny could secure opportunities for Rohan Gavaskar but he couldn’t actually bat on his behalf, obviously.
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anon
February 14, 2019
The rage is cosmetic alright. I watched Dil Dhadakne Do on Prime with breaks and quite enjoyed it. If I’d watched it in the theatre I would’ve probably liked it lesser. If I’d watched Gully Boy on Prime, I would’ve enjoyed it more.
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csimumbai
February 15, 2019
#Nepotism. Came to see people’s reaction to Gully Boy, but was pleasantly surprised to see this debate. In my opinion, “nepotism” is not the best descriptor of the power relationships in the Indian film industry. The industry is organised like a caste (the child of an actor/producer is born into it), a guild (the said child and an outsider can apprentice and learn the craft, particularly technical skills), and adheres to the principles of private property (the child inherits the money, the aura of the star, and the network, to use Warrier’s term).
@ Ruminating Aesthete. If “nepotism” helps dismantle caste and private property, sign me up for the revolution. With it you’ll transform not only the film industry but all that is sacred (or profane, depending on the perspective) in India – Indian capitalism, politics, classical music, media, even the judiciary and many others institutions. All these work along similar lines. But unfortunately, nepotism is used as a stick to beat some people. It helps air resentment, but doesn’t aspire to transform anything. It doesn’t even try to understand how the industry works.
In my opinion, it’ll be unfair on Zoya Akhtar, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, who have all benefited from the industry that works on principles of caste, guild, and private property (and have dreamed of working in it since childhood) to not make films.
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tejas
February 15, 2019
Does anyone else remember a film called Break ke Baad? It was released at a time when Deepika couldn’t act, Imran kept giving one after another film with innocent man-child roles.
Deepika’s character was that of a upper-class Muslim girl who does her own thing, is selfish, rebels against pretty much everyone and has a beautiful relationship with her single mother.
That role stayed in my memory because Khalid Mohammed mentioned in his review that finally there was a different portrayal of Muslim families than what the stereotypes were.
Similarly – Lipstick under My Burkha has a pretty interesting character who happens to be a Muslim female.
I think there is a huge lack of diversity in film characters in terms of religions, social strata, cultural and regional milieus. Which is why the above two characters stayed in my memory, and stand against “most interesting Muslim character since Fiza” award to Alia’s character here.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 15, 2019
@Anu Warrier:
You felt Ranveer and Alia are talented actors, I agree that there have been some performances of their’s which were respectable.
Surely Lootera, or Highway/ Udta Punjab were respectable outings. The question is how exactly one evaluates talent in film acting. Multiple variables operate, which determine the efficiency of an actor.
I have posted this video before in another comment section.
And of course the technique
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/may/09/character-building-great-actor
Film acting I feel has two parts to it – one of course is the on screen persona and the other part, the meat, actual acting technique and skill.
Vikram Motwane and Imtiaz Ali are great directors, they know how to derive a performance from an amateur who just has a screen presence that suits the character. In fact in highway one could contrast between the performance of Hooda (which was all deep/ sincere and technically nuanced) and Alia’s ( which was more driven by her own persona).
When someone has a deficiency in acting technique or in-depth realisation of the art form they might still be able to produce an emotion but they would surely be unable to make a truly private moment public. They would never be able to build on a character and as the shooting goes traverse an arc.
Abhay Deol a product of nepotism is a great actor, as well, in my opinion: Dev D, Oye lucky, lucky oye, Shanghai, Manorama Six feet under.
Ranveer and Alia can be made to look good as in dil Dhanake do and udta punjab. But, in a film, do they have the craft and understanding to build on a given character and affect us deeply with their performance, so much so that a director such as Zoya might rely on them heavily; I don’t think so. Let me throw in a few names – the Udaan kid – Rajat barmecha. If u actually wanted to cast someone who knew how to rap, why not cast an actual rapper as in 8 mile.
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Madan
February 15, 2019
@Ruminating Aesthete : You are making a very different kind of point there. Yes, it may be that ARTISTICALLY Ranveer wasn’t the best bet for Gully Boys. But is that the only consideration for casting in any fairly mainstream production? Never. I have seen both Jolly LLB movies and I thought Arshad Warsi was more believable in the role. But the name Akshay Kumar promises higher box office returns. And the same holds good for Ranveer and Alia. It isn’t just about whose blessings they enjoyed to land up in Bollywood. Today they have a certain star value and are box office draws which is also something a filmmaker has to consider often times. And these decisions aren’t just restricted to the selection of actors. I will give an example wrt Umrao Jaaon. Originally, Muzaffar Ali hadn’t intended to cast Rekha and had signed up Jaidev for the music. Jaidev intended to record the songs with a singer named Madhurani. But when Rekha was cast, Ali now wanted Asha to sing the songs. Jaidev disagreed and quit the film and Khaiyyam stepped in. So the question of whether the best actor was necessarily cast in a role goes beyond nepotism and has to do with the art vs commerce dilemma that pervades cinema and other art forms. It’s another matter that I think Asha was anyway the better singer, Jaidev’s whimsical objections notwithstanding.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 15, 2019
I also feel Film companion and BR should afford more space for films such as Zoo, made by Shlok Sharma. These experimental films need such web sites, which cater to a niche audience, more than films like Gully boy.
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Anu Warrier
February 15, 2019
@RA – I’m not saying there aren’t ‘more talented’ actors. But asking ‘Why not X?’ Or ‘Y’? is moot. Because any role that is cast could have been done – perhaps better, perhaps differently – by another actor. So someone could ask why Rajkumar Rao was cast in Bairelly ki Barfi, for instance? Why not Vicky Kaushal? See what I mean? (But then, Vicky, the flavour of the season, is also an industry kid.)
I am just intrigued by the fact that you think Zoya’s casting of Ranveer and Alia reeks of nepotism. Because Alia is an industry kid? And if you’re against nepotism, then Abhay Deol shouldn’t be excused, no? 🙂
He was great in all those films you mentioned, and is quite one of my favourite actors, but what the heck was he doing in Happy Bhag Jaayegi? or Aisha, One By Two, Nanu ki Janu et al? Those are films which would make someone who doesn’t like Deol wonder why he keeps getting chances to sleepwalk through movies. (That they were all bad movies is beside the point.)
As for ‘…if they wanted to cast someone who knew how to rap’, then that negates the whole purpose of ‘acting’, right? Only those who know how to rap should play a rapper, only those who know how to sing should play a singer, only those who know how to beat up 10 people should play a gangster, only a poet should play a poet…
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 15, 2019
Moreover when I picked the word nepotism here, there was a reason. The male and female lead, the director were all Bollywood kids. I can totally understand that nepotism is something that cannot be just yanked out, one fine day. Even Maniratnam had relatives who were in the industry before he got in. As mentioned before one of my favourite actors is Abhay Deol.
The issue I have here is when a director gets good script, even when he/ she thinks someone is gonna be most suitable for the part – ideally they would have to do a casting excercise especially send out a casting call. Only then does a director realize how well the first casting decision was.
I am sure this never happens in India, films obviously are celebrity driven – Ranveer is a brand name and so is Alia. By saying that they both were her first and last choice – Zoya nullifies the casting process, indirectly accepting that she is no auteur; she is but a curious product of our crass capitalistic society. One in which aesthetics is but an afterthought
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Sai Ashwin
February 15, 2019
There is a wonderful scene in the film where foreign tourists (white) are seen touring inside a slum. Looking the lives of people there as “local attractions”. Sadly Zoya Akthar is also a foreigner. The kind who says “aww he is just a gully boy”.She doesn’t go into the roots of the problem. There is no angst like BR says in his review, why does he feel the need to sing? Is it just to prove the world he can? Is it for fame/success/money? I feel the reason should be much more complex. What she does is weave a marketable underdog story around slum which is based on a true story and make the characters as cliche as possible. You have the dad who doesn’t want his son to follow his dreams but work like he does, you have the supporting mother, you have flawless mentor/friend , you name it. Still the film works because it has heart in it. And who doesn’t want to see a slum kid succeed against rich brats? But one wonders after the end of the film. Isn’t Zoya doing exactly what she mocks in the film? A capitalist exploiting the lives of the slum by making it seem like anyone who works hard and talented will get success,fame,money etc if only reality was such fantasy where winning a contest will make you star. Basically selling the American Dream to Indians. After seeing such films, one can only wish when will we Indians have the privilege of seeing films like Nightcrawler or American Psycho which shows the other side of it. The Dirty Side of it, the side capitalists like zoya herself would like to pretend doesn’t exist.
