गुलाल

How I wish I could command myself to write & update my blog!! But as with most things with life, I am a true 'naturalist', can't force nothin' on myself.

Having grown up in the environs of BHU (Banaras Hindu University, for the uninitiated), films related to student politics instantly strike a chord with me. Apart from the numerous कॉलेज-ishtudent kinda movies with an opening song like"ख़ुद को क्या समझती है, कॉलेज में नई-नई आई एक लड़की है"..., Gulaal & Haasil stand out in their realistic representation of the north-Indian neta-infested university campuses.

While Haasil stood out primarily because of an outstanding performance by Irfan Khan, Gulaal is remarkable because of a multitude of characters, and all of which look very real. The confused-yet-resolute Dileep, Mahi Gill in a cameo, Deepak Dobriyal as the confident sidekick, all did justice to their characters. KK Menon probably for the first time gets a very meaty role in the movie, and though a bit repetitive in terms of the characters he plays, delivers a very strong performance.
For me, the standout part of the movie was the treatment of "Prithvi Bana", played wonderfully well by the ever-reliable Piyush Mishra. It is not easy to put a theatre-like character in a movie and still pull it off. His cynicism expressed in a deranged manner through weird lyrics and hindi poetry-sque dialogues was timed very well through out the movie.
Abhimanyu Singh as "Ransa" too put in a brilliant cameo.

On the minor negatives, I still can't quite figure out what was Jessy Randhawa doing in the movie, plus Ayesha Mohn didn't do enough for Kiran's character.

All in all, a brilliant movie by Anurag Kashyap, and a much better product than "No Smoking" & "Dev-D"
Am waiting for the next.