Our Rating: 8.0

IMDb Ratings : 8 .6

Genre: Crime Drama | Drama

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Huma Qureshi

Country: India

Language: Hindi

Runtime: 158 minutes

Color: Color

angs of Wasseypur II is the second and final installment in Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Epic crime saga revolving around on a multi-generation power struggle between two disputing Muslim clans: the ‘Khans’ and the ‘Qureshis’. The movie’s original five hour cut was premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 65th Cannes Film Festival. But, the makers decided to release it commercially in two parts of roughly 150 minutes each. While Gangs of Wasseypur I was released inon June 22, 2012 the movie’s second part hit the theatres on August 8, 2012. Gangs of Wasseypur II stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Piyush Mishra, Richa Chadda, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Huma Qureshi, and Zeishan Quadri in major roles. The story picks up from where it was left in the first part with Sardar Khan’s elder son Danish Khan leading the brigade against the family’s arch enemies: Ramadhir Singh and Sultan Qureshi. Unfortunately, Danish’s reign is short-lived as he too is made to meet his father’s fate. The next in queue is Sardar Khan’s younger son, the anorexic-looking marijuana addict, Faisal Khan, who seems to have found solace in his drug-induced oblivion amidst the all-pervasive bloodbath. Now, the onus lies with Faisal to avenge the death of his grand father, father and his brother. But, the enemies are stronger than ever and a perpetually stoned Faisal just doesn’t seem capable of exacting revenge against them. Gangs of Wasseypur II follows Faisal’s tumultuous journey from being an effeminate doper to becoming the undisputed mafia kingpin of Wasseypur.

Gangs of Wasseypur II: Faisal Khan marries Mohsina

They say blood runs thicker than water, but watching Gangs of Wasseypur II makes one question the veracity of the proverb. In the decrepit land of unscrupulous outlaws, power is not only the ultimate elixir but the only thing that matters. A man is willing to part with his life but not with his hard earned power, for the absence of power would make him appear effete in the eyes of his kin. If Gangs of Wasseypur I was about vengeance then Wasseypur II is surely about conquest: one’s naked ambition to conquer absolutely everything that’s there to be conquered. Survival is no longer the hottest commodity around… Supremacy definitely is! In the ghettos of Kashyap’s dystopia, triumph is a necessity for survival. And, while there is a perpetual struggle for existence, survival is no longer the right of the fittest, but the prerogative of the “Smartest”. You may be big, mean, strong, and powerful, but complacency is a folly that you can ill afford, for death can come in different forms and you better not get caught off guard when that happens.

Zeishan Quadri as Definite in Gangs of Wasseypur II

The characters in Gangs of Wasseypur II, driven by malice, ambition, hatred, and theatrics, are meaner, pettier, and filthier than ever, and perhaps that’s what gives them a comic book feel. In fact, almost every character in the movie seems to have a fixation for Bollywood actors which also happens to be their greatest weakness as quipped by Tigmanshu Dhulia’s character (Ramadhir Singh), “The reason that I have been alive for so long is that I don’t watch cinema while my rivals continue to visualize an image of their favorite actors in their minds aspiring to be heroes in their real lives, thus overestimating their odds of survival.” One of the characters is named “Perpendicular”, because he shoots gun-barrel straight. “Perpendicular” is greatly inspired by Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. Then there is another character that’s referred to as “Tangent”, for his shots are not meant to go straight, but instead are meant to shave off his human targets tangentially, perhaps to frighten them rather than actually killing them. To complete the trio, there’s third peculiar character named “Definite”, who happens to be a diehard fan of Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan, portrayed by none other than Zeishan Quadri—the movie’s co-writer. The characters’ Bollywood fixation provides for occasional bursts of humor, which Kashyap adeptly uses to punctuate the plot’s ever brewing tension.



