I was first alerted of this movie by the sheer waves it was making in the Cannes Film Festival, and for the very obvious reason that it featured the hugely talented maverick director, Anurag Kashyap who had already carved a niche for himself by virtue of his brilliant direction in many unconventional, "art" films. The other reason was that one of my favourite actors, Manoj Bajpayee(one of those rare Indian actors who actually understand the meaning of acting), the genius who lived through his characters in films like Satya, Raajneeti, and 1971. Apart from these factors, what attracted me to the film was its gigantic ensemble cast(Piyush Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia).

I went to the theatre to catch part 1 without knowing what to expect, given Kashyap's penchant to making excellent films whose heady content are marked by ambiguous overtones; you never can really interpret any of Kashyap's films in one way!

Ditto for Gangs of Wasseypur as well. I will not dwell on the plot, you will have to see the movie yourselves. What I will dwell on is the cinema itself. Firstly, to say that it is a violent movie is an understatement: there isn't just violence, you have men being butchered, gore splattered mercilessly. Hell, you even see a 10-second footage of blood on a floor(with a newspaper crumpled next to it, soaked in blood, just like how the policemen clean all the gore in crime scenes). Gunfire splits your eardrums, and believe me, it's a true-to-life sight.

The movie begins with a rival gang blowing up a man's house with machine guns and makeshift bombs. The way Kashyap positions his camera and randomly puts in close-up shots of the machine guns followed by an overhead shot of the men firing at the doors of the house reminded me of those stalwarts of slickly violent films, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino.

Kashyap's direction is not fast-paced by any means, it is indulgent, it is leisurely-paced and that gives enough room for character development, which is where Kashyap scores, big time. The citizens of Wasseypur are all fleshed out realistically, and the protagonist, a lecher who dreams of revenge and power is too true.

Next up is the performances of the case which is nothing short of phenomenal. Manoj Bajpayee...well, well, not for once did I think that his Bhiku Mhatre would be overshadowed by any other character, but as Sardar Khan, the sadistic, scary and scheming Mafia lord and a lecher to boot, Bajpayee delivers a performance that is worthy of a National Award. Riccha Chaddha as Nagma Khatoon, Sardar's poor wife who has to put up with his frequent extra-marital affairs, is a veritable brimstone who spews abuses and threatens policemen with a sickle> She is arguably the find amongst new actresses in the Hindi film industry. However, the biggest surprise is the performance of Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir Singh. With restrained emotions and an intense body-language, Dhulia delivers a tour-de-force.

What separates this film from the rest of the bullsh*t that the so-called "Bollywood" industry spews out, is its subtlety, a device that Kashyap uses to great effect. The scene where Sardar's uncle realizes Ramadhir Singh's plot of killing Shahid Khan(Sardar's father) by recognizing Singh's umbrella, is very effective, because it doesn't shove over-emphasis up your nose. Apart from that, the performances of the case, are not over-the-top, nor are they too wooden. They portray their characters realistically, and underplay them brilliantly, unlike some Srk's some Sallu's and some "Big B's" who don't even understand the meaning of the word subtlety. Bajpayee controls his problem of occasional hamming by restraining his emotions perfectly. Kashyap helps, too, with some tight screenplay, not allowing any character to wallow in their grief and breaking out into songs.

Overall, 'Gangs...'is one of those movies that you have to watch, simply because it can easily lay claim with being one of the best movie in gangster genre along with City of God, Godfather trilogy, and Nayagan.

PS: Watch the last scene of the movie, you will be astonished with Kashyap's black comedy.