Gangs of Wasseypur 2 review

3 / 5

Gangs of Wasseypur 1 introduced us to the various characters that are involved in this revenge saga. The first part ended with Sardar Khan being brutally shot by Ramadhir Singh’s camp.

The second part takes off from here and we see the next generation of Khans relentlessly try to take revenge on Ramadhir and his gang. Faizal Khan, the second son of Sardar, is the kingpin and he is this menacing man who is always smoking ganja and slowly makes his presence felt, as things go out of hand. At a point there are talks of truce between the two warring clans but soon all hell inevitably breaks loose and we witness more and more dead bodies accumulated.

This revenge saga has been done very stylishly thanks to Rajeev Ravi’s deadly cinematography which is edgy, raw and captures the movie’s dark vibrancy perfectly. The chaste dialogs are a bit tough to understand but they sparkle with humor and catchy lines. The references to Bollywood stars, the film craze and the scene when Faizal deliberates about the name Definite are very enjoyable.

The music by Sneha Khanwalkar is another major plus. They go along with the movie’s flow and often come during the deadly chase scenes and gritty bloodbath. Anurag Kashyap’s ease at using songs in an innovative manner is already well known. G.V.Prakash’s BGM is terrific in the climax particularly.

There are many interesting characters in this bloodbath in the form of the crazily named Perpendicular (Faizal’s younger brother), Definite (Faizal’s step brother) and Tangent. We also have Mohsina (Huma Qureshi), Faizal’s luscious wife. The rest of the characters are aged versions of what we saw in the first part including an old Ramadhir, Sardar’s two wives and his other loyalists.

But it is the delightfully characterized Perpendicular who makes the best impact in a short role. Definite also has a very substantial role and he is styled like Salman Khan from Tere Naam. Nawazuddin Siddiqui carries the movie on his slender shoulders and he occupies majority of the screen space. He is a real firebrand and in the scenes when he is with his ladylove he shows his rustic romantic side. He is one to watch out for. Huma Qureshi is the charismatic female lead and she is very sexy despite never resorting to skin show. Richa Chadda and Reema Sen as the ageing wives don’t have much to do with Richa having comparatively better screen space.

Expletives fly around in scene after scene and the violence is also truly brutal. The balance between style and violence is skewed towards the latter in the climax in particular. This movie is definitely not for the weak hearted people who can’t munch violence. But, for the people initiated to Tarantino and Scorsese, the violence is pretty enjoyable thanks to the making. There are many such tense encounters where the gun dominates. These scenes are arresting. On the downside, the movie is long, there are too many characters and English subtitles could have been added.

To conclude, Anurag Kashyap has presented a bloody stylish revenge saga which has been innovatively released as two parts within a space of just two months. Ram Gopal Varma failed with Rakta Charitra which was another similar attempt but Anurag delivers thanks to his stylish presentation of the most primitive human instinct – revenge.   

VERDICT: This bloody finale to the revenge saga exudes style and raw energy