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Sai Ashwin
February 15, 2019
@Ruminating Aesthete
Wow thanks for the link, that was quite something. I probably wished Gully Boy was something like that.
Also why were Tamil Rappers completed omitted in the film? Tamil population itself is huge in Dharavi, and arguably they face more problems cuz of the whole language thing.
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Anu Warrier
February 15, 2019
Ruminating Aesthete – I know of no film industry in the world where casting calls are made for all roles. Most leads, even in Western films (and I’m not talking only about Hollywood here), are generally bankable stars. A-listers even. Unless you have a script for which you are very sure that a saleable name will actually work against the story, and you go for unknown names. That’s the nature of the beast, because films by their very nature are a marriage of both art and commerce.
Ranveer is not a film kid. But his father had the money to propel his son’s dreams. Others aren’t as lucky. That, too, is the nature of the industry.
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Sai Ashwin
February 15, 2019
Also, anyone notice how the carjacking was shown in a western-like way? Too smooth for Indians, carjacking in India is extremely messy (I used to know a few carjackers when I was in college).In hindsight, I think Anurag Kashyap would have been perfect for this film, Mukkabaaz is probably anti-gully boy. Basically I just wish the film contained the level of anguish in this azaadi video
P.S.- Sorry for this rant-like post.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 15, 2019
@Sai Ashwin my intention of mentioning Zoo the Hindi film was purely because of its interesting aesthetic. I really was not bothered about the Tamil- Hindi divide. But the coexistence of these two languages in the same film makes it interesting. In fact I am not one who likes conscious activism in any art.
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Aran
February 16, 2019
Sai Ashwin – Your comment is the exact taste left in my mouth after watching the movie. On the surface, there all the cinematic conventions and all the faux conflicts, but it’s just that – on the surface. The same way Kalki and friends fight their ‘wars’ by defacing ads in the movie and then go back to their cozy apartments in highrises, Zoya’s wars, or films, are removed from reality.
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Sai Ashwin
February 16, 2019
@Neither do I, But the song Azaadi is a protest song but film has it in a very silly way. Graffiti on walls by Rich folk? for what? The lyrics doesn’t match the visuals remotely.
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Madan
February 16, 2019
Ruminating Aesthete: But I don’t think Zoya has claimed to be an auteur nor has the media placed her on such a pedestal. Like her brother, she tries to make somewhat off beat films that are still very mainstream.
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Saket
February 16, 2019
First things first, Abhay Deol isn’t even an actor to begin with, forget a good one. If Vikram Motwane and Imtiaz Ali are great directors who can extract good performances from amateurs, then Abhay Deol is surely worse than any amateur out there – because directors like Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee couldn’t extract anything out of him.
Second, here’s the gist of the Guardian article that I wholeheartedly agree with:
The performances that most often thrill us are those where instinct and technique are both in perfect balance but also opposition, and flamboyance and inner life collide head on, transforming feeling into thought and words. When this mixture of abandon and control ignites, what happens is as mysterious as alchemy; the theatre crackles; it leaves the spectator reeling.
The video about acting, posted above, does make some good points but it’s all about technique (also, the video is created by a Film School student, and just to emphasize, there is no mention of Abhay Deol in any of the clips). Technique can only get you so far – great acting is about getting inspired and letting your instinct guide you, after you’ve done your homework. That’s the whole gist of acting. Another secret? The more you practice, the better you get at acting!
No, seriously. Actors who do theatre always do well in films (Ranveer Singh, by the way, has a minor in theatre and has also worked in Makrand Deshpande’s street theatrical group in Bombay).
A third secret? Dialogue delivery is more than 50% of the job! Get the pauses, the enunciation correct, and your facial muscles will follow suit. People talk about an actor’s facial tics, forgetting how they actually are a by-product of his/her dialogue delivery. This is why working in theatre is so important – it relies completely on an actor’s dialogue delivery. No place for listening, reacting and all that clap-trap.
Fourth? Great acting is also about evoking emotions in the audience – essentially, conveying a sense of vulnerability. Actors who can convey vulnerability well are always going to be loved by the audience. Think Bachchan in any of his deathbed scenes (Deewar, Shakti etc). That these scenes acted as follow-ups to a macho persona, a very masculine presence, only serves to amplify the overall effect.
Last, but not the least, there is also a physical aspect to acting – the non-verbal clues, the posture, the gaze and that almighty, albeit nebulous, thing called screen presence (among other things). People are very, very good at reading non-verbal clues, contrary to popular belief. And they do assume importance in cinema, I do concede that point.
Back to Ranveer Singh, Zoya’s choice and why she didn’t choose an actual rap artist – I’m sure people are aware that Ranveer has himself sung at least 5-6 songs in the album. He received a standing ovation at Berlin, after the public screening was over, for his rap skills, no less. Berlin regulars have commented to the effect that the film (and Ranveer) received the biggest cheers in the last 20 years.
Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Peter Bradshaw have given the film favourable reviews, with the first two complimenting Ranveer (also, Alia) on his performance. Isn’t that enough to erase talk of any nepotism? Back in India, every single reviewer, without exception, has given Ranveer high marks for his performance in Gully Boy. I have never seen, read or observed a fraction of this kind of appreciation directed at Abhay Deol. And this is just one film. I could easily pick up Bajirao, Padmaavat & Lootera, for comparison.
Finally, between Alia and Katrina, one is a nepo-kid and one is not. No prizes for guessing who is more likely to win a National Award in the future.
I rest my case.
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Saket
February 16, 2019
The other thing to note is that acting isn’t supposed to exist in a vacuum. We talk about Hollywood greats (Brando, Pacino, De Niro et al), my personal preference lies with European actors, but they are products of their culture. Indians, and Indian culture, is at least a notch louder. For better or worse, but that’s a separate debate.
In an Indian context, the sensibilities are bound to be different. If directors are representing an Indian setting, and they happen to be rooted, there is bound to be a reflection of our culture, our sensibilities in films as well. And the acting has to match those octaves, or risk creative dissonance. A great example lies in last year’s Manmarziyan, where Tapsee is a loud firebrand and Abhishek Bachchan is a more restrained person. They both come from different backgrounds, with different upbringing and their performances reflect this mismatch.
It’s erroneous to assume that one template (subtlety or restraint) fits everything in a precise fashion. As Abraham Maslow said, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
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Kid
February 16, 2019
Madan: Mainstream directors can (and often are) auteurs. Raj Kapoor was a mainstream director (never made any non-mainstream film), he was also very much an auteur. Ratnam too is the same.
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brangan
February 16, 2019
Saket: In addition to the excellent point you make, I measure an actor’s ability by how well he/she holds the camera gaze when there are no lines. The ability to make you feel the intensity (like I mention in the “smoulders” part of this review). Ranveer does that beautifully. And this “internality” — coming after a series of strong “external” performances — truly points to his range.
PS: Why are so many comments (except Sai Ashwin’s) around — rather than about — the movie? Not many people seen it yet?
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Madan
February 16, 2019
Kid: Never said a mainstream director cannot be an auteur. Just said nobody had accused Zoya of being one. Meant she just makes films that fit into a mainstream mileu with her thinking in English fetish.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 16, 2019
I haven’t watched the film yet BR. However my discussion started of as a tangent. As I had mentioned in my post, before, I was bothered about the nepotism, which is not just part of this production, but is a pervasive issue.
When u say you measure an actor by how well he holds the camera’s gaze; I understand that you take into account, the way in which, the actor/ director duo have built up the character, until that point, and also their combined efficiency in making deep/ private moments public.
In my opinion Ranveer (I haven’t see his acting in Gully boy, so my impression might change) does not have the above mentioned faculties, or even if he does, they are yet to impress me.
