Gully Boy Film Review: Definitely a must see

Gulf News

The outlandish Ranveer Singh, known for his look-at-me persona seems to have found his groove as the angst-ridden Murad who tries not to be weighed down by the grim reality around him.

Transcript

00:00There's so much to love about this film directed by Zoya Akhtar.

00:09It's a rousing rap to riches underdog tale which has Singh playing the role of Murad.

00:16He's a 22-year-old Muslim boy from the slums of Mumbai.

00:19The reality around him is grim but he dreams of becoming a musician and rap becomes his outlet.

00:25Director Zoya Akhtar has this amazing knack of extracting the subtle best from all of her actors.

00:32You have Ranveer Singh who's usually very outlandish

00:35and attention-seeking in his films play a very subtle role.

00:40He plays Murad with such a quiet ferociousness and ferocity that it's impossible not to like him.

00:48It's really impressive that a Bollywood film

00:51manages to drive home its point of religious and class divides

00:56without making it too didactic or preachy.

00:59Regarding the acting, I think Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt have outshone themselves.

01:05This is one of the movies where you can just watch them act.

01:09There's Alia Bhatt who plays a Muslim medical student who's in love with Murad played by Singh.

01:14And here's what I loved about them.

01:16Theirs is a very tenuous complicated relationship and Alia is quite feisty.

01:21I mean she's got anger management problems other than just studying for her medical degree.

01:26What she needs is an anger management course rather than a medical degree to be a surgeon.

01:32But what we like about it is she manages to inject a bit of adorability into her character

01:37and that's not easy because her character is flawed yet you feel for her.

01:41So that's one of the best parts about Gully Boy.

01:46All the characters of this film are really earnest and they're also honest in some way.

01:51In fact it's also big on wit.

01:53For instance, Murad lives in the slums of Mumbai and there is a scene in which his grandmother

02:00haggles with a tour operator who brings a bunch of foreigners for slum tourism.

02:05Basically you have a bunch of tourists who are actually going around the slums

02:10taking Instagram worthy pictures.

02:12It's laughable but it's also a very brave gamble.

02:15Here's a director who does not shy away from taking a swipe at poverty

02:20and showing and highlighting white privilege in the most subtlest manner.

02:24So all in all there's so much to love about this movie.

02:27The plot is very predictable.

02:29You know who's going to be the winner of a contest,

02:32you know who's going to win, who's going to have the last word.

02:35But yet you're invested in every frame.

02:38And then there are also the other supporting characters.

02:41Rarely has a movie come in Bollywood where all the characters

02:44other than just A-listers Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt who have such important roles.

02:50For instance actor Vijay Raz who plays Ranveer's troubled, violent, sprone, abusive father.

02:59His character is also well etched out.

03:02I mean there's a lot to learn from his flaws as well as his strength.

03:06There's a quite strength about all the supporting characters.

03:10In fact there's also debutant Siddhant Chaturvedi.

03:13He plays Murad's mentor.

03:15And just to watch this newcomer display such assured confidence

03:19while playing the role of MC Sher, another rapper who mentors Murad is also very thrilling.

03:27Out of all the characters if I were to nitpick the one that is not so developed

03:31is Kalki Kaikalan's character.

03:34She plays Murad's friend from an American university

03:37who comes down to India to shoot and film a video.

03:40Their graph is not very believable.

03:42If there's one film that you watch this weekend make it Gully Boy starring Ranveer Singh.

03:47You'll see him as this subdued, shy best.

03:50I've given it 3.5 out of 5.

03:53For my full review go to gulfnews.com slash tabloid.

Category

Transcript

Recommended