The second part of Anurag Kashyap’s two-parter Gangs Of Wasseypur has finally released. Once you have seen both the parts, then only you can imagine how daunting task it must have been to make these two films, and still hit the right notes at the right places. (Aha, we will be again accused of being biased for his films. Not a single day passes without the accusation anyway.)
The opinion is still divided on whether 1 is better or 2, but one thing is for sure 1+2 = Epic Masterclass in Filmmaking! A rare feat which only few can dare to imagine and then translate it onscreen into cinematic orgasm of almost 6hours. There are few theatres across the country which are showing both the parts back to back (see pics). If you can, you must go for one of these marathons.
And so here’s our QOTD – Pick your favourites. If you are bit confused with who played which character, click here to access the family chart and then vote.
As for me, i would say Part 1 was like wine – slow, smooth and acquired taste. Part 2 is like beer – fast, popcorn-ish and fun! Full dhickiyaoon!
Do put your reasons in the comments section. Let the gang war begin!
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
only 1 female option with all the women in it packed together?
sexist 🙂
one reason for disliking GoW2 is that it ended on a predictable note, unlike other AK movies. Emotional connect wala complaint bhi still remains. And..piyush mishra was completely out of the picture in 2nd part. I thought a reasoning would be there why he’s narrating the story and expected him to shoot the last minute bullet or something..
sorry..thats not a “reason to dislike” it but a thing that disappointed me.
Problem with part 2
a. What was the point of Rajmukar’s character? Mood banane ke liye daala tha kya or was he there for chase.
b. Jab ramadhir ne hathiyar daal diye the aur ek point pe phaizal bhi pareshan hai jhagde se to fir itti maara maari thi kyon?
c. Ek chutiya character jisko ramadhir bhejta hai, Faizal ko Definate se door karne ke liye, and may be election ladvane ke liye, wo kyon, kya Ramadhir ke liye faizal ko maarna itna mushkil tha
d. Gaane itne lambe kyon the?????
e. Huma Qureshi kya kar rahi thi sivaye Frustiane ke audiance ko?
f. Faizal ne apne gunde dost ko maar ke aisa kya kar liya ke via VO humko pata chalta hai ke uska varchasvya kitna badh gaya hai
g. Time zone batane ke liye baar baar filmi poster!!!!!
h. Dialogue achee the par fir bhi sense nahi ban rahi thi
Last but not the least………..agar ramadhir singh ko maarna itna asaan tha to pehle part mein hi kar dete, itna ghumaya kyon????????
Agree will almost all your points, adding a couple more.
i. Perpendicular’s crowd pleasing character was only there to up the fun/humor quotient of the movie. Made absolutely no difference to the big picture, just a superfluous distraction from the plot.
j. Telephone conversation between Shamshaad and Faisal used as “very strong” evidence against Faisal was laughable. It is lame even if I forget how lawless Wasseypur is shown to be.
I didn’t like how stagnant Faizal’s character becomes later in the film. He is predictable and annoyingly naive. His defence of Iqlakh, when he realizes his connection to Ramadhir, is inexplicable. He enjoyed more character development during the Varanasi sequence of the first part than during this entire film.
Sultan’s killing sequence was ridiculous. Trying too hard to be funny (jackfruit recipes? really?)
Faizal’s scene with Mohsina towards the end – when he confesses regret- IMO was forced and didn’t really fit in with his character’s actions before and after that scene.
On the upside, the epilogue was superb – a repeat of a similar scene in the first half with a different set of characters, only Piyush Mishra in common.
I’d love to see an entire film on Definite. Superb role and actor.
Jai Arjun Singh’s review is pretty well articulated.
http://jaiarjun.blogspot.in/2012/08/mind-gaps-conflicting-thoughts-on-gangs.html
” What was the point of Rajmukar’s character? Mood banane ke liye daala tha kya or was he there for chase.”
