Everyone has a list of movies to watch on a rainy day. Gulaal had to feature on mine. I was under its spell in the first viewing itself. And that single outing was enough to convince me to buy its DVD to ruminate over. A few days back, I had a chance to see it again. And this time too I discovered things unexplored earlier.
The movie directed by Anurag Kashyap is set in a fictional town of 'Rajpur'. The central character of the story is Dileep (Raj Singh Chaudhary, who also happens to be the co-writer of the film), a student who comes to Rajpur to study Law and is mired into college politics. The story unfolds against a backdrop of local political intrigue.
I won't dwell much on the plot summary (you can read it elsewhere, perhaps on Wiki, though I would advise against it, firstly it colours your thoughts and secondly it reveals the plot).
The talking points about the movie surely is Anurag Kashyap's style of direction. Never before, have I ever seen the amount of detailing done in a movie. Be it in the character's mannerisms, their costumes, the sets, the dialogues. The last time I had seen such detailing was in Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Swades' (perhaps another blog post), but Swades was a simple story without many layers. Gulaal on the contrary is more complex, perhaps not in scale but surely in terms of ideas it tries to convey.
The most arresting aspect of the movie is the cinematography by Rajeev Ravi. Red or Gulaal is the overwhelming colour you would't miss to notice. The red tinged scenes might suggest violence or revolution in a viewer's mind. Though Rajeev Ravi has completely dismissed the idea that it was intentional. Ravi tries to give a 'play-like' feel to the movie, by avoiding close-ups, though nothing very fancy was tried by Ravi in terms of camera movement, nevertheless it still holds one's attention.
What is Gulaal trying to convey? The movie can be said to be set in a futuristic era/time period, where Democracy has failed India, and the Rajputs are trying a separatist movement in order to regain control over their princely states. The name of the liquor brands 'Democracy' whisky and 'Republican' beer also stands out in the political backdrop.
I read in one of Anurag Kashyap's blog that he has poured all his anger and displeasure he had at the time in Gulaal with the Censor Board, (his first movie 'Paanch was yet to see light of day), the film fraternity (nobody was willing to buy his movies) and the Indian government (for creating two different states Uttaranchal and Jharkand). Its his most violent movie to date.
Gulaal though has also been said to be inspired from the songs of Guru Dutt's movie 'Pyaasa' particularly from "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hain"
The soundtrack too stands out, it was something that was very-much-unheard-of before. Piyush Mishra treats us with some revolutionary poems, with 'Aarambh hai Prachand' but my favourite is his version of 'Sarfaoshi ki tamanna', consider this line in particular:
Oh re Bismil kaash aate aaj tum Hindustaan
Dekhte ki mulk saara kya tashan, kya thrill mein hai
Aaj ka launda yeh kehta hum to bismil thak gaye
Apni aazaadi to bhaiya laundiya ke til mein hai.
For me the most relishing factor is the references to various things which Kashyap holds dear, and in this case it can't be called subtle because they are quite loud to miss. It reminded me of Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' which is full of homages to other movies. One particular scene in the movie where Butch (Bruce Willis) and his boss Marsellus (Ving Rhames) are held captive have around 10-12 references to various movies.
The 'John Lennon' locket worn by Prithvi Bana (Piyush Mishra) is a tribute to John Lennon, as Anurag Kashyap is a huge Lennon fan. The Lennon-esque reference is also evident in the last scene where Dileep takes to violence. The plastic frame glasses and the MK 2 helmets allude to the John Lennon movie 'How I won the war'.
A scene where Kiran (Ayesha Mohan) plays a Pink Floyd song 'Goodbye Blue Sky', might be also be a tribute to Pink Floyd, but for me it reflected her thoughts, "Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?"
Homage has been paid to 'Tabu' in a form of poster and one of her movie songs 'ruk ruk ruk', which was relegated to the background though. The old British bar where Dileep stays has posters of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. I found it quite ironic though that Gulaal is replete with such western references, but the movie is set in a tier-3 city, where the people barely speak English save for some royalties who blabber in Angrezi at times.
What I found more ironic and satirical was the fact that none of the cast save for Abhimanyu Singh, were Rajputs. Kay Kay Menon, Piyush Mishra, Ayesha Mohan, Aditya Srivasatav are certainly of different descent. It also reflects Kashyap's humour in a certain way.
Another gem is the scene where Prithvi Bana talks over a dead phone to the President of the United States, lamenting about the fact that they can't celebrate Diwali, as they are left with no oil to light the 'Diyas'. All the oil apparently has been used up by the Americans.
Gulaal is filled with such satire and humour. And that is what makes it all the more compelling to revisit.
