Guns of Wassyepur.

Bollywood very proudly flaunts badges like mindless entertainment, leave your brains behind comedy, potboiler, masala entertainer etc. The recent box office success of these films proves that there exists a larger population of people who step into the theatre to consume these films and most of them find it entertaining too.

Gangs of Wasseypur is Anurag Kashyaps Take your brains with you masala potboiler film.

On the surface it is a revenge drama spanning almost 70 years that starts between Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahalawat) and Ramadhir Singh (Played by two actors, the older part is played by Tigmanshu Dhulia) and is inherited by future generations of Shahid Khan.

At a running time of 2 hrs 40 min the film is engaging and entertaining with not a single boring moment, that is if you find a connect with the characters and their world. They are crazy, eccentric, quirky and extremely violent without any remorse.

The voice-over and the political information overwhelm you so much that it feels like you are sitting for an exam. You have to be so attentive especially in the first hour.

Jaideep Ahalawat as Shahid Khan is the emotional anchor of the film. His track is the only time the revenge drama works which later fades away and I was watching it more as a madcap entertainer. Jaideeps fight sequence in the coal mines reminded me of Kaala Pathar. His intensity as an actor is terrific in whatever little he got to do. For me he is the find of the film.

The world of Wasseypur is filled with strong women who speak their mind and don't take things lying down. Richa Chaddha, Reema Sen and Huma Qureshi deliver terrific performances. Every scene that had Richa Chaddha in it was my favorite. The last time I enjoyed Manoj Bajpayees performance was in Aks. This one beats it and is his 2nd best after Satya.

Even though Tigmanshu Dhulia plays his part with silent menace his character comes across too weak to oppose the overpowering character of Shahid Khan which takes away some spice from the film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the lanky Faisal Khan is the Amitabh Bachchan of the 70s. In his eyes there are multitudes of emotions.

If I sit down to write down moments that I enjoyed in the film I can fill pages mentioning it. If Anurag Kashyap has intended to make it as a masala entertainer against the backdrop of revenge he has definitely succeeded in making one but if his vision was to tell a revenge drama he falls flat on the face. I just didn't care for the revenge angle. Supporting his vision is the mind blowing music by Sneha Khanwilkar and the background music of G.V.Prakash. Both of them add funk to the violent and dark tone of the film. And to all those who worry about the duration of a film and say it is slow paced I would say that the duration of a film appears long only if it fails to engage you. An engaging film can never be too long. Gangs of Wassyepur didn't bore me for a second.

Word of mouth Gangs of Wasseypur is Anurags tribute to the American gangster movies and Godfather and also his answer to the masala films of our times.Its an item film.

Rating 3.5 (Good)

Ticket Meter Worth 250 bucks

P.S. pls stay right till the end to watch the trailer of GOW2.