Ditto for Pelpendiculal. But that’s what one means by indulgence, which is often considered as an offense per se. Remember Saawariya/Not A Love Story? These films validate the above point. But the idulgence here was indulgence done right IMO.
f. Faizal ne apne gunde dost ko maar ke aisa kya kar liya ke via VO humko pata chalta hai ke uska varchasvya kitna badh gaya hai
Ans: Woh dost abhi abhi koi election jeeta hai uska dabdaba hai gaon mein. Koi mamuli aira ghaira dost nahi.
Emotional core wali baat se main bhi sahmat hoon. I didn’t respond emotionally to anything (except Guddu’s death probably). As Jai Arjun Singh rightly pointed out, the film wants us to feel contradictary emotions according to its convenience without making an effort to make us a participant in the proceedings. I remained largely passive to the happenings, as a bystander on the road would, voyeuristically enjoying a gunbattle, a chase, a cop being dominated at the murder site etc. as opposed to someone who is an intrinsic part of the events, someone who understands the gravity of the situation. But I think at some places this dryness was deliberate and in the end I didn’t mind it much. Just a minor quibble.
Why am I the only person who voted for Shahid Khan? The man was lengendary!!! Possibly a more exciting character than Sardar Khan!!
Include Ehsan Qureshi too… the lazy man was my fav. Only one shot in Part 2…the fact that you still remember the small characters is the best thing about GOW.
am still accusing you of being biased towards his films 🙂 you can add mine to the pile you get, not meant to burden though 🙂 I quite liked GOW1, but I refuse to call it an epic. will write more when I see Part 2.
@Nupur – not calling the films “epic”. But 1+2 = Epic Masterclass in Filmmaking. There’s a big difference between the two 🙂
Its a masterclass which defies logic.
@puccacritic
1.Raj Kumar Yadavs character was there as Faisal Khan was bad in business sense, he was not there jst for the chase.
2.Itni maara maari isliye thi kyuki sultan ahmed harami tha aur ramadhir ka beta jealous
3.Definite right from beginnin seemed unpredictable and he might shoot ramadhirs son also to get some advantage…he had vowed from beginnin to avenge n take this throne
4.Huma Quereshis songs i agree were irritating…which she hums into faisals ears
5.Dialogues were good, no complaints..
One thing i wanna really praise both the movies for, are pitch perfect characterisations…
1.Shahid Khan:-Loyalist,Brave but foolish and unprepared for snakes like ramadhir.
2.Sardar Khan:- His libido came in the way of his vengeance and so also his woman.
3.Faisal Khan:- Almost a city of god character uninterested in anything other then smoking pot. Which director other then tarantino or guy rithcie shows the incompetent sides of powerful dons. like not understanding finance or not able to judge a guy. And the fact that he dies when he expresses his desire to leave the trade much like city of god.
4.Perpendicular:- Lil Ze in the kid avatar, of city of god.
5.Definite:-Another perfect character, unpredictable, no loyalities n what he does is quite true to his nature.
6.Danish Khan:- Somehow his sonny like transition was a bit unbelievable.
7.4th son- Where did he disappear, or was he tangent? or shall we see gow3?
8.The stupid assassins n failed chases seemed picked from guy ritchie n tarantino movies, but they were looking quite authentic to indian settings.
9.Casting Director should be given oscar. Where did he find such perfect actors for such cool roles.
Gow 1 n 2 both are classics already and both are good in their own. Its like comparing the feelings of different drug highs.
I prefer Part 2.
And my favorite character of the lot is Definite. He deserves another movie
Rahi baat characters ki. Ramadhir does have a justification to why he killed Shahid, the origin of the rivalry. From a third person’s POV, Shahid’s bluff was caught, and he got what he.deserved.
Sardar was nothing but a buffoon, and my favorite GoW character, whose libido often makes him forget his motive, revenge.
