Gangs Of Wasseypur is not everyone's cup of tea

Gangs of Wasseypur is an epic two part mafia drama about deep-rooted family rivalries. Vengeance, blind ambition and greed oil the wheels of a long-running blood feud between competing godfathers in the  mining towns of Wasseypur and Dhanbad.

 The film opens with a teasing flash-forward to the end of the story, when a gang armed  with bombs and machine guns blast their way into their enemy’s house .

In the first half , the early history of Faizal’s family is told, beginning with the rise of his grandfather Shahid Khan in the days when coal mines represented wealth and power. Shahid Khan  (Jaideep Ahlawat), who is eventually murdered by the young owner of the coal mines, Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia)  , setting off a power struggle between the two clans that lasts till the final reel.

Shahid’s hot-blooded son Sardar (Manoj Bajpai ) shaves his head, vowing not to grow his hair until he exacts revenge for his father’s death. His passion for two women Nagma (Richa Chadda) and Durga (Reemma Sen)gives him a human side and consists of the most entertaining and lighter side of the film.   Sardar’s violent nature makes him the godfather, a role he keeps until betrayed at a gas station.

In the second part  Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a hash smoking pothead, climbs the ladder to power after taking revenge from those who betrayed his father. His romancing Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) is one of the film’s non-violent high points. Addicted to romantic movies,  Mohsina wears the same Ray Bans as Faizal, by which they recognize they are soul mates.

The film's music is one of it's important strengths.  Sneha Khanwalkar  (earlier worked on Love Sex aur Dhokha and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!  )  did a lot of research  into the music . The music is rooted in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Sneha went to the smaller villages in Bihar and found real singers. The track Keh Ke Loonga has become synonymous with Gangs of Wasseypur.  The experimental folk music suits the story and is soothing without taking our mind from the main storyline .

Is  the film really a Hit as advertised by the media and  film producers ? 

The publicity team of 'Gangs of Wasseypur'  left no stone unturned in promoting the film, especially through the social networking sites.The film was screened and appreciated at prestigious film festivals across the globe, so the Indian audiences were excited  for its release. However, the response to the film is not as overwhelming as expected.

First part of GOW was produced with the budget of 9.4 cr nett along with a 7 crore -8crore promotion and advertising cost taking the total budget to 17 to 18 crores.

  

Film has earned  around 27 crore .That means film will have a distributor share of 12 crore and producers will get 14-15 cr from theaters. Film earned 6 cr from satellite rights and other streams. This will make full recovery in the region of 19-20 cr. This means a thin profit of 3-4 crores. If a film earns such a slim profit even after huge promotions then it should be termed as a disappointment.  ( Paan Singh Tomar (film) , Vicky Donor , Hate Story ) all had lower promotion budget in comparison to GOW but earned more ) .

 The combined budget of both the parts is Rs.18.5 crores but expenditure on marketing takes the budget to around Rs.36 crores -40 crores, thus making it  the first big budget film by Anurag Kashyap. Anurag Kashyap has produced the film with Viacom18 as co-producer.

With The Dirty Picture stopped from being screened on the prime time, buyers of satellite rights have become cautious about buying  A grade films like Gangs of Wasseypur .    

The Second part is scheduled to release a week before Ek Tha Tiger. So, its Second Week and Lifetime Collections would be largely affected.

Reasons why Gangs of Wasseypur  didn’t click with the audience –

1.The  historical references and the details of how the coal mafia works though were informative but they also made the film slow and gave  a documentary feel to the film.

 2. The screenwriter  attempted to embed the tale in a historical and political context but  it failed to leave an impact  amid all the mayhem.

  

3. The first half of the film was entertaining but it started getting on the nerves after the 10 minute journey of slaughterhouse and hanging carcasses.

  

 4. Extensive use of coarse abuses  kept the family audience away from the film.

5. The highlights of Part 1 were Manoj Bajpayee's acting and Anurag Kashyap's story telling. But in the second part there is no Manoj and we already know the storyline .

6.Those who didn’t watch part 1 will surely  give the second part a miss and half of the audience who saw part 1 and were tortured by the bloodshed and unnecessary violence( like me)  will surely avoid it .

Anurag Kashyap  has  never followed a fixed path and is known for dark themes .But the one thing he must understand about cinema is that something should be left to the imagination of the viewers. Killing people in every scene with swords, bullets or bombs is not the kind of entertainment an average movie goer expects. Violence can be conveyed through words too.