August 08, 2012 Y. Sunita Chowdary
As expected part 2 commences from where Sardar Khan is killed as soon as his second wife informs over the phone that he's just left and is on his way back. But before we go into what the second part has in store for us let's recap.
Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) now heads the crime syndicate in Wasseypur and Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia) is still the antagonist who provokes Definite (Zeishan Quadri) i.e., his step brother against him. His crime is supported by the mother who aspires for her husband's property which should also belong to her son. There are new characters with funny names, Definite, Tangent, Perpendicular and many other juvenile criminals.
Anurag Kashyap's racy narration, Siddiqui's stand out performance and brilliant cinematography and plenty of comic relief keeps you hooked. This one is far better than the first part, we don't have to sit through tedious datelines and topography and this one moves lot more quicker. The audiences clap as Faizal Khan pumps bullets and bullets into the last target and feels happy over his victory not because he is a saint but he is the under dog and often portrayed as a loser, immersed in snuffing and always gives an impression that he could be easy game any point of time.
But he is the man who takes people by surprise, despite his intoxication he grows to be shrewd, smart, unapologetic and as the past haunts him gets emotional and very strong. When his mother taunts him and declares him to be useless and her dead son the real man, Faizal changes and the change is not compelling or pushy. It happens and with regular intervals one gets to see him vanquish everyone who is a potential threat and his courage bursts through the screen.
Gangs of Wasseypur 2 moves with the focal theme being revenge of his father and grandfather's, brother killers and of course the raw dialogues, profanities and sex intact. If we are regular moviegoers we can sense Faizal's end coming through his step brother very early, so that strips away the curiosity in the narration.
The sequel again is painless as the cast are far more younger, and as the film's date lines draws closer to the last ten decades, it gets far more interesting. While Richa Chadda carries on without any noise or screams, just with dignity, Huma Qureshi as Mohsin is struck by his Bollywood ways, his pager and of course the way Faizal flings his cigarette into the air like Rajinikanth.
The first ten minutes are truly funny as some spot-on film songs come up as the corpses move. There is a dialogue that goes, 'sale jab tak hindustan mein cinema rahega tab tak log chutiya banate rahenge,' that sums up the Bollywood culture that is quickly engulfing the youth. There is also a reference on how in early days men adored Bachchan and women fell for Rajesh Khanna and now they have moved to Salman and Shahrukh Khan.
The writing is fabulous and the camera does a beautiful job of the ambush on Faizal's home when all are watching television. The impact is so real.