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Saket
February 16, 2019
Will Smith on Ranveer in Gully Boy
https://twitter.com/RanveerSinghtbt/status/1096594729062539264
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tonks
February 16, 2019
BR : “Kumbalangi nights” where Fahad Fazil’s characterisation is very unusual, is an interesting movie. I hope you’ll have time to review it.
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Shalini
February 16, 2019
“Why are so many comments (except Sai Ashwin’s) around — rather than about — the movie? Not many people seen it yet?”
Saw it a couple of days ago and concur that it’s a thoroughly entertaining film but – that’s it. It’s such a “slight” film that I don’t have much to say about it other than that that this is the 3rd film in a row by Zoya that struck me as superficial – enjoyable in the moment of viewing but forgettable afterwards. I’m afraid I wasn’t particularly impressed with the music either; the lyrics cloak themselves in powerful language but seemed mostly derivative to me – heck, even “andha kuan” was evoked at one point. 🙂
@ Sai Ashwin – “There is a wonderful scene in the film where foreign tourists (white) are seen touring inside a slum. Looking the lives of people there as “local attractions”. Sadly Zoya Akthar is also a foreigner. ”
I had the same thought! That scene made for a rather surreal moment for me and I wondered if Zoya had enough self-awareness to recognize herself as one of the tourists. Her film suggests she doesn’t.
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Akshay
February 16, 2019
Despite much talk of authenticity, Gully Boy looks staged to the hilt. It is pumped with artificial, performative testosterone. It gives the thrills, it is risk-free and wears its heart on its sleeve. That heart, however, hardly beats.
It is no surprise that the characters who come across real, as lived in, are the ones not deeply drawn at all, who do not trace an arc. Safeena, Murad’s parents, even Sky at times — these are people who exude a flatness of life that in its banality is redolent of the smell of frustration. Murad, despite being cut from the same cloth, is from the start the marked guy, the hero, the protagonist, one with the responsibility of a set character-arc, He becomes the film, he becomes a character, a fiction. The Dharavi setting, the murky milieu, the language, everything turns extraneous, decorative, packaged.
Gully Boy is neither inspiring nor informative, resounding nor real. It is just loud.
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Ramit
February 16, 2019
@Shalini- I thought Zoya was self-aware in her role as an outsider. First, the foreign tourist is just looking at the poverty. Later, when Murad sings the rap, the foreigner gets impressed and a little self-conscious. He no longer looked down upon Murad, and tried to ‘educate’ him about his T-shirt. I think this was Zoya’s acknowledgement as her awakening.
BR sir, that is why I think Kalki’s character couldn’t be axed. In my opinion, she was a stand-in for Zoya, who brought the YouTube sensation out in cinema halls (pubs). Kalki/Zoya knew the accolades she could bring on the rapper.
@Madan- LHHE problem is not there in Gully Boy.
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Anu Warrier
February 16, 2019
Saket, thanks, man. You said what I thought (and better than I could have stated).
BR – unfortunately, a bout of cold and fever struck me down and so Gully Boy will have to wait. 🙂
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Me
February 17, 2019
Just saw the film. Felt cheated. The trailer was brilliant, the movie didn’t live up to it. I could not feel Ranveer’s desperation, his hunger or his struggle. I felt the build up to Apna Time Aayega was missing. The film was brilliant in parts. But overall it could have had more rawness I felt. I agree the whole Kalki track was so unneeded. Loved your review. It says exactly what I felt.
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Roopa Vinoth
February 17, 2019
As someone who has not grown up listening to rap music and is alien to the rap culture, i thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It is the story of an underdog portrayed convincingly by Ranveer. I loved the other guy Sher. There were places where i felt he was overshadowing Ranveer. Is this his debut film? He is soo good. I thought the rap battles were staged well. Not sure if this is the true representation,, but it was thoroughly entertaining. I always thought that Zoya is good at making urban films but with lust stories and now Gully boy, she proved otherwise. Not sure if any other actress could have pulled of Safeena’s role so convincingly… She is just effortlessly natural,,, Two thumbs up,,
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MANK
February 17, 2019
Zoya Akhtar’s ambitious film is brought down by her inherent flaws as a Filmmaker, but salvaged to an extend by Ranveer Singh and the superb cast.
I would like to know, what (a majority of) the esteemed Film critics of our country are smoking.No not you Brangan 🙂 . You gave a fair review of the film bringing out its strengths and flaws. But if a lot of the critics are to be believed, then : Zoya Akhtar has been invaded by the spirit of Satyajith Ray. she is supposed to have crafted the most realistic and authentic movie of recent times in Gully Boy. She has pushed the cinematic envelope to move out of her comfort zone of rich people in rich surroundings to craft a humane film about the struggles of the impoverished and the lower class of Dharavi slums.
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sanjana
February 17, 2019
I posted this comment on Satyamshot. I am seeing the comments in Toi.
They are full of hatred for the Khans as if they are responsible for this mayhem.
They say why they have not commented. But all the Khans expressed their anguish. Just check. And why not immediately?
When Salman says that he contributed, then the anger is turned to the other Khans. But not to other hindu actors who have yet to announce their contribution.
Every occassion like this is used to vomit frustration against the Khans and ordinary muslims who have nothing to do with terror.
Is this the way to behave towards fellow citizens?
The trolls are so emboldened that they just call anyone anti national. Just see how Kangana has called Shabana Azmi and others(obviously liberals and muslim actors) as anti nationals. If they are really anti national, try them in a court of law and give them punishment instead of just spewing hatred and spreading poison.
Someone should ask the Supreme Court to take this matter suo moto and bring these hotheads to justice.
An unfortunate situation is used to vent frustration against soft targets like filmstars. Is this the way to pay tributes to the martyrs?
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Sanyukta
February 17, 2019
I agree with everything that you have said in your review. The film is a ‘flat’, predictable tale of a guy who could have been a nuanced character, given his aspirations and angst. But he is quite unidimensional and boring unlike his girlfriend! The film is unnecessarily long and does not do justice to the gullies or the boys it draws inspiration from.
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Naam shabana
February 17, 2019
I loved Gully Boy as a whole. Within the movie, I loved the bit about Moin and how crime is shown – how the movie shows that a particular strata’s situation pushes them to crime and how WE as a society and situations push good people to crime. Movie did not shy away from even showing its hero committing crime in a moment of crisis. Criminals are not just incarnations of devils, they are very much a creation of society itself. I did not like that zoya chose the abusive father to have married a second woman. I felt she fell for a stereotype as this is an anomaly amongst muslim households.(This might’ve been inspired by the real stories of rappers though). He could’ve been abusive without having engaged in polygamy as many men across religions often are.
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sanjana
February 17, 2019
https://sports.ndtv.com/tennis/pulwama-attack-sania-mirza-says-14th-february-was-a-black-day-for-india-1994956
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silverambrosia
February 17, 2019
*Spoilers
I liked the film overall. I found the first half kind of slow, but it caught pace in the second half. I also went in expecting a somewhat different sort of movie, a film more infused with energy, frenetically paced, and making for a more intense cinematic experience…as someone has pointed out, they naturally put most of the best bits in the trailer and it gave off a different vibe. Nonetheless, ‘Gully Boy’ is still a nice film with some genuinely good moments. None of the characters came across as flat, or unbelievable to me. All of them were very well cast. I didn’t think of Sky as a patronising ‘white saviour’ sort of figure. My husband also thought that her role was kind of redundant, but I thought that her presence added value to the movie. It really was the music that brought her, Murad and MC Sher together. They connected as artists. She was a nice girl, and I wasn’t cheering Safeena on when she crashed the bottle on Sky’s head. Safeena’s first fight with the Albina girl was even more insane. Safeena is a bit difficult to describe; zany, created partly as a source of spectacle/entertainment for the audience, conspicuously meant to subvert stereotypes and yet she’s a believable character at the same time. The match-making scene where she threatened Salman was actually really funny. On a side note: I found the ubiquity of the hijab in the movie somewhat surprising, virtually all the Muslim women (old, young, from different backgrounds) in the film were wearing it. I would have expected greater heterogeneity in dress amongst them.