Sultan was disappointing to me, largely one dimensional and devoid of any humour. Why does he accept Perpendiculal’s supari when he knows that he’ll be in deeper trouble if he kills Faizal’s brother? And more so when he knows he doesn’t have Ramadhir ‘s support anymore? Another fool who, on merely being manipulated (Humne suna tha ki aapko darr nahi lagta) gets himself into trouble, kills his sister (he’s cross with her for marrying the ‘Dushman’, but isn’t he just a hired killer as opposed to being a fundamental Dushman?), albeit without the oddball likeability. He isn’t even greedy for power, unlike JP who fuels the rivalry when both parties have agreed upon a pact.
Faizal getting dragged into this, I felt) wasn’t so much to actually avenge his father but to prove a point to his mother and others who considered him incapable. But still, he came across to me as a little vague and distant, despite the inherent likeability and relatability to his character.
The womeniya mostly existed just because their existence was mandatory for the comical moments and were left underdeveloped (and rightly so, IMO. No complaints there.)
Perpendiculal and Shamshad ‘Two Face’ Alam ke baare mein hum pehli hi keh chuke hain.
every one who has commented on this thread above r idiots. none hv undertood the meaning of the film.
its a film of subversion.
Can you pronounce Chugyeogja?
MFC – Got a feeling Anjali Singh is no one but Sumit Singh. Remember the venerated guy?
@ fatema
still missing me?
women sure have great intuition…probably coz they rarely get to use their intelligence.
btw i have written some nice things about the loser anurag below…its a LONG ONE…am sure girls like LONG ONES….read it…relish it….and give me a FEED back.i have a lot of other thoughts about the movie…dont worry i will cumm again.
personally,what the fuck do i care about anurag….is he giving me any paisa for watching his films?
is he making me famous…like he made an average varun gobar?
Tum nahi samjhogi Anjali.
…I guess the entire movie needs to be watched in a single sitting to fairly judge the 2nd half….cause by itself it has done nothing but disappointed…pointless and bland characters(like Shamshad(if am not wrong with the name) and Iqlakh)…no character development of Faisal Khan….lack of common sense on part of some of the characters(people roaming around unprotected,Sulthan Qureshi not barging into the house and finishing the job even when he had come with a full battalion)…dissapointing music(Somebody needs to die for the ‘Frustiao nahi mooda’ song)…and to top it all the digital blood of Ramadhir Singh…
…Somebody here said that Definite needs a full movie…and that he’s a great actor….I beg to disagree, I felt that he wasn’t acting but was rather being himself…for me the most interesting(and underdeveloped) character (after Faisal ofcourse) was Guddu…the scene of Sultan’s murder was the best in the movie for me(a bit overcooked though)…
…having said(all) that, by itself GOW2 is a must watch…its just that I was expecting so much more….
GOW 2 is way better than GOW 1. GOW 1 was a build up and a skeleton which GOW 2 puts flesh and blood and sweat and soul on.
The movie is bullet fast.
it is Kashyap’s black humored subversion of every single stunt and gag and melodrama of bollywood.
bilkul taar taar kar diya Anurag ne bollywood ko.
Never seen such a powerful and thundering critique of the dream factory and its idiotic influence.(The dailogue of ramadheer : “main abhi tak zinda ish liye hoon kyunki main cinema nahi dekhta”)
those who will find the movie underwhelming in terms of emotional content must understand that it was the very principle and plan of kashyap to take the ass of all our drama glorifying impulses.
the crowning glory was that the main protagonist who acted in it(nawazuddin) is the very same person bollywood had for 10 years stereotyped as a guy to be used only when the hero/villain wants to bash someone up.the subversion is relentless and complete…the drama king angry young man played by amitabh in deewar….has been robbed of all the drama …..the dhisoom dhisoom is real…..the thai thai….and diskewww is pathetically ugly.nauseous,revolting,gory,deformed and…fucking REAL.
the scene where nawaz in trying to escape from gunfire and fractures his knee and winces in pain for a full 2 minutes…and the background black homorous song “frustiyao nahi moora,nervousao nahi moora”…..captures the essential idiocy behind the hullabaloo of all heroism…..”just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
this is the real magic of Anurag Kashyap….his aesthetics is too playful and real to be categorized into a definite narrative(tragic or comic) that elicits a non conflicting response the audience can indulge themselves and wallow in.He is too uncompromising a realist to let the tragic moments lose their inherent playfulness and the playfulness lose their inherent tragedy.this is the meaning of black humor.
