Gulaal - Review

A Rajputana uprising, a movement in the making, a revolution waiting to happen.....

Gulaal is a story of a young man Dileep (Raj Singh Chaudhary), who comes to Jaipur to study law. A very simple person by nature, Dileep soon gets caught up in a whirlwind of college politics, love & a fight within himself to figure out who is true & which battle should he wage.

Here he stays with one Rananjay Singh Ransa [Abhimanyu Singh], who, even with his blue-blooded lineage, is a ruffian of sorts & takes great pride in being a Rajput.
He also comes in contact with Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon), the main man in town, who runs the whole show. Dukey Bana's main aim, is to have a separate state of the Rajputs and restore the legacy of the kings & their families.

On entering Jaipur, Dileep encounters incidents where he gets ragged by Jadwal (Pankaj Jha) and in the ensuing rivalry, Dukey Bana makes Rananjay stand for the College elections. With Rananjays untimely death by the hands of a rival Karan (Aditya Srivastav), Dileep is promoted to the fore & eventually wins the election for the post of General Secretary.
Although one might think that petty college politics doesnt really translate into the big picture, there is a great story woven into this political saga, where money to run the Rajputana movement makes Dukey a man on a mission, eliminating whatever & whoever comes his way.
In this journey, the simple Dileep, falls in love with Karans sister Kiran (Ayesha Mohan), who eventually betrays him to take the post which he won.
Driven by rage, the final lap deals with how Dileep vents his anger on all he meets & eventually puts an end to it all.

One thing is for certian. Anurag Kashyap has delivered yet another sublime performance, with a gripping narrative in the first half, absorbing you into the story, which meanders slowly to a finish in the second. The dialogues are absolutely brilliant and this is a movie where the individual performances are backed by a strong story. Only a little tightening of the second half would have pushed this movie's experience many notches higher.
The music is not bad and lyrics are very witty & thought provoking.

Of the performances, Kay Kay Menon is fabulous. He delivers performance after performance, and this one is right up there, deserving an applaud.
Abhimanyu Singh, has a short but very impactful role & can be called the pick of the cast. The ease with which he plays the role, makes you feel its tailor made for him.
Mahie Gill, in her extended cameo is entertaining & delivers a few laughs. Raj Singh Chaudhary looks apt, Jesse Randhawa, non-existent & Piyush Mishra-brilliant.

Do yourselves a favour, go watch this film. It is 2.5 hrs well spent.

Critical - 4/5
Commercial - 2.5/5