I could feel Murad’s desperation when things started really going downhill for him. When he left his father’s house with his mother and both of them turn up at the uncle’s, and the cheap-ass uncle is unwilling to help. It’s clear that he viewed his sister’s family as riff-raff and didn’t want to have to spend a penny to support his sister. Hence, his self-serving speech about how she shouldn’t leave her husband. You really feel for the mother and son, and get a strong sense of their desperation, and just how limited their options are. You find yourself thinking ‘he’s just a student, what can he do, what will they do?’. They were in dire straits and when he joins Moeen in stealing cars, it’s so difficult to blame him. In fact, none of the characters were black and white. You feel for the second wife as well. She’s a young girl and here she is married to this scowling, rough, crude, married man, twice her age and with a grown-up son. Life’s tough. And by the end of the film you even feel somewhat sympathetically inclined towards this same man. To some extent, he was just imparting to his son what life had taught him: to keep his head down and expectations low.
I really liked most of the songs as well, but did anyone else find the showdown’s between the rappers where they uttaar each other’s izzat stupid and juvenile? I actually found MC Sher’s character/positioning in the narrative to be slightly unrealistic; it’s like Murad just entered the Mumbai hip-hop scene, and within minutes found himself the ideal mentor. I did have a few more reservations about the movie, but on the whole I thought it was quite good.
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Vidya Ramesh
February 17, 2019
Read your review and have been holding off on reading anything else till I saw the movie..finally saw it today and I loved it! I did not feel that the movie aesthetised the hardship Mr BR. It is from Murad s point of view, when you live in squalor you don’t really register it or think about it or get angsty over it everyday..it just..is. It informs your choices and your life for sure but I don’t think you feel it everyday and every where. It needs to be in the background like the garbage under the bridge where they meet everyday to sweet talk. Bringing more attention to it is un necessary. That’s why the only wrong note I felt in the movie was the Doorie song. It does not belong to this movie, more in slumdog millionaire.
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Vidya Ramesh
February 17, 2019
Making the movie grittier is what one would expect an outsider like Zoya to make but I find that not doing it is the most accurate “insider” view of Dharavi. The squalor and hardship exists, doesn’t hit you in your face. How can you live in it if it does? I don’t know if I’m putting my point across well but I really liked what Zoya has done here..and don’t think it means she is superficial.
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brangan
February 18, 2019
Vidya Ramesh: I am not saying Zoya Akhtar has an outsider view or that she should have made a grittier film about slums. As I said in my review, I find a fundamental mismatch between the music and the screenplay.
The screenplay is a PERSONAL journey. An Udaan kind of ‘fighting your way to freedom’ story. Or an ‘underdog gets his day’ story.
The music, on the other hand, is POLITICAL. It’s about freedom and elections and rage against the establishment.
Murad’s rage is not about these things — his Muslim identity, for instance, is hardly a consideration in the film. It’s about his very personal circumstances (father, job, girlfriend, dream). Which is fair. But then, this whole milieu seems an odd one to choose, because DIVINE and Naezy are about much more than just angsting about their personal lives.
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Saket
February 18, 2019
My thoughts on Gully Boy:
Gully Boy – An ambitious rags-to-riches story that’s more about the journey than the reward.
It’s a bit long, so here’s the tl;dr version: I loved the film. For its unflinching optimism, stacked against trying circumstances. For its social commentary, and Zoya Akhtar’s craft on display.
Oh, and the performances were terrific too.
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Anu Warrier
February 18, 2019
virtually all the Muslim women (old, young, from different backgrounds) in the film were wearing it. I would have expected greater heterogeneity in dress amongst them.
I would have thought so, as well, but I was shocked when I went to Bombay last summer and found the hijab ubiquitous. I’ve never seen so many hijabs outside a mosque before. Our reaction to them is ghettoising them into finding a personal identity in their religion, and it is to our discredit.
And now, I desperately want to watch the film to make my own mind up about it. 😦
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Vidya Ramesh
February 18, 2019
Ok I get what you are saying now. But it didn’t bother me because I felt that the songs were his preferred form of expression..his personal circumstances fuels the anti establishment lyric rant in azaadi which is probably the only “political” song. He as a character is unable to express himself in his life it smoulders inside him.
I also don’t think personal and political are very different. When politics start affecting you personally is when you start reacting to it. For instance when the there was a tiff between AAp and the ruling centre in Delhi garbage didn’t get picked up for days days in Delhi. The problem is political but I didn’t think about it till the stench hit my nose! And if you are not privileged it hits you more. All the politics in the song is because of economic inequality and that is murad’s felt experience.
There is an excellent scene which I loved that no one seems to have noticed. He gets a call from home probably the time when his dad gets injured. He is smoking a beedi with just a small stub left he calmly says I’m coming and hands it to his friend. I would normally expect someone to stub it and rush. His response was so weird that it made me think. He didn’t care about the person on the other side enough and he valued the little bit of beedi enough not to waste it. The movie makes want to watch it another time which rarely happens Mr BR!
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Madan
February 18, 2019
@Anu Warrier : I see a clear class divide in whether Muslims in Mumbai blend into the surroundings or stand out by wearing orthodox attire.
Educated communities like the Bohri Muslims as well as well off Muslims in general are more ‘secular’. I am not saying you won’t find women wearing hijab in such households but they are fewer and it’s more likely you wouldn’t know the person was a Muslim until introduced as such.
The low income groups living in areas like Mumbra, Kurla or Santacruz overwhelmingly display their Islamic persuasions. The men usually have a beard and skull cap and the women wear hijab. Another way to split them is slum dwelling or non slum dwelling. Sounds crude but that’s sadly how it is. The impoverished Muslims literally live in the worst parts of the city and have nothing other than identity to hold onto.
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rsylviana
February 18, 2019
@Vidya – Me too. I was surprised that his reaction to an obviously unsettling news was more of a ” What now? ” kind of quiet exasperation rather than a “God I hope everything is ok” kind of concern. But when the rest of the movie unfolded , I got why Murad would have reacted that way at that point of time.
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Farhan Mohammed
February 18, 2019
Kumbalangi Nights released out of Kerala along with Gully Boy this weekend. The former is going to be remembered and talked about for years to come, and for much more than just its authenticity.
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Piyush Pratik
February 18, 2019
I watched the film a few fays back, and there are a few points I’d like to make:
That sequence where a product manager (or whatever he is) explains the work of a compressor in an AC- I could barely resist a giggle. Imagine hearing this kind of Inglis in a Zoya’s sophisticated cine-verse!
The MC Sher character, though the beating heart of the movie, was very one-note to me. He could have got on my nerves, had he not been given such wonderful rapping to do (he does little else). Also, I was surprised to find that a character so central to the story be so underwritten. Does he do anything apart from throwing his angst? I wasn’t terribly impressed by his lingo, which seemed to be stylised in a forceful manner (at least to me, in my defence, Murad is from a similar locality, and every second word he says isn’t Bantai or Hard or Chote).
That sequence where we see him for the first time looked like a hurried addition to me. If not for this sole piece of rap, he could have come across as a manifestation of toxic male dominant attitude.
Zoya finally incorporates some signpost masala moments (since it is an underdog story, we understand that certain things HAVE to happen): that moment when Murad replies to his grandmother while leaving the house, for instance. You could actually relish that moment. And also, the way Alia escapes her parents after ‘dhoptoing’ a girl in the beginning, the entire semifinal sequence, the way Murad finds his rap name (he thinks so hard, hasn’t he seen the name of the film?)-I thought they all were solid masala moments, moments that evoked exactly the kind of clap and whistles that it did from the audience in my theatre.
That car conversation between the rich father and the daughter, and that rap during intro of MC Sher, both of them were painful placard-holding moments. I mean, the point about the gap is made more powerfully in the Doorie song sequence.
I was kind of depressed by how MC Sher is conveniently excluded from the finals; of course, if he goes, it’s going to be an Ego clash between them. Ironically we are shown that Sher is somewhat of a star. That pause he takes after his competitor makes a mean remark about his father, I thought I could take a Bandesnatch-like route there: he could have hit the guy ,broken into a fight and gotten expelled from the competition. That would have been more fitting.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 18, 2019
@Anu Warrier: Do read the way in which Roma was cast by Cuaron.
https://www.screendaily.com/features/roma-actors-on-the-films-unconventional-casting-and-shooting-process/5134708.article
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brangan
February 18, 2019
Piyush Pratik: Yeah, MC Sher was too good to be true as a character. There was not one interesting note in him — which only goes to show (a) how good the actor is and (b) how well his scenes have been directed.
