Gully Boy

                                      

                                “Tu nanga hi toh aaya hai, kya ghanta lekar jaayega?”

Only a handful of Bollywood movies have so far made me go W.O.W and Gully Boy took it to next level. I haven’t seen in a long while, a theatre packed with people so engrossed in the movie, reacting to it or its characters like they are also simultaneously living the story depicted. Gully Boy is indeed one of the best that Bollywood owns till date and has successfully restored my faith in the industry.

A typical rags to stardom underdog story with so many narratives running parallel is an easy disaster recipe usually for Bollywood, but under Zoya’s skillful direction, powerful and layered storytelling of Reema Kagti co-written with Zoya, hard-hitting dialogues by Vijay Maurya and as always the gem of an actor, Ranveer Singh’s spectacular performance, Zoya’s masterpiece has set the bar so high for 2019 or even for Bollywood in general.

We have known many movies which usually run on the shoulders of the central characters or the story, but Gully Boy is a spectacle where each character is equally important and owns different layers along with a captivating storyline. Not just the characters, but the storytelling to the music, everything is so skilfully integrated with one another.

Ranveer Singh effortlessly sinks into the skin of the character Murad and his struggles to rise above his life conditions, inspired loosely by the experiences of real-life Mumbai street rappers Naezy and Divine. One cannot but root for his constant conflicts between the claustrophobic space he inhabits and chasing a dream which he is not even sure he deserves but holds on to it, as the desire for music just refuses to burn down. Ranveer is by now known for his attitude to go an extra mile to justify the role he plays and his honesty in doing so is clearly evident in his portrayal of Murad too. Utter despair from the constraints of his circumstances to pure passion for rap music, Ranveer’s face brilliantly conveys the core emotions.

Ranveer is equally balanced by an outstanding performance by Alia Bhatt, who is just getting better with each movie. The chemistry between them is flawless and their relationship is one of the few best that Bollywood ever captured. Alia’s character Safeena is relatable to every woman in India who has been brought up in restrictive environments and becomes natural rebels overly possessed over any little happiness they own.

              

Let it be the freedom to pursue education seriously or be it the boyfriend from childhood, she holds onto those little things as dearly as possible, because she has to be in a constant fight with her own family to an entire world to get even the smallest of happiness. Alia’s moment where she explains to her parents that how she will never lie again if at all they let her be like any other girl of her age is the pleading of every girl in the country. Her feisty, rebellious and adorable energy is just amazing and a pleasure to watch on screen.

Along with the central characters, Gully Boy is packed with incredible performances by Vijay Verma, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Raaz, and Amruta Subhash. Vijay Varma, shined as Moeen, Murad’s brother figure who is a mechanic by day and as the night falls, shadows cast over his identity too, but never on the goodness of his heart.

Siddhant as Sher is a brilliant and charming find by the casting team who fits perfectly as a mentor for Murad, giving him the confidence he needed and also familiarizing him with the rap battles which opened the larger world of rap music for Murad.

Vijay Raaz, as usual, is terrific as a frustrated father who spent his entire life believing dreams are not meant for people from slums and breaks down with pride and disbelief that his own son proved him wrong as well as heartbroken at the fact that he lived his entire life based on a lie. 

Amruta Subhash, as the distraught wife unable to comprehend losing the ground from beneath her feet and as a protective mother who only wants the best for her son, is a complete natural. Even Sheeba Chaddha as the super conservative mother who is so clueless and perplexed about what more woman wants except running a family and if got damn lucky, have a part-time job, is so goddamn cute and relatable. Kalki Koechlin, as Sky is of a different school of rebel and does complete justification to whatever little was given to her; though I would have loved to see more of her.

The music and soundtracks of Gully Boy is a separate character by itself, hard-hitting, energetic and as they proudly proclaim, AUTHENTIC. A huge shout out to all 54 musicians including rappers, beatboxers, producers and even actor Ranveer Singh for putting in extra efforts to learn and rap for a couple of tracks in the film. Personally, I am so relieved the ‘asli hip-hop’ of India is simply amazing and is far away from the typical misogynistic rap of the kind like Honey Singh.

In conclusion, someone like me who knew nothing about rapping is now researching more about the Indian world of hip hop and the soundtracks of the movie is on loop in my playlist. Also, I am planning to watch the movie again in the theatre just to enjoy that energy again in spite of it being two and a half hours long. It's worth each second.

Picture Courtesy: IMDb, Cinetalkers, ScoopWhoop, Film Companion