Here is a very good cinema. From the day I started writing in Mouthshut, I wanted to write a review on a film which I really liked. Here is the one. No need of reading further. Go and buy a ticket. Gangster is a must watch movie!!!
I have been writing about the importance of screenplays, which play a vital role in the quality of a film. I believe this will be a good example of how a good story & screenplay contribute to its success. The director Anurag Basu has moved forward a lot from Sayaa and Murder. He stood with the script till the end and it paid off. A script with a lot of drama is the prime merit of the film and excellent performance by Kangna Ranaut with the support of Shiny and Emran only added glory to it. Good direction and a well supported production house made the film one of the best films released in bollywood in recent years.
THE STORY
The story, to begin with is a love triangle, where one lover is a gangster. The story deals with love and duty. The success of love is the end. How the love progress surpassing duty is the story of Gangster.
Daya (Rohan ’Shiny’ Ahuja) is a gangster, one who is special and in the words from the film, he don’t have any fear because he is not fearful of death. Simran (Kangna) is a bar girl. Indian intelligence has deputed agents in Seoul to catch Daya dead or alive. One day, when chased by the police, Daya took shelter in Simran’s house. Simran allowed him to stay that night there. The next day he left without saying a word of thanks. But he highly respected and loved the beautiful lady. He came back after 3 months. Took the address of the bar where she is working and then on, he is a regular visitor of the bar. He simply looked at her and she understood his love. When some customers tried to molest Simran, Daya protected her and took her with him to his house. There she has been treated with full respect, which she cannot imagine even in daylight at her working place. The Gang leader (Gulshan Grover) did not like their relation. Anyway, they live together, with an adopted baby. They are not married anyway. Simran ask him to drop the profession for the sake of the child, where he said he will protect him with his life. In a close shootout, the child died.
There on, the relation between them is in trouble. Circumstances forced Daya to leave Seoul. The relation only reduced to a call she may receive in a week or so. This leads Simran to become an alcoholic. At this point, she meet Akash(Emran Hashmi), who promise a happy and quite life. They even physically relate and ignored Daya completely. Daya reaches and find that they are in relation. He beat Akash and was about to kill him, but Simran stop him there. In the face of questions by Simran, Daya do not have an answer, but to request for a chance for him to become good. To the standards of an average film, the above story is sufficient for a film. But, the story is not finished. And that leaves Gangster a very special one. I will not elaborate any further, because it will surely take off the suspense in store of Gangster.
Don’t worry, even after reading this much story, you will be still surprised of the surprises in the film.
Let me brief on the overall performance, before making further comments.
DIRECTION - Excellent
PERFORMANCES - Super
CINEMATOGRAPHY - Quite impressive
MUSIC - Very good
EDITING - One of the best
LOCATIONS - Charming and suitable
CHOREOGRAPHY - Good
STORY & SCREENPLAY - Very Good
It is very rare to get the combination of all these in a film and Anurag Basu succeeded in roping all the above positive factors together.
Performance of KANGNA will be the most talked about one and Sushmitha Sen will have a very difficult time to rope a national award this time for her role in Chingari, as KANGNA surpasses all expectations and delivers a nearly 100% performance. You cannot ask for better. Beauty mixed with glamour, Act with a soul and role which have much meat to consume.... KANGNA used all these factors to her favor.
PERFORMANCE
Emraan Hashmi performance is ok, where he is acted with full control and grace. I was thinking he is an unfit in the film in- between, but at the end when the story is clear, his performance is justified. Regarding Shiny, I have a different opinion. One, he performed extra ordinarily brilliant at most of the time. Two, he failed to deliver where the performance was most counted. The scene where he is crying to the lap of Simran and the scene where he is injured and moving to Simran (The make-up, though amateurish helped him a lot in this scene) and thereafter surrounded by the police and his staring at Simran in disbelief.... Except these 2 scenes, his performance was excellent. But these 2 scenes were the vital turning points of the film and the director should have taken little more care. From Shiny’s side, he has to improve in his acting to win an award.
SPECIAL MOMENTS
Few moments from the film will be with you for quite a long time.
Where Simran yells at Daya over phone
Simran search for Alcohol in the garbage, and reaching to Akash
Simran and Akaash make their love bond
Daya ask Simran to give a second chance
Daya beat Akaash in the street
Daya meet Simran for the first time. (The face of Kangna with drops of water on her face in the blue dress.... you will soon download it in your computer)
FEW THOUGHTS
The script has its own merit, which keep the suspense and force you to look into each minute movement. However, in the run the script challenges one’s capacity to keep things in mind for long. You reach Mauritius, Dubai, Seoul...... And finally where are you? In a second viewing you may identify some definite mistakes in the script. But, in the first viewing you are completely taken by surprise which leave no clue from the word go and not allow any stone to leave unturned.
Even though the drama elaborate in good pace, the touch of India is only limited to the Indian embassy and Indian intelligence, but it would have been better if the director has shown that the Gangster's life in Indian soil. And the story ends up in Seoul, where the gangster got the punishment and he is in the jail. But I believe an Indian gangster caught alive in Seoul can only be executed in India and not in Seoul, since the crimes are supposed to be done in India. You can not say the crimes are done in foreign soil. In that case why Indian intelligence was there? You also cannot say the gangster is in India, as Simran meet the gangster after the judgment. And the streets of Seoul is evident so much so that you are about to think that the entire story is happened in Seoul.
The decisive meeting point of Simran and Daya is also an easy compromise by the writer/director.
Indian Intelligence agents running in a foreign land with guns after a gangster is only for adding masala to the film and not for reality consumption.
CONCLUSION
Having said all, compare to other bollywood films, Gangster stand alone. There are no light movements in the film and Gangster means business. The film is only 12 reels and less than 2 hours, but you feel like you have saw 3 hour marathon film. Such is the power of the script. It has a definite look of hollywood, but the film have an equal standard of any Hollywood film.
Gangster - the name may be misleading in the beginning, but from day2, there is no other name suites it, other than Gangster. At the box office, the film should do a decent business. It is a hit material. If good films are here to stay, this film may turnout to be the first hit after Malamaal weekly.
