Is Gunday Worth A Watch?

I am going to give you my honest opinion.

I might be a bit brutal, but please bear with me.

So, I went to watch Gunday with my parents.

It was my mother’s idea. My mother is big on watching Bollywood flicks, especially of the ‘masala’ kind. She’s always loved watching these kinds of movies and she’s passed down this trait to me as well.

I was kind of eager to go too, because my best friend (who shall be called Scooby in this blog) said that it was good.

“It is so good!” Scooby said earnestly. “They have acted so well!”

Since I blindly trust Scooby’s judgment, I decided to give Gunday a shot.

The story’s about two refugees/immigrants from Bangladesh who make it big in Calcutta. It’s (supposedly) set during the early ‘70s and mid ‘80s. These two friends, Bikram and Bala (Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor respectively) first start smuggling coal and then they “branch out” their smuggling business to LPG, fishes (which are quite popular in West Bengal!) and timber from Burma.

These two are Robin Hood-esque thieves who also build schools for the underprivileged children and hospitals for the poor.

Bikram is the smarter one of the two while Bala is more or less like a volcano that’s ready to burst at any point. Their circumstances subjected them to resort to illegal business. Otherwise, they’ve got hearts of gold.

Now enters Nandita, a sensuous cabaret dancer who somehow woos our heroes and this – surprise, surprise – results in a love triangle.

Oh and here’s the icing to the bloody cake – their affection for Nandita causes a rift in Bikram and Bala’s friendship.

Well, well, well, we didn’t expect that, did we?

I am not here to criticize the plot. As I’m a sucker for clichés, I actually liked the story and the additional masala. Plus, the dialogue delivery was quite awesome, in my opinion.

What was more, I was in love with the characters. Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor have portrayed their characters so well, the friendship seemed so real, so incredibly raw. Ranveer was so good at essaying the role of Bikram, the smarter (and more logical) of the two. However, Arjun really steals your heart as the kind-of neurotic Bala.

And who can forget Irfan Khan? Irfan Khan proved – yet again! – that he’s the best among all the Khans dominating the shallow Indian film industry. In fact, I think that he’s one of the best actors out there. In this film, he played the role of the cunning police officer very, very, very well. Even though I felt like I could strangle him but somehow, I appreciated his acting a lot.

Last, but not the least, I liked Priyanka Chopra as Nandita. Yes, I found her pretty in this film. The female that resides deep within my otherwise tomboy self was totally in love with the sarees she wore (not the blouses, though).

Her transition from a sensuous cabaret dancer to (spoiler!) a badass police officer was too good. She was really good and I don’t think any other actress would’ve done justice to the role.

What didn’t work for me?

A lot of things bugged me, actually.

I had read in one of the reviews for this movie that the timeline seemed a bit inconsistent. When I actually went and saw the movie, I agreed. At first, the clothing style is from the 70’s. Then, after the 15-year-leap, the clothing style is distinctly from the 80’s. From there starts the messy confusion.

What Irfan Khan wears in the movies is completely modern.

"He's wearing normal clothes - modern clothes!" I hissed.

"I know," My mother said, completely engrossed.

"His shoes are from Woodland." My father remarked. 

Additionally, in one of the song sequences, Priyanka wears an outfit from 1960s-1970s.

I know that the production house is very well reputed and all, so my question is: why the sloppiness in the costume department? This is a period film and it needs to check on all the aspects. For example, in Jodha Akbar, if Akbar decides to wear a Rolex watch along with his gear, the entire feel of the movie is gone! It doesn't feel like we're actually absorbed in the movie. It feels like a cheapened parody!

 Moreover, I felt a bit put off that Priyanka wore sleeveless blouses.

No, it’s not because I’m envious of her “hot bod”.

It was because during that time, women still cared about their modesty. And Priyanka goes ahead wearing sleeveless blouses, which weren't quite appropriate if you consider about it in the time period's context.

Plus, according to some sources, the movie wasn't that historically accurate. 

What irked me the most were the songs.

I hated almost all of the songs (Except the instrumental music). Most of the songs were so depressing that no one would play those songs in funerals.

(Nobody plays Bollywood songs in funerals, but I’m just trying to state that these songs are thousand times more miserable than funerals).

I stated before that Gunday was kind-of clichéd and I liked it. However, I found it a wee bit plagiarized as well – from the Dhoom series.

Now, everyone has seen the Dhoom movies, especially the recent (sloppily plotted) Dhoom 3. I found some similarities between Gunday and Dhoom 2 & 3.

In Dhoom 2 and Dhoom 3, the cop uses a girl to bait the villain into turning himself in. The same ghisa-pita formula is used in Gunday. However, even a love-triangle is dragged into it, so that the stuff doesn’t look too copied.

So far, the “using a girl to catch the criminals” formula is working for the producer. But I suggest that he should try out more inventive plots like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, instead of reusing the same old formula. This is movies we’re talking about, not stupid Indian soaps.

My father, my mother and I are three different kinds of viewers. My father is a thinker, a person who strongly believes in watching movies with a ‘deep’, ‘philosophical’ meaning. My mother is the kind of person who can watch any kind of Bollywood ‘masala’ trash without any prior reservations. I am a mixture of both – I want to watch movies with a good enough plot and characters plus it should be highly entertaining.

Gunday is a movie which will be useless for someone like my father. It is a must-watch for those whose movies’ taste matches my mother’s. It’s a one-time watch for people like me.

I think I would give it around three stars out of five because overall, I liked the movie. It was entertaining, dramatic, action-packed at the same time. However, I felt that a bit of more research about that time period – how the people acted, the clothes they wore and all that – would have done wonders. If the production house had not been sloppy and invested their time to research – the movie would have really stolen my heart.

A lot of people are going to strangle me after reading this review, but I don’t care. A lot of people are like, "Why the hell did you put so much emphasis on the historical aspect and the bloody costumes? Don't you have, like, other stuff to do?"  

But as I said before, I was going to give my honest opinion and here it is!