That’s true for most of this film. The excellent cast and the superb direction (and making) mask a lot of the problematic writing.
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Piyush Pratik
February 18, 2019
Here are my scattered thoughts on the movie (there was a lot to touch on, and I didn’t have the patience to):
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silverambrosia
February 18, 2019
Anu: Madan suggests that it’s a class based thing. I’ve never been to Mumbai, and can’t really comment on why there are more hijab wearing women there. More broadly though, I think that this is a trend that cuts across class, and there are various factors contributing to a significant subset of Muslims becoming more orthodox; these include, among other things, the influence of Muslim televangelists, and Gulf returnees who have become more religious during their time abroad. I have nothing against the hijab per se (I know plenty of women who wear it and I do think that it can be a genuine, considered choice) but I’m extremely weary of any blanket return to orthodoxy, especially where many of the participants seem to be willfully blind to its potential adverse ramifications.
Naam Shabana: I agree that second marriages amongst Indian Muslim men are genuinely an anomaly. I don’t have the statistics, but I would think that it affects an extremely small percentage of the population, and in most households if a man went for something like that it would be highly embarrassing for the entire family. But I didn’t find Zoya’s showing Murad’s father to be in a polygamous relationship objectionable. Just because it doesn’t reflect our reality, it doesn’t mean it can’t reflect someone else’s reality, and those stories also deserve to be told.
Piyush: I thought that scene in the car was pretty hard hitting as well, where the girl’s dad say’s ‘See, everyone is a graduate now’. That must have really hurt, and made the directors point in a much more effective way than the Doorie song. I also really liked Murad’s line, which also featured in the trailer ‘Mereko koi doosra batayega ki mai kaun hai’.
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NaamShabana
February 19, 2019
@silverambrosia: I agree with you that even anomalies deserve a telling. However, I would still be critical of this choice. If this film was a pakistani or a turkish film, I would agree with you, tell stories of the odd polygamous marriage because there are many stories of muslims being told anyway. However, Indian movies are hardly ever tales of muslim families in its entirety. Then, when you pick up one such story to tell and choose that anomaly(which is also a stereotype often used against the community in political and social forums), you are underlining that stereotype and almost making the audience think that this is the norm and THAT to my mind is problematic. Although I have to agree that by making us sympathise even with Vijay Raaz’s character by the end, Zoya made us the see the human behind the abusive exterior.
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Me
February 19, 2019
Volcanoes don’t need enablers. This line, too. Perfect. (Forgot to put that in earlier)
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TambiDude
February 19, 2019
I would have thought so, as well, but I was shocked when I went to Bombay last summer and found the hijab ubiquitous.
Same in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto where lot of Indians and Pakistanis live. I lived there for several years and it was routine to see men with a foot long beard and women in black tents moving around. Almost all of them Pakis.
A block away from my home lived a muslim family with 4 daughters, eldest 12 and youngest perhaps 4 yrs. They use to walk to the school which was close. All in black tent, head to toe, except for a slit to see. They were very punctual and seeing them go past our home, we use to remind ourselves to drop our kids. Our reminder use to be “histogram poorange, hurry up”.
They were the same family who put a rude notice on the front door on the day of halloween
“WE DON”T BELIEVE IN PAGAN CULTURE HALLOWEEN. NO TRICK OR TREAT HERE”.
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silverambrosia
February 19, 2019
Naam Shabana: I understand where you are coming from, but I don’t agree. I think anything that happens in reality is perfectly legitimate subject matter for cinematic treatment. Even if it affects only a tiny minority of Indian Muslim women (and is a non-issue for most Muslims), those concerned women are still suffering and deserve to have their stories told. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that Zoya was motivated by genuine concern for women in that situation, and not by any eagerness to affirm negative stereotypes about Muslims.
To use an analogy, it’s a bit like the arguments around the Triple Talaq issue: the response of many Muslims was a defensive one; Several people were saying that the issue was splashed entirely out of proportion to the actual incidence of Talaq, with the rate of divorce in the Muslim community being lower than that amongst Hindu’s. This may well be true but it doesn’t matter. It was Muslim women who were rendered destitute through the exercise of TT, and they were the ones who petitioned the courts. If they had received the support and backing they needed from within their community, and if Muslims had paid attention to the problem themselves, it would never have been turned into a national issue to gain political mileage out of. It’s not just a question of numbers.
I don’t think Bollywood has presented polygamy as the norm amongst Muslims. I can’t recall the last film I saw featuring two wives, and you do get diverse stories about Muslims as well. At any rate filmmakers are not obliged to just represent the norm. E.g. The movie ‘Aie Dil Hai Mushkil’ came out a couple of years ago. It was a pretty entertaining movie, but the lifestyle choices adopted by some of the Muslim characters in it were by no means representative of the norm. It was the story of specific individuals, and we can’t say ‘this doesn’t reflect the norm and therefore as an artistic endeavour it is suspect’.
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Vishakha
February 19, 2019
Haven’t seen the movie yet. However talking of Muslims in films. Why are they so few Muslim characters in Hindi films? Most patriotic films seem to have a token Muslim character who dies serving the country, however , where are the normal Muslim characters?
I happened to see “Sudani from Nigeria” – a beautiful story and a beautiful movie where the characters happen to be Muslim. Why aren’t there more such movies?
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Anu Warrier
February 19, 2019
@Ruminating Aesthete: That was a very interesting article. Thank you for the link.
But. While you highlight Roma’s audition process, you seem to overlook Cuaron’s earlier films, all of which had bankable stars – the elite of the elite. Take a look at the line-up.
Gravity – Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Parc Monceau – Nick Nolte (Part of Paris je t’aime)
Y Tu Mamá También – Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal and Maríbel Verdú
Children of Men – Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Michael Caine
Great Expectations – Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke
So why could he not have had auditions for those films? Cast other ‘very talented actors’ instead of Hollywood elite? George Clooney and Gwyneth Paltrow are not only A-listers, they are industry insiders.
Julianne Moore, Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Nick Nolte and Ethan Hawke can claim to have made it on their own steam, but by the time Cuaron cast them, they were all topliners.
Even in Y Tu Mamá También*, made in his native Mexico, he cast Bernal and Verdú, who were well-established actors, and Luna was no newcomer either. Why not? Especially when it was a coming-of-age film about two 17-year-old teenagers. Why not cast two fresh 17-year-olds so the rawness is even more authentic?
[Contd.]
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Anu Warrier
February 19, 2019
[Contd. from above]
I have no beef with Cuaron casting anyone he chooses, industry insider or not. In an earlier comment, I had said (about casting insiders vs. newcomers):
Most leads, even in Western films (and I’m not talking only about Hollywood here), are generally bankable stars. A-listers even. Unless you have a script for which you are very sure that a saleable name will actually work against the story, and you go for unknown names. That’s the nature of the beast, because films by their very nature are a marriage of both art and commerce.
And Cuaron supports that argument when (in this article) he states (of Roma):
“I wanted the actors to physically look as much like the real people as possible. But not only look like them, I wanted them to have the same qualities.
He needed raw faces for Roma, not so much for his other films. His choice. So also Zoya’s choice for her films. If Zoya is guilty – as you think – of nepotism, then so is Cuaron. So much more so, no? Since he’s legitimately considered a ‘great’ director?
What I’m trying to say is that saying ‘nepotism’ every time an industry insider is cast for a role negates the fact that they have made a place for themselves in that industry – whatever their origins may be.
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Anu Warrier
February 19, 2019
@ Silver – I was actually suggesting that it is NOT a class-based thing. I share your discomfort at this regression into orthodoxy. And this is not only in Bombay. My father comes from the Malappuram district in Kerala; when we were growing up, girls/women wore a piece of cloth that covered the top of their head, held in place with a couple of hairpins. Their faces were unveiled. That was the traditional Kerala Muslim attire. The older men usually just had the thin Kerala towel wrapped around their heads like a half-turban. The young men didn’t wear the taqiyah except for namaz. But for the past decade or so, when I visit the area, I find the hijab and the taqiyah ubiquitous. And it’s frightening because the Moplah women never had to cover their faces. But money – and indoctrination – is coming from Saudi and the rise of that brand of Wahhabi conservatism is alarming.
