Even though this Hindi film
is immersed in music, I don't think calling it a Bollywood film hits the
mark. It is just a film. With a ton of music. A remarkable film that touches
on so much more than its basic plot line of a young man who wants to be a
rap singer in Mumbai. That alone might draw you in or push you away, but
the story is surrounded by family, friends, love and the slum streets of
Dharavi. It is at times astonishingly joyful, at others painful, tense and
lyrical. The film was shot in the streets where the film takes place, narrow
winding streets teeming with people and poverty and anger. People sitting
on their stoop in front of their tiny homes with the doors open and where
life goes on. Little dramas in a big world. People that know their place
and who will never leave it. Born to servitude, small jobs serving the wealthy
and going home and retaining what dignity you can. It isn't a dangerous place,
more a degrading place where as one character says, "you have to limit your
dreams to your reality". It is a country of limits depending on caste, religion,
status, skin color, education, family background. All of this seeps into
the film - often unsaid but always there like an extra layer of skin.
Maybe my enthusiasm is running over but I loved everything about this film.
The cinematography of the city is incredible whether in the streets or on
trains and buses - from a distance shooting down or over the city - it captures
its flavor, its diversity, its immensity. The acting from mainly an unknown
cast to me was so good and the one who I did know - Alia Bhatt - was emotionally
perfect. After this and as the Mafia Queen in Gangubai Katiawadi, I am ready
to sign up for her fan club. It is a subtle and difficult performance and
she hits every note. It is directed by Zoya Akhtar - sister of Farhan and
daughter of Javed Akhtar, one of the great lyricists and screen writers in
Bollywood. The film has an internal rhythm and energy of its own - the movement,
the city, the rap songs all feed into it. This is not one happy lark of a
poor boy making good through his love for music and his need to address social
issues - nothing comes easy when no one expects anything from you. And there
are possible missteps everywhere just waiting, expecting. Boys from Dharavi
don't make good.
Murad (Ranveer Singh) lives with his parents where rancor is always ready
to spill over since the father brought home a second wife and they are all
crammed into a two room two floor apartment where curtains are used to divide
it up. His father who is a driver for a rich family has saved his money and
is sending Murad through school. He often comes off as the villain unable
to see his son's dreams but his dream is of his son graduating and getting
a white-collar job. And he has sacrificed for that. In an early sweet scene
Murad is on the bus eyeing a young woman - Safeena (Alia) who is with her
mother. Both eye each other and as soon as the mother leaves she goes and
sits next to him and without a word shares an ear plug with him. They are
in love. Have been for years but neither family knows about it. They are both
Muslim but from different classes and neither of their parent's would approve.
She is studying to become a doctor and is a sparker ready to be lit. She
sees that Murad has received a text from a girl and she seeks her out and
punches her out. Another time when she suspects that something is going on
between Murad and a woman, she breaks a bottle over her head. She knows what
she wants and nobody better get in the way. She is a river of emotional churning.
When she isn't conking someone, she can be quite wonderful. And can lie faster
than I can think if need be to her parents.
Murad's ambition is to write lyrics for a rapper - he writes about the world
around him - the unfairness - his desire to escape it. But he is forced by
his mentor MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi) to get on stage and perform - next
there are these rap battles where two guys face each other and basically verbally
slam each other. It seems a little cruel. His family is against it of course
but with the love of a woman and a need to make something of himself he just
keeps pushing. I am far from a rap fan. I would rather hear a minuet but
the songs he raps are wonderful and powerful. The rest from others I wasn't
crazy about. Gully means street. That becomes his rapper name. Gully Boy.
The story is inspired by two Indian rappers DIVINE and Naezy. I am not sure
if Ranveer was rapping or not. This won 13 Filmfare Awards.
