Gangs of Wasseypur

Some people from India think this is the equivalent to, or even surpasses, the Godfather.

Indians! Stop overrating your movies!!

A 60??? please bitch, minus 40.

Incredibly stylish and actually pretty darn good, but not "worth 320 minutes" good.

Star Rating: ★★★1/2

Not interested.

The version I saw had the lyrics to the soundtrack translated as well. The songs were on-screen commentary or blatantly about fucking with different levels of aggression. Huge movie that acts as a time capsule for a contested region and the local power struggles within. Even more daunting is it openly let us know there is a sequel due in the future. Which sort of opens the door for the current occupants to state their claim & be immortalised if they don't get shot by home-made hand guns first.

I think my biggest problem was that I kept expecting the movie to settle down on one main character, but it kept jumping to different people over the span of three generations. I've probably seen fewer than a dozen Bollywood movies, but this one probably seemed the least Bollywood, if that makes sense. No extravagant dance numbers or over-the-top action, but actually a pretty realistic story about gang warfare.

Stand out performance from lead actor Manoj Bajpai stands tall in this long, quite long movie which certainly would have become more pacy if edited at the right places. But never mind, it's epic.

Pros - Brilliant acting by Manoj Bajpayee and the two leading ladies. Sterling performances by the supporting actors too. Hilarious and witty dialogues. Cons - Seems stretched out in some portions. Need a knowledge of the language (Hindi spoken in the interiors of India) to really enjoy the movie at its fullest.