Blood lust of Wasseypur

The dusty expanse of Wasseypur, the supreme coal mafia, its pristine status towards the end of Colonial India, its impregnable outlaws, treachery and bloodshed for money and power, a family line inheriting the thirst for vengeance, funny and strange inhabitants dragged to their darker side truly were all that filled the screen when Gangs of Wasseypur was screened in Director's Fortnight, Cannes. It surpassed all the expectations and almost pulverised the prejudices that world audience have for Indian Cinema. It also raised the status of Hindi Film Industry for the season removing the contemptuous air of all utter candyfloss movies.

As the film claims, “There are two kinds of human, one form is clever and the second form is stupid and this game is based upon these two kind of men, when some clever men started foolish things and when some fool has become a part of cleverness, You will never find out “ thus Wasseypur's story is strange.” The film GOW has gained a cult film status because of the essence it brewed. Carved out of a meager budget of only Rs 18.Cr for the duos, highlights the expertise of the director in production control while preserving the essence of the film in the way he intended.  Loosely based on the real facts about Gangs of Wasseypur, the film may seem as a revenge flick on the surface. But on digging deep we discover the gritty undertone which describes the stories of corruption and blatant lies that were forced on as the truth. The casting of the film is huge and managing that was a herculean task for the director and must have been even tedious for the writer of the film, Zeishan Quadri who was born and brought up in Wasseypur itself.  Zeishan Quadri is the one who deserves the limelight who penned the movie and gave a top notch performance as the quirky"Definite".
GOW also criticizes on the influence of cinema on youth back then as RD Singh says, "Hum abhi tak jinda hain kyunki hum sanimaa(cinema) nahi dekhte.Sab saale sabke dimaag me apni apni picture chal rahi hai, sab saale hero banna chah rahein apni picture me.Ee saala Hindustan mein jab tak sanimaa hai, log chutiya bante rahenge."

Manoj Bajpai excelled well in the role of Sardar Khan, the cunning and vicious yet playful lead of the first part. It is with such ease that he acts whether it’s as the agile assassin so strategically stabbing a Pehelwan or as the womaniser who playfully seduces the Bengali women he sets his eyes on. Manoj Bajpai conveys his role diligently in every aspect like body language, accent and his facial expressions. If it’s Manoj Bajpai stealing the show in the first part, then it’s Nawazuddin Siddique who runs the show in the second part as Faizal Khan. Faizal Khan is vicious but silent and cold like a stone, but once a fury strikes him, nothing can hold him back. It’s Nawaz who played his part pitch perfect acting as the man who battled against the vicissitudes of fate longing for revenge. Riccha Chadda also put a marvellous performance as the brave and fire branded motor-mouth wife of Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpai) and gave a stellar impression of an actor when she so neatly portrayed as the lady of the house in the second part. Equally mesmerizing is the performance of Tigmanshu Dhulai (Director of Saheb Biwi aur Gangster, Paan singh Tomar) as the grand villain of the saga.
As the film says, ”This is Wasseypur. Here, even a pigeon flies with one wing, and uses the other to guard its arse.”

The deviation

Wasseypur still breathes the stench of bloodshed they witnessed over years, but has changed drastically to an industrial town. The characters of the film are loosely based on real incidents which were even deadly Gang wars. The role played by Manoj Bajpai, Sardar Khan is based on Shafiq Khan, the man who ignited it all. He was shot and killed in a petrol bunk as shown in the film. But the most deadly of all was Fahim Khan, which is attributed to Nawazuddin Siddique (Faizal Khan) who inherited the vengeance from his father. As shown in the film he married the girl he loved despite of all moral obstructions towards their marriage. But unlike in the film the battle was between the gang families itself and not with the Singh family. Tigmanshu Dhulia’s character is based on Surajdeo Singh, the powerful politician of Wasseypur had no direct involvement in the rivalry but instigated the gangs and manipulated them to war. Fahim was not murdered like in the film but he is incarcerated and is facing life imprisonment. But the makers cannot be blamed as they would have fictionalised the story to evade legal offences from the crime families indirectly portrayed in the film.
The first scene of the film is a homage to "The Godfather" and the closing scenes of second part are mind blowing especially the one in which Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddique) finishes Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia) fatally by gunning him down incessantly. There is an insatiable fire of revenge in his eyes. The eyes spoke for the silent assassin in that scene.
As the film says Sneha Khanwalkar is the person who engineered this film to perfection.  She imparted the film a relatively new skin of revenge with her edgy sound tracks.
Gangs of Wasseypur is thus a saga of revenge saga which acquired a cult status because of the work of the master above all, yes its Kashyap's bitter dish of revenge served cold.
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