A dream to turn Rajasthan into a titular sovereign, Rajputana for the Rajputs, the labyrinthine interplay of politics and the intricacy of emotions and pretension that all come so naturally in the apparent calm but yet turbulent scenario and the quintessential representative of the bourgeois who gets sucked into the whirlpool of these muddy affairs form the thematic thread of Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal, arguably his best film.
A John Lenon worshiper who sings for and about the greatest Hell(o) (T)here(Piyush Mishra), an exploited Lady Macbeth(Ayesha Mohan) and her brother tugging at the puppet's strings(Aditya Srivastava), Shelley's (To The) Moon who teaches Nihilism(Jesse Randhawa), a King Edward who is not interested in becoming one yet living like one(Abhimanyu Singh) form the psychedelic collage around the two pivots in the scenario-the spineless bourgeois(Raja Chaudhury) and the big fish(Kay Kay Menon).
It does not have a helluva plot. Had the treatment gone wrong, it would appear as clichéd as it can be. But the craft is amazing. Every frame is just perfect. I maybe woefully ignorant, but I have never seen such amazing character lighting in any mainstream Indian film. Sample this, the King lounging, and the frame is lighted with a warm halogen glow, as soon as he hears of his son's death, the lighting changes to an intense red. So much said, yet so simply. The art direction is par excellence. Don't miss the Neon lights outside Raja Chaudhury's room as he is about to enter with Ayesha Menon to make out, the lights resemble the yin-yan symbol. Or the neons infront of Che Guevara's picture that resemble a motorcycle. The alcohol brands are named Democracy, Republican, Capitalism, et al Wasiq Khan .take a bow.
Coming to music, the lovely rustic charm of the tunes is not the only thing that lingers with you, but the masterful words that accompany the compositions. Sung and composed by Piyush Mishra, I could not believe
it's the same person who wrote Ghajini. And what an actor! He has the best lines and the most significant scenes. One of the most dramatic scenes, where he had smeared the red gulaal on his face and asks if people could recognize him or not. When he gets the obvious answer, he demands to know what was the logic of smearing gulaal to hide one's identity in the revolutionary meetings. Instead he suggested to wear a monkey-mask. The context and relevance is just wonderfully conveyed. Or the scene where Kay Kay dies in his arms. The misunderstood genius, the confused psyche, the conventional crackpot ..all summed and molded into one character ..it will be criminal to regard only the aspects the this character has to offer to the narrative .but I can only stammer my praise. Prithvi Bana's character is so I don't know what word to use ..I can write a whole post in deconstructing that particular characterization.
Kay Kay is outstanding as usual. Jesse Randhawa and Ayesha Mohan are phenomenal. Raja Chaudhary, Abhimanyu Singh, Aditya Srivastava play their parts well. But one must mention Mahie Gill. I have not seen Dev.D as yet, but I must say, in her almost blink-and-miss yet important role as a foil to other characters and as a catalyst to the drama, she is simply outstanding.
This film is just too good. The amount of stuff that has been crammed in is damn commendable. Bloody brilliant!
A John Lenon worshiper who sings for and about the greatest Hell(o) (T)here(Piyush Mishra), an exploited Lady Macbeth(Ayesha Mohan) and her brother tugging at the puppet's strings(Aditya Srivastava), Shelley's (To The) Moon who teaches Nihilism(Jesse Randhawa), a King Edward who is not interested in becoming one yet living like one(Abhimanyu Singh) form the psychedelic collage around the two pivots in the scenario-the spineless bourgeois(Raja Chaudhury) and the big fish(Kay Kay Menon).
It does not have a helluva plot. Had the treatment gone wrong, it would appear as clichéd as it can be. But the craft is amazing. Every frame is just perfect. I maybe woefully ignorant, but I have never seen such amazing character lighting in any mainstream Indian film. Sample this, the King lounging, and the frame is lighted with a warm halogen glow, as soon as he hears of his son's death, the lighting changes to an intense red. So much said, yet so simply. The art direction is par excellence. Don't miss the Neon lights outside Raja Chaudhury's room as he is about to enter with Ayesha Menon to make out, the lights resemble the yin-yan symbol. Or the neons infront of Che Guevara's picture that resemble a motorcycle. The alcohol brands are named Democracy, Republican, Capitalism, et al Wasiq Khan .take a bow.
Coming to music, the lovely rustic charm of the tunes is not the only thing that lingers with you, but the masterful words that accompany the compositions. Sung and composed by Piyush Mishra, I could not believe
it's the same person who wrote Ghajini. And what an actor! He has the best lines and the most significant scenes. One of the most dramatic scenes, where he had smeared the red gulaal on his face and asks if people could recognize him or not. When he gets the obvious answer, he demands to know what was the logic of smearing gulaal to hide one's identity in the revolutionary meetings. Instead he suggested to wear a monkey-mask. The context and relevance is just wonderfully conveyed. Or the scene where Kay Kay dies in his arms. The misunderstood genius, the confused psyche, the conventional crackpot ..all summed and molded into one character ..it will be criminal to regard only the aspects the this character has to offer to the narrative .but I can only stammer my praise. Prithvi Bana's character is so I don't know what word to use ..I can write a whole post in deconstructing that particular characterization.
Kay Kay is outstanding as usual. Jesse Randhawa and Ayesha Mohan are phenomenal. Raja Chaudhary, Abhimanyu Singh, Aditya Srivastava play their parts well. But one must mention Mahie Gill. I have not seen Dev.D as yet, but I must say, in her almost blink-and-miss yet important role as a foil to other characters and as a catalyst to the drama, she is simply outstanding.
This film is just too good. The amount of stuff that has been crammed in is damn commendable. Bloody brilliant!