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Tag: Gangs of Wasseypur

  • The ad is simple and well-directed, but will it deliver for the brand? Sanjeev Kotnala reflects on the BL Agro ad

    Bail Kohlu… Kohlu ka Bail Kaun?

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Sanjeev KotnalaThe ad by BL Agro Industries’ mustard oil brand, Bail Kolhu is interesting – due to its somewhat unique approach.  I have never seen ads from the brand, and I am not sure if they were regular advertisers on social media and TV.

     

    This TVC/DVC featuring Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi- the three much-loved and hated characters from Gangs of Wasseypur is trying too hard, too much too soon. They belong to the core markets of the brand. They are known to have struggled with a late entry into Bollywood, finally succeeding against all odds. The fit seems perfect.

     

    The three actors are damn good, and they deliver on expected lines.  As depicted in the film and what people know, their life stories resonate with the audience and seem an apt fit for what the brand wants to communicate. They are known more for their craft more than being stars. People find them grounded and relatable in real life- something that the brand wants the audience to believe about it. In some press release, I read these values are – Perseverance, Purity and Dependability.

     

    The ad is simple. The celebrity brand ambassador reflects on his life, and short clips of their interviewed story make the point.  There is an unmistaken undercurrent of struggle before success. Additionally, the ad moves into the expected lines of showing the relentless pursuit of their dream and not leaving it mid-way. There it empathises on a determined-focussed approach and never letting it go. This is then transferred on to brand as it recounts to have followed a similar life pattern.

     

    It seems a good move when the brand is trying to expand and is engaging in creating the business delivery channels. However, when it comes to the consumer, this alone may not suffice. I believe that they will most likely take it further with the three ambassadors and product feature and/or benefit-led communication. If it is there, the brand will be better advised to bring them when the iron of buzz and discussion is hot. Otherwise, this disruptive sounding initial communication may just disrupt their plans.

     

     

    There is a lack of brand name integration in the film other than Manoj Bajpai reference to Kohlu ke Bail. At the end of the commercial, the bridge-line ‘Mehnat ke zanoon se kamyabi ke sakoon tak hamari pehchan ka safar bhi kuch eisha hi raha’ ( our journey towards gaining the identity has been similar, from passionate efforts to the comfort of success) that tries to wrap up the stories and link them to the brand is good but may not do the job.

     

    The brand association remains weak. It hinges on the unique sounding brand name- something that the film has really not exploited enough-the complete picture of mustard oil making the traditional way.

     

    The multi-star single film is different. It looks as if the film were initiated as three independent films but then stitched together for a shorter version. Something the brand should avoid as it clutters and sends a confusing message. It could work better as individual stories than overlapping ones.  The first test should be if the film communicates the right message clearly and cleverly in the least number of exposures.

     

    At the same time, compliment the team behind it who wrote and directed the ad- and the client who was sure what they wanted from the ad. There is enough buzz and talk about the ad and mostly positive.

     

    I hope this is just the beginning and not the end of the campaign. The brand will have to move fast and invest in moving from awareness and action at the trade level to interest and effort at the consumer level. The brand may need some tangibles to make the shift; maybe the brand could do with some second opinions and advice.

     

  • Every week, Deepa Gahlot casts a critical eye over media reviews of Bollywood releases… in Reviewing the Reviews

    Gangs of Wasseypur 2: Too long, too violent!

    Gangs of Wasseypur 2

     

    Directed by: Anurag Kashyap

    Produced by: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra

    Written by: Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia, Anurag Kashyap

    Starring: Richa Chadda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jameel Khan, Syed Zeeshan Quadri, Aditya Kumar, Reemma Sen

     

    Anurag Kashyap’s films usually get the kind of reviews that praise his craft and pan his indulgence. So even though Gangs of Wasseypur 2 got the expected 3 and 4 star ratings, almost all critics seemed to agree that it was too long, too violent and not quite necessary.

