I believe Hip Hop is the most distilled version of a song that reaches straight to your heart. I have always been a huge fan of Eminem and loved his song. But when I was exposed to Hindi Hip Hop it hit me like a tequila shot. The lyrics sucked me inside like no English Hip Hop ever did. That’s the power of local language I guess.
The forefront of this Hip Hop Phenomenon was Divine and Naezy.
And the time was absolutely ripe for a movie based on our Hindi hip hop.
Zoya Akhtar who until now made mostly NRI focused movies Like Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara and Dil Dhadakne Do ( Karan Johar target audience ).
The only exception was Luck by Chance which I believe was one of her best work and a very powerful movie ( Before Gully Boy)
So I was a little skeptical on how she would treat this content which is so rooted in the crudest part of Mumbai, The Slums. But I am so happy to tell that she absolutely justified the content. She showed the ugly yet human side of Mumbai and has captured it very well. The claustrophobia of small lanes and house was captured very well. Also, she made sure that they didn’t focus too much on the filth and rubbish ( too much of it makes you uncomfortable even though it might be the reality). But also they didn’t glamorize the slums, just showed a decent side of it. The makeup and dress were on point and looked true to the character. It is the best movie made by Zoya Akhtar yet.
Ranveer Ranveer Ranveer … Kya Karta hai tu .. ( words of Sanjay Leela Bhansali during Padmavaat Shooting). I could see why a tough director like Sanjay was so impressed by Ranveer. What an actor … he is a fucking shapeshifter. In the entire movie, you forget that its Ranveer and believe its Murad. Apart from acting even his body language and the way he walks gives us the scent of the hustler who has big dreams.
Alia too did a superb job in nailing the character of an upper-class Muslim family girl who is a rebel and unpredictable. The most surprising part was the chemistry between Ranveer and her. It was effortless and looked so real(In the movie they were in relationship for 9 years and its damn looked like that ). The scene where they kiss looks so tender and real (It’s not glamourized, just the way we all kiss our better half ).
She has come a long from the plasticky performance in Student of the year to Gully boy.
Even other actors like Debutant Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Raaz, Vijay Verma(Special shout out to this guy, so effortless and he has a charm around himself ) have done a superb. In fact, the entire cast has done a superb job.
My only issue was Zoya should have shown a little more struggle of the protagonist and the stakes should have been higher ( More the stakes, more the audience is rooting ). I mean sure Murad has a struggle to meet his dream and is hustling but he didn’t lose anything in the process. Apart from the sales job offered by his uncle, there was nothing he would have lost if he didn’t make it in the hip hop stage.
But apart from it, the movie was amazing. I was almost in tears when the final song APNA TIME AYEGA comes as I was happy that he made it.
2019 is looking super exciting and promising. Now, where can I get the “APNA TIME AYEGA” shirt 😉
