You know what revenge stories hinge on?
Drive.
When the anti-hero brutally slices open the villain from head toe and bathes in the villain’s blood to symbolize that vengeance was now sated, I need to believe in the cause so strongly that I stand up in my seat and screech -
“Take that you ruddy bastard! DID YOU THINK YOU COULD ESCAPE? NEVER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
Even if you count in the brief interlude when security escorts me from the theater, I would dub that experience a great revenge flick.
If a film can’t make me care, well then it falls as flat as Lord Zalthor’s jokes -
What did the Higg’s Boson tell the priest?
- Without me you can’t have mass…
A n y w a y . . .
So when Gangs of Wasseypur was presented to me, I was wary.
All the blood and gore in the trailers was attractive, but I kept in mind that “bloody” is not always equal to “good revenge cinema”.
A lesson this film taught us so well
Then I met this guy -
Even though he is on-screen for just twenty minutes and barely speaks, you get the feeling he can do A LOT, or maybe anything, if he wanted to.
He takes action when he must and makes a wise retreat if he has to.
He is not a hero or a martyr (there are none in this film), but he is the root cause for all those interesting and bloody shenanigans that film gets up to later on.
Oddly enough he himself does not get up to much – in comparison to the rest anyway.
Mostly what he does is loom. He looms over the other characters, over the situation, over the screen and, in the long run, over the entire film.
And he casts a beautifully long and deep shadow.
By the time of his inevitable murder, the movie has sunk its claws into me so deep that I had half-a-mind to wind a shawl around my head, pick up a gun, and go start a blood feud.
That is definitely a sign of a brilliantly written role being well played.
The rest of the film, a good 2 hours or so, is devoted to his son – Sardar Khan, played effectively by Manoj Bajpai.
We follow Sardar Khan’s meandering life as he rises in the criminal world and takes his revenge in a piecemeal and ad hoc fashion.
Scheming, lecherous, patient and vengeful, Sardar Khan is a really well fleshed out person. From the little quirks he has – like being afraid of his wife, to his flaws – infidelity, a bad father etc, to his sheer ruthlessness, every inch of Sardar Khan is bought to life By Manoj Bajpai.
By the end I really got the feeling I was a close personal friend of Sardar Khan and was witnessing his whole life.
And I do mean his WHOLE life. Every minute of it. Every long, stretched out instant. Every incident, no matter how pointless.
It just went covering and covering and covering and covering and coveringUNTIL I WANTED TO SCREAMÂ – OH MY GOD YOU ARE THE SON OF SHAHID KHAN, STOP DICKING AROUND AND GO FUCKING KILL SOMEONE!
*breathe*
What I mean is that the film could have been edited slightly tighter.
The trailer for the second film shows that we will follow Sardar’s son Faizal Khan next as he completes the saga.
But to be honest, I was only hooked on to them because of the brilliant foundation that Shahid Khan laid down for me.
In a scene from the movie, a rival tells his underling -
“This son is nothing. you should have seen the father. great men would piss just at his mere sight.”
True. True
_______________ x ________________
Who is Shahid Khan?
Character roles, a concept nearly driven extinct in Bollywood thanks to the endless parade of Raj’s and Rahul’s, is making a glorious comeback and Shahid Khan is a proud torch bear in their ranks.
The role is played by one Jaideep Ahlawat. I don’t really know him and he has appeared in a few forgettable flick before – Aakrosh, Khatta Meetha, Chittagong.
But hopefully this role will push him into a well deserved spotlight and give him more chances to display the kind of skill he has shown in this film.