     

    The ones who got the most out of the films are Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Richa Chadda, for whom it turned out to be a career launcher.

     

    Rajeev Masand of IBN wrote: “It’s hard to deny that Wasseypur II is lacking. In plot for one… Despite the cinematic flair, this film weighs down on you, seeming like an endless series of killings without a narrative to string it all together. Where is the method to this madness? Unlike the earlier film that took its time (too much time, to be fair) to set up the chapters, this sequel hits the ground running with relentless gun battles and daylight murders. Yet it feels curiously empty, as if the characters are just moving around in impressive set pieces.”

     

    Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express, who had loved Part One is less effusive this time: “There shouldn’t have been a Part 2. This should have been the post-interval section of Gangs of Wasseypur, carrying over, instantly, the charge of the first half. Yes, one continuous flow would have made Gangs Inc. a very long film, closing at nearly six hours. It would have challenged our notions of how long we can fill seats, without squirming or fidgeting, or thinking of escape. But it would have given us the story’s arc from beginning to end, smoothly maintaining the integrity of the plot, action and thought. For me, GOW2 is a follow-through that is shot through with flashes of brilliance, and some wonderful comic verve, but that doesn’t have the enthralling power and spread of the first film.”

     

    Madhureeta Mukherjee of the Times of India gave it a cagey 4 stars, writing: “For those who like their celluloid hard and bloody and full of machismo, with an overdose of bodies, butchering and bloody-bravado, welcome to blood-fest – Round Two! This time it’s double the dollops of gore; two much. Booming guns and metal-shredded innards spilling gut onto the streets. More revenge and rage. More gangs and more bangs (some pistols firing from lungi covered groins) and more man-power. With every shade of red, black and grey – deeper and bolder.”

     

    Aniruddha Guha of DNA also toned down his rah-rahs for Part 2: “Unfortunately, Gangs of Wasseypur – 1 and 2 together – falls slightly short of a truly satisfying experience. There’s so much to take back – mood, flavour, character, attitude – yet it leaves you slightly vexed, and wanting more. Not more in terms of duration, but in content. Given the investment it demands – 2 hours and 40 minutes of your time, twice over, and loads of patience – the takeaway is just not as rewarding. It was so in the first one because it was incomplete, and it is so in the second because it stutters on its way to a stunning finale.”

     

    Raja Sen of rediff.com commented: “Kashyap’s visual flair has just grown with each film, and this one is not just cinematically self-assured but also highly nuanced: some of the touches – like Mohsina’s choice of paperback – border almost on a Dibakarian immaculateness. Perpendicular Khan, meanwhile, like the Bob Biswas we met in Kahaani a few months ago, deserves his own graphic novel, pronto. Like one of those unending strings of ladis, this is, then, a proper firecracker, even if far too long. Had Ramadhir Singh broken his coda and watched it, he’d have doubtless been gunned down mid-film, the length (and volume) allowing his foes more than enough celluloid cover to set up sniper-rifles, grenades and knifemen for the job. Sheer murder, surely. Yet, like the inevitably doomed characters in this Kashyapverse, he’d have gotten to grin a few times before biting the dust.”

     

    Kunal Guha of in.yahoo quipped: “Phuchchak! A stab in the eye. Krreeeech! A human head severed from the rest. Swish! Swoosh! Perpendicular and tangent blades inserted into flesh. And then, a semi-automatic is used to poke intestines swinging from a carcass that has been polka-dotted with gun fire. Now you know, when director Anurag Kashyap says dark, he means 99 per cent cocoa.”

     

    Janhavi Samant of Mid-day, perhaps the only 2.5 star rater is left cold: “OMG! This one’s such a long film it should have been made into a TV series. They could have easily pulled off an hourly 13-episode show. Definite and Perpendicular could have become household names and our children could have learnt some choice gaalis sitting right at home. Not that one has anything against gaalis, especially since one bit back a few ‘Whathefa…’s while watching the film. Really, towards the end of the film, protagonist Faisal Khan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) cries defeatedly over the mire of revenge and crime he’s been sucked into. “It shouldn’t have gone this far,” he says. We agree.”

