GULAAL-NOT JUST A COMPELLING WATCH

The other day ,while waiting outside 'HATARI'-a restaurant in South Kolkata , I chanced upon a funny sequence of events. Now , I have always reflected that 'fun',as I have seen the word define itself in experience,has a constant concomitant-someone else's misery. Its astonishing how we bury our sadist indulgence of enjoying at someone else's plight into the convenient subterfuge called "fun' or 'humour'. I don't remember a single good joke/funny situation that came across me so far,that was not at another person's expense,however distant or irrelevent that person might be. This particular sequence ,funny as it is,is no aberration to that dubious (i dare say) convention.

So me and my hunger were busy cursing my fashionably late friends outside HATARI when a Dog,our protagonist entered the scene. There is a specs store with glass doors just beside Hatari. Our hero was shoed off the entrance of the restaurant and he (it had a penis-too pre eminent to ignore.I am a chauvinist I know :) ) ,being innocent of the laws of reflection,discovered a way through the glass door. He ran,and..BANG!...Perplexed but undaunted,he took a few steps back and ran full steam for his entrance,only to get a bigger bang.

The sadist in me (and quite a few others) was in splits (it was funny-ai'nt it?) untill a Good Samaritian/kolkatan spoiled the fun while the Dog was on its 3rd plunge!

GULAAL is a 'fun' film in this respect. Because it pokes fun at itself,and inflicts the inevitable plight to itself only. Gulaal is principally the story of 'DUKI BANA' a Rajput prince in present day Rajasthan. Like I noticed in the dog,the most striking trait of 'Bana's character is his manhood,and its obvious companion-chauvinism. But then Bana is equally trapped in time,vision and intention as my hero-he wants to build the independent nation-state of RAJPUTANA,and gives his all to that effect despite the seemingly unsurmountable obstacles.

The parallels do not end here though-I thought there was this inherent leitmotif of being blurred in vision and journeying far ,only to return to the same point-to escape which the journey was made-latent in almost all the principal characters.

Duki Bana is absolutely convinced of his dream of Rajputana-he craves for it like the lovelorn craves for his love (trust me to know how it feels :) ) and it appears he has loyal supporters-but then there are the university students who are seemingly unaware of such schemes. Is the dream really so promising,is the vision really so convincing?..We never know the opinion en masse-but considering that the neatly woven script answers every dangling question,chances are ,the director did'nt answer the obvious.Is not this akin to my dog (oh i seem to develop an affection for him..) losing sight of the immediate looming impossibility in lure of the rosy possibilities?

Then there is the declared confused character of DILEEP SINGH. He is the typical 'good boy' (if you dont know what I mean,come to my college; my college reeks of good boys) who is slowly and inevitably dragged to the surreal arena of power play.To join or not to join politics,to kill or not to kill the slut that ditched him...his confusion is what takes the story forward.But the one confusion that is subtly dealt in the story is ,to be or not to be like RANSA,his roommate whom he evidently develops a fascination on,after initial tiffs. One cannot but marvel at the deft handling of key plots by Anurag Kashyap-what he says is so clear,but what he leaves unsaid is what completes the jigsaw perfectly.

The film is absolutely original in the bollywood horizon-both in concept and in execution. Sure we had the superbly made HAASIL that dealt with student politics too,but in गुलाल politics provides more of a background to the complex colors of human emotions that hog the canvas. In the language of geeks,politics in Gulaal is like the electromotive force ,which is not a 'Force' by definition,but is the driving force behind all electrical circuits. The sexual tension,the fear.confusion and above all,raw masculinity-all these are almost palpable courtesy an impeccable camerawork. The film is almost Shakespearian in its depiction of power play.Yes,Gulaal is all about POWER-the quest for power,the decay due to power and finally,its about the extent to which one can deign in persuit of that elusive power. There is KIRAN,who lures her way into Dilip's bed and then to his head,only to dump him to die in the hands of goons hired by her brother. Women in Anuraag's films have always been ahead of their depiction in contemporary bollywood,and perhaps of time,but KIRAN ,so obviously modelled on Lady Macbeth,is completely believeable even in her most outrageous actions.

The taut screenplay advances in the form of a folk-play (Jatra),complete with a sutradhaar played by the music composer Piyush Mishra. The keenly composed music,based on Rajasthani folk and kotha tunes carry the story forward. The music scores in its lyrics too,penned delightfully by Piyush Mishra again. Sample this:

"Sajini ko dear bole,
Tharre ko beer bole Mange hai english boli,
Mange hai english choli
mange hai english jaipur, english bikaner
Jaise bisleri ki..
Jaise bisleri ki bottle pike bangaye english man "

Infact the character that is most consistent in the mad order of things is the supposedly slightly crazy PRITHVI BANA,whose scathing wit sees through the futile ambition of his brother.

The high point of the film is definitely its performances,with Kay Kay menon leading the pack.Raj Singh Chaudhury as Dileep Singh does well,but pales in comparison to the superlative performances delivered by the supporting cast.Special mention must be made of Abhimanyu Singh as "RANSA"-this character reveals clearly Anurag's fascination with unadulterated,raw manhood and kudos to Abhimanyu for playing the part to perfection.
The unsung heros of the film are its cameramen and cinematographer Rajeev Ravi. I remember marveling at the camerawork in David Fincher's SE7EN ,where to shoot the dark,depressed look of a crime-riddled city an entirely new concept of camerawork and cinematography was introduced. Though not as grand,But Gulaal has its own novelty with the more poignant scenes being sketched with a tinge of Gulaal-justifying the title. Gulaal,I suppose, stands for the two P's ,power and passion here.

Its really reassuring to find that Bollywood has found the right horse in its journey towards betterment and securing its due esteem in international cinema,the rider being Anurag Kashyap.

Richard Feynmann had once said:
"poets are never meant to be understood"
Anurag also meant same when he made No Smoking! But considering the tremendous outbursts of creativity Anurag's recent movies have shown,such aberrations are bound to occur. Its in this respect that the bollywood buff is reminded of a certain Mr Verma who had once made equally challenging movies like Satya,Company and Rangeela,side by side with pathetic duds like Daud,Mast,Aag... It is not to suggest that Anurag's career will follow the same checquered path as RGV's,its just an apprehension that is too tempting not to mention.