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Gully Boy is a film that dovetails music and social commentary, while giving us a glorifying end crescendo that will stay with you long after you've left the theatre
Gully Boy, directed by Zoya Akhtar starts by introducing you to Mumbai’s beautifully festooned underbelly – Dharavi. Thankfully, the cliché city scenes (à la cloth line-ups at Dhobi Ghaat or the human chaos on Marine Drive) have been eschewed. The film picks up this small part of the widely diverse city and chooses to explore the story of some individuals who live in it. We follow Murad (Ranveer Singh) in the minutiae of his everyday life – that includes car break-ins along with his friends in the dead of the night, attending college during day-time, stealthily meeting his girlfriend Safeena (Alia Bhatt), or quietly living in a four-by-five-foot chawl (shelter) in tandem with several family members.
Murad soon witnesses his father’s second wedding and drowns his anger in a rap song that loudly plays from his mobile. And we soon know that the world of rap is going to be his catharsis, and the means to get out of the wretched situation that he is in.
Alia, on the other hand, paints a happy-go-‘p’lucky world for her character that puts us squarely on her side even when she is breaking someone’s head with a bottle or beating up a girl who tries to flirt with her boyfriend. She is one of the few people who genuinely loves Murad and secretly hopes that his dreams come true.
Enter a college fest, and Murad witnesses something that he has never seen before – an artist, MC Sher (Siddharth Chaturvedi) who imbues rap with local flavour while putting a handful of troublemakers in the audience to shame. Murad soon befriends the rapper, and through him gets introduced to the rap battles, and the world of heart-on-sleeves music. Enthused at the idea of performing as a rap artist, Murad sets about practising his lines while walking on the streets, or in front of a mirror, or even while waiting as a chauffeur in a car with all its windows shut.
Murad often gets to listen to some offensive slurs and stereotypes (demeaning his low-class position) and takes it personally too. However, he chooses to channelize the rage inside of him to create something beautiful every time.
Zoya juxtaposes stories of local rap and social class in a fascinating and revealing way. That duality between the classy society people and the chawl residents prevails throughout the film. The film manages to highlight the former’s vile intolerance and the latter’s quiet acceptance of their status. There are references on how being born into a “certain” class and family automatically decides the future of an individual.
There are several stand-out scenes in the movie that will simply blow your mind away. One where Murad is mesmerized seeing a posh bathroom with its spotless walls and enormous space. He walks around while measuring the space with his feet. Contrast this with another scene where some foreigners witness the cramped-up space in the chawl and marvel at how the inmates have managed to utilize its every inch. In another striking scene, as Murad is reminded that he is a mere car driver, you see a bevy of lights descend on the surface of the car that he is seated in, and an illumined glow forms on his face as he mumbles to himself, “Apna time aayega..(my time will come)”.
Ranveer Singh as Murad excels at playing the common man toggling between simmering rage and unbelievable incredulity during his rap performances. He is in his top form, immersing us into his world with the lilt of a rap song and quirk of his character, his flaws and strengths intermingle and wash over us.
You will see a restrained Murad throughout most part of the movie, and towards the fag end, you see his sudden and explosive transformation. It is almost like his energy (that may have been hermetically sealed for long) explodes into a cacophony of meaningful metaphors and rhythmic sounds. Eventually, the movie is more about Murad than it is about anyone else. Yet the other characters never fade into the background, and each one brings a unique expression and story to the fore while matching every masterful turn of the script.
That this movie is based on true events is clear when we are shown the song, Meri Gully Mein which was originally recorded by real-life rappers, Divine and Naezy. Director Zoya Akhtar uses the studio canvas to paint some real and beautiful human expressions in all its bold and subdued tints. She engages enormous themes such as gender, race, and class without sounding preachy rhetoric.
To sum it up, Gully Boy is a film that dovetails music and social commentary, while giving us a glorifying end crescendo that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.
Image via Pixabay
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Rajshri Deshpande, who played the fiery protagonist in Trial by Fire along with Abhay Deol speaks of her journey and her social work.
Rajshri Deshpande as the protagonist in ‘Trial by Fire’, the recent Netflix show has received raving reviews along with the show itself for its sensitive portrayal of the Uphaar Cinema Hall fire tragedy, 1997 and its aftermath.
The limited series is based on the book by the same name written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost both their children in the tragedy. We got an opportunity to interview Rajshri Deshpande who played Neelam Krishnamoorthy, the woman who has been relentlessly crusading in the court for holding the owners responsible for the sheer negligence.
Rajshri Deshpande is more than an actor. She is also a social warrior, the rare celebrity from the film industry who has also gone back to her roots to give to poverty struck farming villages in her native Marathwada, with her NGO Nabhangan Foundation. Of course a chance to speak with her one on one was a must!
“What is a woman’s job, Ramesh? Taking care of parents-in-law, husband, children, home and things at work—all at the same time? She isn’t God or a superhuman."
The arrays of workstations were occupied by people peering into their computer screens. The clicks of keyboard keys were punctuated by the occasional footsteps moving around to brainstorm or collaborate with colleagues in their cubicles. Most employees went about their tasks without looking at the person seated on either side of their workstation. Meenakshi was one of them.
The thirty-one-year-old marketing manager in a leading eCommerce company in India sat straight in her seat, her eyes on the screen, her fingers punching furiously into the keys. She was in a flow and wanted to finish the report while the thoughts and words were coming effortlessly into her mind.
Natu-Natu. The mellifluous ringtone interrupted her thoughts. She frowned at her mobile phone with half a mind to keep it ringing until she noticed the caller’s name on the screen, making her pick up the phone immediately.
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