There is a scene of intense tragedy in the film “Monsoon Wedding”….when Naseer discovers that his elder brother physically abused the girl naseer raised with love and affection like his own daughter. He is found to be emotionally devastated and crying inconsolably in the arms of his wife…..and she hugs him tight….. and he keeps crying and the effect in one of profound anguish and tragedy…when suddenly…. his hug tightens….. apparently the embrace has given him a hard on and they start making love!
The protagonist of the novel The outsider by Camus is found drinking and swimming in a club swimming pool and frolicking with his girl friend and having sex with her…all this one day after his mother died.
Anurag as some other artists above is existential in his themes and treatment, he is questioning something very basic in our mental makeup..which question we do not pose to ourselves and that is the drama and the hype generating tendency inside us….the maudlin inside the man….”gham jab sataaye seeti bazaana”… quality inside the man.
The main protagonist in the film is the town and ambience of Wasseypur itself…the Bollywood obsessed caricature of loony goons….playing out their drama.
The climactic scene in the movie..where Faizal empties carbines after carbines into the dead body of Ramadheer is the culmination point of all this dramabaazi inside man.
I took my revenge!…I took my revenge!
Ok you took it now what? Time to get real?
The last scene where mohsiina with piyush mishra are forced to run away from wasseypur to bombay…is the real.
My favorite scene in the movie is the chase sequence…it clearly shows how difficult it is to maintain the gravity and intensity of a copybook situation playing in our mind when we actually do it in practice.
The batman needs to use the public toilet every once in a while between his heroic antics.
Faizal khan is the most self centered clown in GOW 2. When sultan and his gang attacked his house,Faizal left his family to face the goli baari and was the first to sneak out from the terrace.
He broke his knee while jumping from the terrace and limped like a coward to the safety.Only when sultan and his gang left…he let loose a flurry of invectives…
His brother Danish was murdered,his brother’s wife was killed,his mother and Asghar Khan were killed in broad daylight but he took no action against Ramadheer singh who was the main villian.
He finally decided to kill Ramadheer only when an attack on his life was made by Ramadheer through the treachery of Iqlaakh.
Jab baat apne jaan par aayi the great Faizal Khan went berserk and went for the blood of Ramadheer full gong.
This shows that all the talk of taking revenge and all that nonsense was a big hoax inspired by bollywoodism.
The weeping of Faizal was the one scene in the film which made me laugh out the loudest.it was obvious that it has been put deliberately by anurag.there is a reason why just as that scene starts anurag shows piyush mishra asking for tea. There is a significance.drinking tea always involves chuski. chuski means to relish and savour the flavour of something.Kashyap is making fun of faizal’s cry baby act…in a way trying to say “ki audience ab chuski le le kar bhaavnao ki chaii peeyegi.”
It showed the futility of “rona dhona” before the compulsions of violence.
The dialogues Faizal uttered while weeping were the usual claptrap…. bollywood characters in crisis have been mouthing since time immemorial and thus the myth of hamlet lives on.
In that one single scene anurag subverted all the crisis/catharsis/chutiyapa….the drama loving audience loves to consume as emotional porn.That is the reason why those who were looking for emotional content in that scene were left unsatisfied.
One comes across such things only in films.
How many real life dons cry in actual life at the injustice of their situation?
the consolations given by a physically more imposing Huma to her cry baby..by repeating the black humorous lines…”frustiyao nahi moora”…further stresses the subversion.
The film is a relentless subversion of bollywoodism and melodrama.
The movie Gangs Of Wasseypur can be summed up in one single sentence, which is the tag line of the film too: Teri keh ke loonga!
