Review on Gangs of Wasseypur - A Smorgasbord of violence

After a long hiatus from watching movies, i recently watched Gangs of Wasseypur both part 1 and  part2.  I had read about the film receiving a lot of critical acclaims   and also certain awards  in some of the international film circuits. The director is the well known Anurag Kashyap  of Dev – D fame.

The film centers around the coal belt of Dhanbad  and the vengeful  nature of the crime families involved.  The story spans for two generations from 1940 onwards until about 1985.

The power struggle between Sardar Khan ( Manoj Bajpai)  and Ramadhir singh  is shown in all its violent gory details.Every five minutes someone or the other is getting bumped off. You no more feel anything special about it. 

What is striking about the movie is the homework done by the director who has also co-written it.

Every frame and every dialogue is able to capture the nuances of the Dhanbad region particularly  the mafia belt area.   Every small boy in the mafia belt area dreams of becoming a don someday and they all are in awe and respect of the ruling mafia dons.  The violence seems to be institutionalised in the growing minds.

At some point the dons realize they have reached a point of no return.  They are unable to understand how they got sucked into this vortex of violence   and it seems they have entered a chakravyuh  of violence only knowing how to enter it  but  unable to find an escape route.  

In search of getting money, power and control which is the ultimate elixir, people are ready to bump of anyone on their way irrespective of whether someone is a friend or a cousin or a stepbrother. It seems the ends are justifying the means.

The entire movie looks like it seems to be showing the   mayhem of violence. The director is not making any value statements. He is showing the brutal nature of violence as it is and all its repercussions and is leaving the audience to search for any meaning or solutions if any.

The movie if reflected on throws some interesting insights.   Certain sections of society have no option other than taking a violent path for their sheer survival.  I am not justifying the violence.

A boy in a young age has seen his father and brothers wiped off in a cold blooded   way has no other  purpose  in life other than taking revenge. We can’t expect niceties from him, since the society has not   given him a fair deal.  It looks like he is driven to the wall   and has to embrace violence to just survive.

The violence is also fed by the deep rooted nexus between politicians, gang warlords and the police force.  The police force is shown as a pawn in the hands of some gang warlords. Instead of taking steps to reduce crime, they seem to enjoy being used by the mafias and share the spoils of the loot of the society.

Certain sections of the society which are sucked into the violence, can they escape from it from getting into the mainstream of society.  Can education help them to lead normal, humane and purposeful lives?  Does the prevailing caste system act as a powerful negative force against re-engineering a social change. There are lot of questions which seems to be demanding answers.  The movie has raised lot of questions in the minds of cine goers and i feel that it has achieved its purpose.