@Dude – it’s not just the Muslims; there are evangelical Christians here who do not celebrate Halloween because it’s a ‘pagan’ custom.
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Madan
February 19, 2019
TambiDude: From what I gather from talking to Pakistanis, once they go to a place like US (Canada is even better), they feel able to practice their religion freely and probably revel in orthodoxy for that reason. Not all but the ones who do swing that way.
” Our reminder use to be “histogram poorange, hurry up”.” – LOL
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Naam Shabana
February 19, 2019
@silverambrosia: I do not “suspect” Zoya Akhtar’s intention at all in choosing this narrative but I am analysing its problematic impact. That is the basic issue with stereotypes actually that they are so commonplace that we are very likely to unintentionally pick them up thereby reinforcing them even further. Nevertheless, she and others should have the full liberty to depict such stereotypes in cinema(even if it is statistically not commonplace), just as I should have the liberty to call it out.
I agree with you that Bollywood has not presented polygamy as the norm amongst muslims but this is peddled as a narrative both in politics and daily life. You may recall someone using “hum paanch humare pachis” to describe a typical muslim family not so long ago.
Also wanted to add that polygamy as an institution does not per se render all women in such arrangements destitute(It definitely did hurt the lady in Gully Boy). To think this is to rob agency from women. It is non-consensual polygamy that is a problem. Women and men can enter into any form of relationships consensually involving any number of partners. After all, are we not in the age of open relationships, casual hookups and polyamorous arrangements?
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 20, 2019
Finally got to watch the film. Is the movie an entertaining one? The answer is of course yes. However, if someone were to ask me, if Gully boy was quality Cinema? In my opinion the answer is no.
There are many things about this film that endear me to it. The premise, a slum-dweller following his dream in spite of all the impediments, could have become an exercise in melodrama, some how Zoya guides the script away from such pit falls. Alia is a revelation, probably as BR says her Petite looks fit this role well. The lyrics, and the music are the truly organic parts of the entire experience. The editing is especially effective during the song sequences.
There were many moments in the film, which seemed promising initially, however, they gradually wither away. After one of the few quarrels between Murad’s Mom (Amruta Subhash) and his Dad (Vijay Raaz) there is a quiet moment between mom and son. In that claustrophobic space, in all that frustration, and apprehension; that quiet moment shared between the mom and son, sitting across the room—depicted as close ups—initiates expectations. I really felt this dynamic; the shared frustration, would build into a complex, unique and organic issue, which the Hero would have to confront. Unfortunately, it just leads to a cliché.
Moeen was an interesting character. In many ways his character defines the slums. The ruthless, unforgiving habitat, which has a well concealed sensitive humanistic side (at least that is what I would like to think). On one hand he carjacks, peddles drugs—using children, on the other hand: he is a true friend, he is really bothered about the orphans, and he is sensitive enough to know that Safeena would’ve known what transpired between Murad and Sky. In short Moeen is a rounded character. Such a well-written character needed more space with the Protagonist. Instead we see the needless, clichéd Sky-Murad piece. Characters such as Moeen can be instrumental in throwing light on those aspects of the protagonist that make us empathize with them. However if these characters exist in isolation, irrespective of the performance, they would just turn into aesthetic distractions.
There is a nice scene in which Murad comes to Moeen’s lair to ask for help, after having fought with his dad. He sees kids packaging drugs—gets wild at Moeen—Moeen staying true to his character traits intimidates Murad into submission. The scene, which starts to, builds up strongly, fizzles down meekly. This was frustrating. Such strong moments fizzling up and not really contributing to the narrative and dangling as mere ornamental artifacts is a pity. Vijay Varma is a strong performer (watch him in Monsoon shootout), though he had a nice character to chew on, his performance, as mentioned above, exists in isolation.
MC Sher as mentioned by BR was a well chiseled character and that meeting with his father, and bhabhi was a well-written one.
Another beautiful moment is when Murad is a socialite’s chauffeur; he is a replacement for his injured Dad. He drives the socialite’s family around. We get to see that even the socialite’s daughter is also subjected to parental coercion. At one point the girl leaves a discotheque and she is pretty upset. Murad is obviously affected by this incident but something stops him from enquiring. Then he just takes the wheel and the superb Doori poem is recited, if I am right, as a voice over. This was a great scene, great acting, direction and most importantly phenomenal lyrics.
केहने को हम पास है पर
कितनी दूरी है
ये भी कैसी मज़बूरी है
तुमसे हमदर्दी भी
नहीं कर सकता मैं
मेरे बस की बात नहीं है
मैं ये बेहते आंसू पोछुं
उतनी मेरी औकात नहीं है
मै भी यहीं हूं
तुम भी यहीं हो
पर सच ये है
मैं हूं कहीं
तुम और कहीं
In fact I felt in this nutshell of a sequence, in which he interacts with the rich, the movie’s entire theme exists. A poor man’s kid has no choice but to take up his father’s labor and at any cost he would have to sacrifice his dreams, this is a societal compulsion. Meekly our protagonist takes up the job, while on duty he finds out even the rich youth operate under the drudgery of societal compulsions. He empathizes with the visibly upset girl and pens the song Doori poem in the mind as he drives, one of the most organic moments in the film. It’s ironic, he thinks that his pursuit of hip-hop and lyric writing would be hindered by the drudgery of his father’s job but it actually ends up inspiring him. This I felt was an interesting angle to this whole sequence, which was not dwelt upon.
Ranveer I felt gave his best, unfortunately I felt the direction made him more of a likable and relatable gully boy rather than one who is in ruthless pursuit of his dreams.
I also felt major acting talents: Vijay Raaz, Amruta Subhash, Vijay Varma, Kalki, and Jyothi Subhash were wasted. Except for Vijay Varma, who had some interesting scenes, the rest of the actors mentioned here—were reduced to clichés.
After having watched the film I more or less agree with your entire review. There is but one line that bugs me—“Zoya continues to demonstrate that she is one of our best directors.” If Zoya happens to be one of our best directors, why do the cinema made by some of her peers, mentioned in the list below, seem miles ahead in refinement, rigor and sincerity?
Indian directors in no specific order (Obviously I am including only those directors who are alive and active – hence, I had to exclude Rituparno Ghosh. I shall also be excluding directors who started making films before 1980):
Mani Ratnam (Pallavi/ Anu Pallavi was in the 80s – I think)
Aparna sen
Anurag Kashyap
Vikram Motwane
Kaushik Ganguly
Qaushik Mukherjee (Q)
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Atanu Ghosh
Aditya Vikram Sengupta
Srijit Mukherjee
Vishal Bhardwaj
Hansal Mehtha
Rajeev Ravi
Santhosh Sivan
Dibakar Banerjee
Onir
Sudhir Mishra
Imtiaz Ali
Ram Gopal Varma
Sri Ram Raghavan
Abhinay Deo
Shlok Sharma
Neeraj Ghaywan
Pratim D Gupta
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Ritesh Batra
Amit Masurkar
Atanu Mukherjee
Nandita Das
Reema Kagti (Loved Talaash, in spite of its mior shortcomings, feel Reema is a better writer/director than just a writer)
Sujoy Ghosh
Pradipta Bhattacharyya
Tigaminshu Dhulia
Geethu Mohandas
Amit Kumar
Pan Nalin
Deepa Mehtha
Mira Nair (Her first fiction film I think was in the 80s)
Bedabrata pain
Tanuja Chandra (Just based on QQS)
Konkana Sen (Though it was just one film – I felt her filmmaking had an unique aesthetic)
Ashim Ahluwalia
Anup Singh (One of my favorite directors – yet to watch song of scorpions – not sure if it has released yet.)