The film is a super elaborate exercise in Keh ke loonga against the Bollywood and the audience who have made it into what it is… Everyone was beguiled into thinking that the taunting line has been used in the context of the film as it ran in the promos …..but now the real implication of that line is out. After all the buzz, promotion, publicity and the subsequent release of the film ….no one can blame Anurag that he did not tell us before he took our Bollywood besotted ass.
All the anger and frustration of Anurag against the whole tamasha called mainstream hindi cinema comes out here. The industry prejudice against Anurag was so deep that even his brother Abhinav was not getting producers to make his maiden film. In an interview Abhinav was found confessing that producers used to become hostile towards him when they found out his surname.
“Arrey yeh toh anurag ka bhai hai,waisi hi picture banayega.”
Anurag’s passionate blogging, drinking and depression days have been much publicized.
Anurag is not one to forgive and forget.
The most stupendous achievement of the film is that it sucks you inside the world of Wasseypur so deeply and totally that you do not realize it has a double meaning. I doubt anyone in the west where gangs was feted understood the real purpose of the film. The movie is too realistic in its detail and dialogue.
Nowhere one gets a suspicion that it’s a spoof of monumental proportion.
Filmmaking for anurag is not something divorced and artistic. it is an intensely personal and angst ridden voice of the underdog against the pervasive stereotyping of the system which has branded him a loser. It is a powerful and thundering…relentless and comprehensive Revenge by Anurag against that system. He is not only making fun of bollywood but now with his production company going to change it. This is the reason why the youths identify with him….this is the cause of his cult status.
The angry young man Amitabh and the rebellious bad boys Sanjay dutt and salman become puny figures when compared with the depth of rebelliousness and subversion festering in the soul of Anurag. That is the reason why the underdog inside us connects with this genius underdog of bollywood outside(Anurag)…it elicits a response that is often emotional. Anurag is not a mere film director..he is a cultural icon of the times. He is the voice of this angry generation.
He is the “keh ke loonga” personified for the Bollywood syndicate. He is the one man against the whole. If Bollywood has one big fear…it is Anurag Kashyap….because what he is doing is going to change the face of cinema in India.
The fact that piyush mishra is the Sutradhaar of the film and is the only sane “voice of reason” which is framing the whole story through its narration in the most non partisan and unbiased way, and also the fact that he is a self flagellator has an implication.
self flagellation means regret and self retribution on the part of the character,a kind of self blaming for being incompetent and helpless in the face of things.
Piyush mishra flagellates himself thrice in the film.firstly, when he is not able to inform shahid on time about the child bearing complications of his wife. piyush flagellates himself because when faced with the violence(might is rightism from ramadheer’s henchman)…he is unable and helpless to do anything.
the other two instances of self flagellation are when piyush mishra is faced with his own lust.
so the flagellation is because piyush is unable to cope with the two basic drives of mankind:violence and lust….. the drives which creates all the problems in this world.
Kashyap is trying to say that in the world ruled by violence and lust…reason/sanity/rationality(piyush mishra) is in the role of an impotent self flagellator.
thematically…. piyush’s role is similar to the one in Gulaal.
the reason why he is the “voice of reason” is because he is the sutradhaar of the whole story.
It is interesting to note how piyush mishra increasingly loses his relevance in the second part as the spiral of violence becomes more and more messy.
the degradation of Faizal’s character arc when he discovers that piyush(reason) can also err(his discovering richa getting intimate with piyush)…is also very pertinent.
all through the second part one gets a feeling that piyush is a silent clueless spectator amid all the violence.
here it is important to note that kashyap is not glorifying piyush(reason) as the moral guardian whom everyone in the film should have followed….kashyap is in fact making fun of the very CONCEPT OF REASON itself.he is saying that reason is reasonable because it is afraid to court danger and be violent and express its lust.
reason is an impotent self flagellator which cant relish the joys of unreason because of his incompetency.
that reason is always a clueless,useless parasite……which piyush is in the movie.
My kinda movie after a long time..