Gully Boy~ For the youth and the young at heart



Director- Zoya Akhtar
Writer - Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti
Cast- Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Raaz

Gully Boy trailer started with an underground rap battle where a rapper says, ‘Ye gali ki barat nahi, teri koyi aukaat nahi is jung main’ followed by another rapper telling a nervous Ranveer Singh to go back to his gully.

Gully Boy is the story of the rise of a shy and underprivileged student, Murad Sheikh into a confident hip hop performer, Gully Boy.
The film is based on the lives of rappers Naezy and Divine, who have also given music in the film.

Murad wants an established rapper, MC Sher played by Siddhant Chaturvedi to sing his songs as he was not comfortable in front of an audience. MC Sher tells him that “Agar duniya mein sab comfortable hote toh rap kaun karta?” which inspires Murad to break the belief that ‘Naukar ka beta naukar banega, ye fitrat hai’

In a scene Murad’s father played by Vijay Raaz tells him that sapne apni sacchai ke hisab se dekhne chahiye and Murad tells him that instead of changing his dreams he will change his social status.

Director, Zoya Akhtar in her most realistic film till now takes us to the slums of Dharavi where people live in small houses. The contrast between the poor and rich is shown when Ranveer realises that the bathroom of a rich girl ‘s apartment was bigger than his full home.

Gully Boy is as hard as it gets.
The struggle, the pain is shown in a subtle way but Ranveer Singh with his hard hitting performance makes it sure that you will keep thinking about the lives of these people long after the film has ended.
As per  the film's lingo, Ranveer Singh as Murad is 'Ek Number', Bahut Hard. Within 5 minutes he has totally transformed himself into Murad who obediently follows his parents wishes. Music gives him the fire to follow his dreams.



Siddhant Chaturvedi as MC Sher has given an equally mind blowing performance. This is his debut film but he wasn't overshadowed by Ranveer Singh in any scene.

Alia Bhatt as Murad’s possessive girlfriend, Safina is the force behind him. She is his support system. She wants Murad to follow his heart. This film was totally a Ranveer Singh film, still Alia Bhatt has managed to leave her impact.

The film is not a mass entertainer and family audiences may get bored with the hip hop parts but it should be seen for the hardships & struggles faced by the less privileged.

Apna Time Ayega is already a chart buster but when I saw it in the film, it was filled with so much energy that it gave me goosebumps.
The film was released in 3300 screens and has got an opening of 18 Crores which is good considering it targeted a niche audience.
Gully Boy will not make as much as Ranveer Singh’s last masala film, Simmba (240 Crores) but it will definitely be remembered for his effortless performance both as an actor and a rapper.

In a line, Gully Boy is Zoya Akhtar's most honest and hard hitting film and is a must watch for Ranveer Singh’s fans and music lovers.

Good one time watch in theatres.

Review of Talaash

Release Date - 30'th November 2012

One Line which describes the film - Too many cooks spoil the broth

Best  Dialogue – "Koyi kab tak  dooba rahega, kabhi to bahar ana padega " 

Genre - Suspense 

Story- Reema Kagti , Zoya Akhtar

Direction - Reema Kagti

Producer –  Ritesh Sidhwani , Aamir Khan , Farhan Akhtar

Cast-  Aamir Khan , Rani Mukerji , Kareena Kapoor

Budget - 40 crores

When the credits were rolling and I read that Farhan Akhtar has written the dialogues and Anurag Kashyap has written the additional dialogues ,considering their past works I was very excited  . The story and screenplay was written jointly by  Reema Kagti and  Zoya Akhtar  who in the past have given us entertaining films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd  and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

The film started at a good pace but after 30 min I started wondering all these great writers together have given such an average film. I kept waiting for some thrills or dramatic turn of events which didn't come even by the end. Though the events of the first half were entirely connected with the second half but in all it was not a very entertaining experience. They show better stories in Dastak or  X-Files these days on TV .

Reema and Zoya started the work on this film in early 2010 and the film was supposed to release on oct 2011 but the film got delayed . 

   

I was wondering that how could  Nawazuddin Siddiqui do such an insignificant role  after playing the main lead in Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2  but maybe he had signed this film much before GOW . 

Amir , Rani and Kareena are seasoned actors and good acting from them is expected.

It's when Rani gives us a film like  Aiyyaa we start questioning her judgement. 
Kareena plays the role of a prostitute .Whereas in Chameli (2003) her dressing style and loud make up suited the character ,this time she looked too glamorous to belong to the red light area . Most of the time she was dressed in designer gowns with salon styled hair , expert make up and glossed lips. 

Amir Khan gave us Satyamev Jayate and  as truth prevails the truth of Talaash is that Amir's role could have done by any actor . The story was far from perfect and even if it  manages to cross 100 crores the truth is that  8 out of 10 people didn't like the film.

( Amir said in Anupama Chopra's show The Front Row  " if 8/10 people don't like the film then I don't think the film is a success even if manages to cross 100 crores " )

In a line 2012 has been an year of  disappointing films and Talaash is the biggest disappointment  of all.

Watch it at your own risk .