Anurag Kashyap always tries to push the envelope of Indian cinema with every movie that he directs. Gulaal is a movie set in Rajasthan which focuses on the Rajputs and their actions. As Dilip Kumar, Raj Singh Chaudhary gives a powerful performance and his transformation from a shy, meek boy to a ruthless murderer is chilling. The whole cast is good which lends credibility to the characters portrayed in the movie. Its only fault is that it can be a bit difficult to follow the plot which is ingenious. Also, it is hard to justify some of the actions performed by the main characters that includes using guns disproportionately. The film is unlikely to resonate with the regular cinema-goers. However, this wonderfully crafted movie is highly recommended for those who are looking for a different cinematic experience.

For those well versed with Indian Student Politics that are prevalent in Northern India, this movie rings a bell.Anurag Kashyap has taken on a powerful subject and extracted good performances from his cast though Jess's role had no/negligible meat or purpose.The role of Ayesha Mohan makes us sit up and think deeply about how the influence of one's love for one's family and the need to impress them makes a person (in this case a lady) do things which one is not comfortable with (inferenced from the tears running down the character's face at the end of the movie when she realizes that she is just a pawn in her so called brother's hands).Though I enjoyed the movie, my husband disliked it making me realize that it would not be enjoyed and appreciated by audiences all over.This movie is meant for serious watching where you cannot get up go for some coffee and come back expecting to understand what is happening on the screen. So I suggest making time for it when you want to watch it.

This is a must watch political drama from Anurag Kashyap (AK). A story of politics, rebellion, love, friendship & betrayal. The story is multi-layered and makes references to many political events and is a tribute to some yesteryear cinematic moments as well.The Opening sequence, a speech given by Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon), a rajput leader who's planning a movement to bring back the Rajputana, sets up the start very well. Then it moves to show the life of Dileep Singh (Raja Chaudhary), a naive student who slowly gets entangled in the mess of student politics because of his new friend & roommate Rananjay (Abhimanyu Singh), the son of a Rajput King who doesn't want anything to do with his legacy. On the other end are the illegitimate children of this King, the brother-sister duo of Karan Singh (Aditya Shrivastava) & Kiran (Ayesha Mohan) who are fed up of their bastard status and want to usurp what they have been so far denied.Dukey Bana gets Rananjay and Dileep on his side to contest in college elections where the opposing candidate is Kiran, supported by her brother Karan. An interesting plot involving friendship, revenge, love & betrayal follows.AK's managed to get the best out of every actor including Mahie Gill (Madhuri) & Jesse Randhawa (Anuja) who have so little screen time and still impress. Adequate & Intelligent humour is provided by Pankaj Jha, Dipak Dobriyal and the superbly talented Piyush Mishra (Prithvi). AK's dialogues are so well thought and sharp. Piyush Mishra gives the proceedings a poetic touch with his excellent acts full of tributes, references and allegory with his sidekick ardh-nari. Don't miss the lines from Mahabharat and the satirical "Sarfaroshi Ki tamanna". With Piyush mishra also responsible for the music & lyrics, it isn't surprising that even the songs carry tributes (Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye..) & political references (beedo..). I only learned later that Raja Chaudhary who plays Dileep is also responsible for the story.The movie has many layers to it, I should confess that I felt it had striking similarities to the greatest epic from India- the Mahabharat. I felt Gulaal was AK's own version of the epic & was even more convinced by the lines from Mahabharata rendered by Piyush Mishra.Overall, this is the best political drama that Hindi cinema has come up with in recent times & is predictable to be from AK. This may not have any big stars but each of the talents shine and how. Piyush Mishra needs a special mention for his multi-faceted talent & his contribution make Gulaal equally his as is AK's. The film deserves credit to have shown the real India that not many movies show - Ragging, Caste System in a Modern light, Student Politics, Drugs and hunger for power in a thrilling mix. All this make Gulaal a must watch.P.S: AK himself makes a guest appearance a la.. Subash Ghai/Quentin Tarantino/Manoj Shyamalan.

Gulaal by Anurag Kashyap brings to us a movie showing how dark politics have captivated Indian Youth to betrayal.The movie is filmed in Rajasthan & the set locations are very cool.The movie delivers a message throughout.This movie is about trust,betrayal,love & mostly hatred for each other.We come to see some stunning performances.The first name comes as Kay Kay Menon.He is a great actor.I have no doubt anymore.His speech in the beginning of the movie is just so good that you just hope to see more of this in the movie.Pankaj Jha also gives a terrific performance.What was lacking was the role performed by the newcomer Raj Singh Chaudhary.He looked too dumb in this film.He looked like he had no clue what is going on.Eventually he himself becomes a scapegoat among people who just lie for their own benefit.The girl Ayesha Mohan did very well in a negative role.The music is also good.But some silly things like some silly songs in between & a guy painted in blue just played a spoilsport.The ending is fine & Kashyap surely adds finesse to the ending this time.Kashyap's magic flows but only for a few.This movie was very good but masses i doubt they will see this more often.