Vetrimaran
M. Manikandan
Karthick Naren
Alphonse Puthren
Thiagarajan Kumara raja
Anand Gandhi
UMesh Kulkarni
Kanu Behl
Bejoy Nambiar
Gurvinder Singh
Mysskin
Selvaraghavan
Karthik Subbaraj
Dileesh pothan
Anjali Menon
Lijo Jose Pellissery
Shyamaprasad
Sanal Kumar sasidharan
Jayaraj
Pawan Kumar
Rakshith Shetty (Ulidavaru Kandanthe – was a layered offering)
Raam Reddy
Abhishek Chaubey
Suman Ghosh
Homi Adjania
I have tried to make this list as diverse as possible, deriving people from across the spectrum. You will find directors working in both the “art-house” genre and mainstream cinema, on this list. Some have immense experience and others have just made 1 or 2 films. I really took up this exercise of making this list because when I look at it, I get a high. The list suggests the immense filmmaking talent that is on offer in India. So I better not settle for a mediocre offering, thinking that it is probably the best I can get.
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Madan
February 20, 2019
@Anu Warrier : It was I who suggested it was a class thing in Mumbai. So I am curious which specific part of Mumbai you saw hijab clad women in. I find them in the old, working class enclaves like Mohammed Ali Road or Kurla /Mumbra. New Bombay has a sizable Muslim population and the women often move about without a hijab.
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 20, 2019
@Anu Warrier: Nice analysis on Cuaron’s casting. Now that I have watched the film I take back my nepotism accusation. Alia fitted well into the role of Safeena. Ranveer put up a good performance, however I was not convinced with Zoya’s direction.
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MANK
February 20, 2019
I felt the direction made him more of a likable and relatable gully boy rather than one who is in ruthless pursuit of his dreams.
Yes this is the big issue with the film, one never feels his hunger or his struggles as an artist. things come to him pretty easily, especially considering his circumstances
And i don’t agree that Zoya is one of the best either. she is good technician who can set the mood of a scene nicely. She does really well with the 30 minute segment in Lust stories but she doesnt have the ability to sustain it for 2.5 hours. there is an inherent confusion in her in marrying the artistic with the commercial, how to strike the balance.A lot of the smoothening out of the angst,, the disconnect between the screenplay and the lyrics are all on account of that.
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silverambrosia
February 20, 2019
Naam Shabana:
“Also wanted to add that polygamy as an institution does not per se render all women in such arrangements destitute(It definitely did hurt the lady in Gully Boy). To think this is to rob agency from women. It is non-consensual polygamy that is a problem. Women and men can enter into any form of relationships consensually involving any number of partners. After all, are we not in the age of open relationships, casual hookups and polyamorous arrangements?”
Yes there can be consensual polygamy (and some of these relationships may be happy ones as well), but it is something women have generally been resistant to. Even traditionally family’s did not like their daughters to be a part of this kind of marital setup, and if it was done it was usually to provide the girl with economic security where there were no other options. People can make their choices, and we are allowed to express our reservations about those choices, and be resistant to something becoming a trend. I don’t know if you are aware, but in places like Indonesia and Malaysia, attempts are being made to mainstream polygamous marriages, and guilt women into accepting them.
Similarly, there are real social costs that come with the mainstreaming of open relationships, casual hook ups and polyamorous relationships. The nuclear family is breaking down in many parts of the world, and the ramifications of this are serious.The people who want to have these relationships can have them, but we are allowed to weigh in with our reservations, and as to whether we want society to move in this direction.
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Anu Warrier
February 20, 2019
@Madan, all over, really. In Vile Parle where we have a flat, which is a nice middle-class locality – it used to be very Maharashtrian when my husband was growing up, it’s now very rich-Jain-dominated. My niece lives at Carter Road, and Rizvi College is right across her flat. I remember Rizvi in the 90s. Now, it’s a whole sea of black.
One of the funniest (as in amusing) sights I saw was a teenage girl in a burqa, the naqab thrown off her face, sitting on the low parapet on the promenade with a girl friend and two boys standing next to her, head thrown back in laughter. There was such joy on her face, and theres a poignancy in thinking that even a few years ago, she may not have been in a burqa at all. I mean, when I was growing up, my Muslim friends dressed more conservatively than we did; no skirts, for instance, but none of them wore their dupatta over their head unless they were going for a wedding or prayers or a religious ceremony. Today, matters are very different.
I’m sure there are still Muslims who don’t wear hijabs, but on the whole, they seem to embrace it for a variety of reasons – a mark of religious identity, a return to orthodoxy (whether voluntary or in-), a political statement, reclaiming personal freedom…. I’m just surprised at how visible the change is, and how quickly it seems to have happened.
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Madan
February 21, 2019
Anu Warrier : Ah, wouldn’t know about Rizvi but that IS sad to hear. Oh and changes are all over the place. Don’t wanna get started on Jains.
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Anu Warrier
February 21, 2019
Nice to hear Zoya explain a few things:
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rsylviana
February 21, 2019
Zoya puts forth all her points so well especially about Sher’s arc. Coming to the questions, I felt Kalki’s part could’ve been cut short and didn’t really mind that she didn’t have a complete arc per se.
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TambiDude
February 21, 2019
TambiDude: From what I gather from talking to Pakistanis, once they go to a place like US (Canada is even better), they feel able to practice their religion freely and probably revel in orthodoxy for that reason. Not all but the ones who do swing that way.
Not sure. The big difference for muslims living in the west vs native countries , is that islam suddenly becomes an identity in the west. This forces them to be defensive of anything related to Islam because they take an attack on the belief system of Islam as an attack on them. This is the reason why their image in the west has nosedived.
You know Google’s rule for youtube: If you upload a hate video against a group of people (Jews, muslims), it will be removed. If you upload a hate video against a belief system (like Islam or any religion), it is OK. Despite lot of pressure from Obama they refused to remove the video “The innocence of muslims” . A crude video where prophet mohd was shown as not wearing underwear.
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Kay
February 21, 2019
This forces them to be defensive of anything related to Islam because they take an attack on the belief system of Islam as an attack on them.
Isn’t that applicable for all religions other than Christianity? I find my Hindu and Jain friends living in other countries becoming more religious than they were when they lived in India. Even my cousin who never used to bother celebrating smaller festivals other than Diwali and Pongal, started observing others too after she shifted to Sweden. I think someone else also made a similar comment.
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TambiDude
February 21, 2019
I find my Hindu and Jain friends living in other countries becoming more religious than they were when they lived in India
You are cleverly conflating yearning for harmless things we miss here with the diabolical justification for political islam by these western muslims.
Let me tell you a story of a dharna in front of Denmark Embassy in Ottawa when cartoons were published in 2006.
A hijabi lady was standing with a placard “KILL ANYONE WHO CALLS ISLAM A VIOLENT RELIGION”. She must be as poor in her grasp of English as she is in liberal values of the west.
I hope you are better than her.
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TambiDude
February 21, 2019
Another thing: The thing about seeing young muslim women wearing hijab in US and Canadian campuses refers to second and later generations also. You don’t see second generation Indians wearing namam on their forehead and coming to work. Come to think of it, I have not seen a single tam bram with any tell tale marks of religion on the forehead in my 23 yrs in north america. I have seen them with namam at home.
Read latest Economist (16-Feb edition). There is a section about Islam in the west and the conclusion is that second and 3rd generations muslims are very conscious of their religion and embrace it even more than their parents.
Stats: Muslims in the west are 1.5% of overall muslim pop in the world. They are close to 18% of all ISIS terrorists in Iraq/Syria etc and almost of of them opted for it to bring purpose in life and they hate the debauchery (in their view) in the west.
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Rahini David
February 22, 2019
Tambi Dude: What exactly do you mean by “You are cleverly conflating”? Kay has made only a single comment in this thread and her POV appears genuine. Why just assume that she has some agenda? And is doing this oh so cleverly?
I can well see that I should keep a sane head and keep myself out of this. But then again I choose not to. When you are putting forth a POV and more than one to two commenters reply to you use a scrap of paper or a note-taking app to check who is saying what. That will enable you to not make such absurd blunders. This is hardly rocket science and a man of your years and experience should know all this like the back of his hand. Oh, I have heard of how you are OLDER than the rest of us here and know so much WISER. I am yet to see a thread where you actually come across as SLIGHTLY wise.
