MOVIE REVIEW: Gulaal (2009)
Gulaal was a surprisingly good movie. I felt my curiosity aroused because of how much right wing and left wing trolls both loved the movie, one loving it so for the social issues it picks up, the other for its satire.
The truth is not in the middle. It is diagonal (read: Anurag Kashya’s twitter bio).
The movie uses satire the same way GTA games do, to build the world the piece is set in. Every detail, big or small, is a reference to a much larger issue. Like how in GTA, one has to truly "love" America to hate it the way GTA games do, the same logic applies here perfectly.
The story itself follows a similar blueprint to Far Cry 3 in many ways, in the best way possible.
I only cite these examples to compare good writing with good writing. AK made something very unique here.
Under this backdrop and plotline, the movie manages to explore many social and political issues, such as sexual assault and ragging in colleges, corrupt college student politics, inter-tribe conflicts between the diverse Rajput clans, being American vassals due to democracy, nationalist politicians sending their kids abroad, extramarital heirs, infidelity, incest, violent revolutions, post-independence royalty inheritance of the rajput kings and them struggling to find their place in democracy, and many other things.
(Ranaji is the perfect 10/10 song if i ever saw one, eg of the same satire).
All of these themes are presented revolving around the life of Dilip Kumar Singh (not padma shri winner), a 28 year old Rajput who comes to Rajasthan just to study law.
I feel like Dilip Kumar Singh is written to be way too naive by today’s standards, even if it was acceptable in the 2010s. I guess that’s the only part of the movie that hasn’t aged well, although it’s very minor and ignorable by the end.
Overall, if you haven't seen this movie, YOU'RE MISSING OUT! Pls watch the uncensored versions as they give more context to the events, despite the overboard vulgarity.
9.5/10.
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
