Movie Review : Gunday (2014)

Rating : Poor(1/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2014
Running time : 2 hours 32 minutes
Director : Ali Abbas Zafar
Cast : Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Irrfan Khan
Kidwise : R

Gunday is like a bad 80s film. It is overdone, clichéd, and subtle like a hammer.

When you think of moving forward you assume that films, yes even Hindi movies, will get more elegant and spare, tell interesting stories and be well directed. To see those kinds of films, go here. Instead, filmmakers like Zafar seem to take many steps backward wallowing in all that was wrong with Hindi cinema then, and creating giant (and long) time-suckers like Gunday.

Bala and Bikram are friends who have landed in India post the 1971 Bangladesh war. Bala (Kapoor) is a hothead while Bikram (Singh) is smart and wily. Hounded by their refugee status, both survive the streets and grow up by dabbling in various illegal businesses and schemes. Then they both fall in love with Nandita (Chopra), the local cabaret queen. Meanwhile police inspector Satya (Khan) is hot in pursuit of the two and is hunting around for evidence or witnesses to throw them in jail. That then is the whole movie. Along the 2.5 hours you are taken into deep detail on the boys experiences, their eventual rise to power and prosperity and the eventual skirmishes with the law.

As per the unwritten rules of 80s cinema, our two heroes, neck-deep in illegal activity, have hearts of pure gold, not really meaning to do any evil but doing it anyway. A character in the film even says that they are “innocent and childlike”, and she must have been referring to their combined IQ, because the two for all their brawn, wealth, and street-smartness, seem to have very little of the grey matter. Another unwritten rule, you say? Oh, well!

So these two men conmen are built-up as some kind of valiant heroes, all swagger and clichéd dialogue. And while Singh and Kapoor are like-able personalities in their own right, the whole overdone hammy 80s routine just grates on your nerves. Priyanka as Nandita is pretty and lively and does well. It is a pity that her role goes down the pativrata nari route, and dissolves into the emotional sappiness that is the bane of all good little Indian women. Irfan Khan remains his dependable self, which is a relief. He manages to bring a freshness and some intelligence to Satya’s jaded character.

The songs, especially “Tune Mari Entry” are fun and entertaining. But that’s about it for the positive.

I did finish the film, although I think I slept though a lot of it. There are many annoying things about this film, but the sheer stupidity is the biggest downer. Watch at your own risk.

Kidwise : There is a song by Ms. Chopra, who is a 1970s cabaret dancer in the film, performing a suggestive dance in short clothing – basically your usual offensive Bollywood item number. What is really problematic though, is that, this film, like many other Hindi films, portrays women mainly as characters for consumption by the men in the film – either as public performers whose services can be bought, or as sappy girlfriends who might have distinguished careers as servile doormats. Nandita shows a spark earlier on in the film, but that illusion is soon done with.