And yes, this about a SINGLE word i.e “cleverly”. This is about me being absolutely fed up of people shoving more antagonism in an argument than is absolutely necessary. Those who insert antagonism one unnecessary word or phrase at a time and then cry about cliques and coterie.
Also the completely unnecessary “I hope you are better than her.”
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Filistine
February 22, 2019
@Rahini – Well said! It is incredible how a simple statement like “I find my Hindu and Jain friends living in other countries becoming more religious than they were when they lived in India” has been interpreted as a “…the diabolical justification for political islam by these western muslims” Having lived abroad for a while, I have had similar experiences like Kay where I have found my relatives and friends becoming a lot more religious.
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Isai
February 22, 2019
Rahini, I feel that you have over-reacted. TambiDude could have avoided saying that word and the end-statement but it definitely doesn’t deserve such a harsh response. (And he was right about yearning for political islam not being same as nostalgia).
Now, if you are saying that your response is not for this comment alone but you have read many such comments from him, then using the same logic he could have suspected an agenda from Kay based on his perception of Kay’s previous comments in other threads.
Since you are neither BR nor Kay, I find such a response baffling. And statements like “I am yet to see a thread where you actually come across as SLIGHTLY wise.” can be said by anyone to anyone and has no place in a meaningful discussion.
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Isai
February 22, 2019
Filistine, Kay had equated Hindus/others becoming more religious in a foreign land with western muslims becoming highly defensive of any criticism of Islam. (I hope you had read Tambidude’s original comment for which Kay had responded) These two are not the same. I was/am always interested in discussing the moral failings of Rama & Krishna and even when I became more religious, I didn’t become more defensive. Now, that may be because my religion doesn’t ask for unquestioning adherence.
Some people become uncomfortable with such pointed criticism because they feel that singling out any one religion for criticism is ‘biased & unfair’. But, I feel each religion also brings its own set of problems and when some of these problems turn critical, it is important that we acknowledge them and try to discuss and resolve the issues.
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Tambi Dude
February 22, 2019
Tambi Dude: What exactly do you mean by “You are cleverly conflating”? Kay has made only a single comment in this thread and her POV appears genuine. Why just assume that she has some agenda? And is doing this oh so cleverly?
I think you are right. I apologize to Kay.
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Filistine
February 22, 2019
@Isai – How does a mere observation like “I find my Hindu and Jain friends living in other countries becoming more religious” become “…diabolical justification for political islam”?
“Some people become uncomfortable with such pointed criticism because they feel that singling out any one religion for criticism is ‘biased & unfair’.” – How would you classify Tambidude’s reaction then? One mention of Hindu & Jain and he (I presume Tambidude is a he, apologies if I got that wrong) goes all ballistic on Kay, equating him or her with a “hijabi lady” who wants to “KILL ANYONE WHO CALLS ISLAM A VIOLENT RELIGION”!
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TambiDude
February 22, 2019
Filistine/Isai: Let’s move on. I have already apologized. I stand by my contempt for islamists and jihadist and I found Kay’s statement reeking of “false equivalence”, a trait often seen in liberals. Yet I should not have ridiculed her as her intent were not mala-fide.
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Filistine
February 22, 2019
@Tambidude – that was indeed a gracious apology you made to Kay. As you rightly said, time to move on.
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Kay
February 22, 2019
Rahini and Filistine – Really appreciate the support. Thank you.
Dude – Apology accepted. To reiterate, I didn’t have any agenda in saying that. I was merely making an observation from my personal experience. To quote my own example, once in Abu Dhabi airport, I refused to remove my thaali (mangalsutra) during security check. I don’t have any qualms about removing it normally. But, during that time, I had been travelling for about a month, I was homesick and tired and when the guy asked me to remove it, I went almost hysterical. My comment was a reflection of all these thoughts.
I have read your views on Muslims/Islam in other threads and I have realised that we will never be on the same page on that topic. I’ll excuse myself from this conversation when it is still cordial. Let us agree to disagree.
Isai – honestly I don’t know how to respond to your comments. So I’ll pass. 🙂
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Ruminating Aesthete
February 23, 2019
Guys don’t u think the discussion on a film, just because it’s protagonist was from a minority community, has started to regress and degenerate. Micro-analyze any given religion you will find zillion idiosyncrasies.
Most of the changes such as the escalation of wahhabism and orthodoxy in the practice of even other religion (irrespective of majority or minority) are social reactions to crass globalisation. They would even off in few decades and especially if the majorities don’t over react.
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Naveen
March 10, 2019
Hugely entertaining?? I beg to differ. Entertaining in parts but not as a whole. As I mentioned earlier sometime back you go soft when reviewing bigger names.
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brangan
March 10, 2019
Dear Naveen. Thank you SO much for opening my eyes to how I should really feel about this movie. Of course, your reaction is the only valid one. My profoundest apologies. Despite this error of judgement of catastrophic proportions, I hope you will continue to visit. Sincerely, etc.
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Naveen
March 10, 2019
Hi Rangan, thanks for your response. I am smiling. BTW I loved your review of Chekka Chivantha Vanam in which you went out all guns blazing at Mani Ratnam. I don’t know why but I love reading your reviews whether I agree with them or not.
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brangan
March 10, 2019
Naveen: Good to see someone taking it as well as they give it 🙂
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tonks
April 18, 2019
This got released on Amazon prime on Monday, so I finally got to watch it. Rushed in here to read the review (I always hold back, for movies I intend to watch later) and the comments.
My two cents :
The Sky Murad romance
Redundant? No, because as a rom com watching veteran, I understand how one purpose it served in the movie was as a tool for the break up between the leads. Without a conflict, their story arc would have been boring, and it’s resolution at the end makes it more satisfactory. Is that formulaic/clichéd? Absolutely, but it probably helped the movie to do well.
Loved the nuances expressed in the brilliant review, BR. As always, it brings out half- thoughts at the back of my mind, and it makes my viewing experience richer.
Someone had expressed a comment about the hijaab. It is a fact that for many reasons, at least here in Kerala, almost all Muslim girls these days wear one. It wasn’t so a generation back, when we were in college, when it used to be so uncommon, perhaps, to even be an exception.
I had this interesting conversation with a liberal Muslim lady, who being of my generation, does not wear one. She said why everyone wears one now is because they are made to wear one right from when they are preteens (probably because religious sentiments and identity have become more and more important across all religions in India in the past two decades). And when one has been raised like that, it then feels naked without wearing one. My friend compared it to how we would probably feel wearing a bikini in a beach, because we are not used to it, unlike someone in the west.
I’m sure the gulf experience may have a role to play, too. Many of my class mates who work in the gulf, now wear hijabs (they did not in college) and are more religious now than before. One of my dearest friends says she now is used to wearing it, so feels more comfortable wearing it than not, even when in India for the holidays. I guess you never need fear a bad hair day wearing one 🙂 .
I was/am always interested in discussing the moral failings of Rama & Krishna and even when I became more religious, I didn’t become more defensive. Now, that may be because my religion doesn’t ask for unquestioning adherence
I do not think that holds true anymore. Even inside my own family, there are a couple of “bhakths”, who cannot tolerate criticism against Hinduism. Maybe theirs is a reaction to decades of minority appeasement and vote bank politics, but nonetheless, this is the sad reality.
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Thupparivaalan
April 18, 2019
Thupparivaalan: Tonks, me too. Caught it on prime first thing on Monday. Really liked the film. I didn’t really feel the polished anger as Mank and BR could sense in it. Maybe it is because I haven’t watched Salim-Javed-AB films much. Gullyboy has one of the best soundtracks in a long long time for me. Brilliant lyrics as BR mentioned. Loved Alia’s character. A great start to the week, altogether!
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Farhan Mohammed
April 18, 2019
Second time watch and I liked it a bit more (just a bit), subtitles helped clear up a few dialogues I didn’t catch the first time. Basic problems with the story still stands though, most of them have already been elucidated on here. Moeen and Safina are the only characters who come across as fully formed people, tbh.
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nagesh
June 1, 2020
hi sir, can you write a piece on film acting…and who is the better actor between ranbir kapoor and ranveer singh…and how do you differentiate…
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