9 Years of 'Gangs of Wasseypur': A Bloody Blockbuster

The more memes you have on social media the more famous your film is either before or after With Anurag Kashyaprsquos classic crime comedycumthrillercumdramacumcult Gangs Of Wasseypur its legacy was almost born when the first show was over That was the time a lot of people were new to social media and didnrsquot exactly know how to make something viral or create a memeKashyap just like Vishal Bhardwaj has a penchant for blending crime and comedy You chuckle when a henchman unleashes a threat and break into laugher when the man who receives the threat reacts Yoursquore left amused when a murder happens in broad daylight or an assassination attempt goes horribly wrong Two things that make such materials work are the writing and the actors who participate in such writing And this film is blessed with one of the most ingenious ensembles of the decadeCareers were reformed and resurrected lesserknown faces were found and made famous Therersquos a takeaway from everyone who acted in this unforgettable twopart ambition from greed to lust to vendetta to even naiumlveteacute Herersquos looking at some of themJaideep Ahlawat Shahid Khan AmbitionAhlawatrsquos face always suggests brood and batter And given the narrative hersquos often thrown in his aura disappears into the stories Here he plays Shahid Khan an ambitious coalminer who aims to takeover this flourishing business in the 1940s His death read murder triggers a rivalry that spans over generations Kashyap turns a murky drama into a pulpy thriller that seldom allows you to breathe or blinkManoj Bajpayee Sardar Khan RevengeIf you witness the making of this project watch the bit where Kashyap reveals the idea of this characterrsquos name and how it came from Bajpayee himself Both were inebriated when the narration ended and the suggestion could have been either wellthought or impulsive Whatever the story of this story may be Bajpayee owns the role and essays it with a delicious grin we saw in another classic called lsquoSatyarsquo His smile suggests evil his language suggests filth and fun his demeanour often suggests promiscuity but his existence suggests revenge that transcends elimination It will be fulfilled with the nemesis embarrassmentRicha Chadha Nagma Khatoon PragmaticChadharsquos a powerful actor who needs powerful stories and characters Nagma is one such character in one such film She catches his husband Sardar with another woman and all hell breaks loose Even while delivering their child the screams are directed towards his promiscuity and not the labour pain She finally makes peace with the fact that Sardar is driven by lust and thirst for sex so she feeds him so hersquos physically strong enough not to embarrass her outside Nagma is truly a hootReema Sen Durga LoveOut of all the characters that Kashyap and cowriter Akhilesh Jaiswal write in this epic battle of revenge therersquos only one who yearns for love at least personally Itrsquos the character of Durga played by Reema Sen whose silence emotes more than her words A tender but thunderous moment with Sardar is a classic case of flirting that leaves her amused instead of angry She eventually becomes his second wife and Sardar is torn between her and Nagma Durga breaks down in a scene when she senses the love and attention are fading away and does something shocking Not Ramadhir shersquos responsible for Sardarrsquos tragic death Itrsquos not revenge she does it for loveTigmanshu Dhulia Ramadhir Singh SupremacyDhulia is ruthless remorseless but on many instances helpless too He fails to save his son from Sardar Khan and his cohortsrsquo quips hersquos embarrassed of his naiumlveteacute He hires an outsider to get his job done Dhulia believes in what Aurangzeb remarked that kingship knows no kinship He would eliminate anyone who tries to dethrone his glory And with perpetual confusion and chaos in his mind and face Ramadhir Singhrsquos character continues to live its own legacy Fair to say apart from this actor yeh role kisi aur se na ho paayeNawazuddin Siddiqui Faizal Khan VendettaThe man whorsquos father and grandfather were brutally murdered has to be a man driven by rage and vendetta In what is Nawazuddin Siddiquirsquos moment of triumph the actor commands the celluloid with his potent performance His comebacks are infectious and flirting skills absolutely disastrous What makes his character ironic is that he breaks down in a cinema hall while watching a film where Amitabh Bachchan loses his mother but doesnrsquot shed a tear when his own father passes away Thatrsquos what makes him a crackerHuma Qureshi Mohsina Hamid PermissionQureshi another fiery performer may have given all the girls a reason to school the boys that are after them Romance is good physical proximity is good too what isnrsquot good is doing all this without their permission Take notesPankaj Tripathi Sultan Qureshi DutyJaved Akhtar once said no Hindi film can be made without Anupam Kher After the staggering success of Gangs Of Wasseypur we saw the same happen with Tripathi In the last decade the actor has been seen in multiple films and web shows Here he plays a nononsense man whorsquos hired by Ramadhir to eliminate Sardar and he agrees in his vintage low baritone You can barely hear him but you know he has said yes What a performerPiyush Mishra Nasir Ahmed SurvivorMishra with his dissimilar voice narrates both the parts He observes the rise and fall of both the clans that have been rivals for generations And hersquos the sole survivor of this 320minute bloodbath He stands by Sardar Khan and his family and is rendered helpless as they are massacred one after another Since he lasts till the end it was fitting to mention him towards the end But the story isnrsquot over yet next part of this article in August when Part 2 of this drama came outAlso Read Anurag Kashyap Life got ruined with Gangs Of Wasseypur