     

  • Every week, Deepa Gahlot casts a critical eye over media reviews of Bollywood releases… in Reviewing the Reviews

    Mostly 3.5 *s for Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur

    Gangs of Wasseypur

     

    Directed by: Anurag Kashyap

    Produced by: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra

    Written by: Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia, Anurag Kashyap

    Starring: Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Bajpai, Richa Chadda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jameel Khan, Syed Zeeshan Quadri, Aditya Kumar, Reemma Sen

     

    Anurag Kashyap has annexed the role of rebel against Bollywood and by making dark, violent films, has got himself a following in the indie and festival circuit. But after the excessive Gangs of Wasseypur (Part 2 is coming up), one can only hope he has exorcised the ghost of The Godfather, and can now truly become a chronicler of the times; he has the style, he has the cinematic sensibility, he has to grow beyond a laddish fascination for violence and men who indulge in crude power games.

     

    Critics feel duty bound to praise his films, because he dares to go against the rules of Bollywood and thrives; he has edged out Ram Gopal Varma from his prince of darkness pedestal. He also drums up a serious amount of hype. But is there more to him than machismo?

     

    The film got mostly 3.5 star ratings, as if critics were shying to give it that extra half star and bring it to the excellent category- so despite the praise, it’s technically just a little above good in the ratings.

     

    Raja Sen of rediff.com found it boring, gave it 2.5 and wrote: “It must here be remembered that mob bosses, at least the ones Hindi cinema have accustomed us to over the years, have hardly been an efficient lot. They growl orders, surround themselves by those applauding their every maniacal move, and, intoxicated by their own bluster, proceed to boast about their convoluted plot to the protagonist, resulting in their climactic downfall. It is this look-what-I-did windbaggery that constantly weighs down Wasseypur, a highly competent and occasionally enjoyable product, and keeps it from soaring like it should have.”

     

    Anupama Chopra gave it 3 and commented: “Kashyap’s material is strong, but there’s just too much of it. There is so much plot squeezed into the two-hour-forty-five-minute running time that your head swims. We hardly ever stay with a character long enough to get emotionally invested, and a voice-over clumsily interrupts the story to connect the dots. At one point, I was so confused that I longed for a master key booklet to the film that outlined the various factions, relationships and rivalries. The narrative also moves constantly between the personal and professional (murder, revenge and thuggery being the main professions). So the film moves from the enmity track to Sardar’s mistress and at one point even segues into Sardar’s son’s Bollywood-inspired romance-over-Ray-Bans fantasy. It’s indulgent and much too long.”

     

    The 3.5 club included Rajeev Masand of IBN: “Filmed crisply, without any gimmicks by Rajeev Ravi, Gangs is both steeped in cinematic tradition, yet modern in its treatment. You’re especially seduced by the way Kashyap blends the songs into his narrative, often using them against the film’s most visceral, violent scenes. A big thumbs-up for composer Sneha Khanwalkar who goes all guns blazing to deliver a marvellous mixed-bag of a soundtrack that contains such irresistible gems as I am a hunter and Keh ke loonga. Bolstered by its riveting performances and its thrilling plot dynamics, this is a gripping film that seizes your full attention.”

     

    Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror (3.5) wrote: “Gangs of Wasseypur is the kind of film you will have to watch in a theatre. You absolutely need to be sitting in the dark with no volume control to enjoy what Kashyap throws at you without a care of turning down the noise of gunshots and explosions, without exposing your expressions of guilty pleasures to others as a crude seduction scene plays out. The digressions – though merited – are one too many and this greatly affects length. Its lack of coherence may not work for everybody. Its runtime didn’t even work for me. That’s the only flaw here: it’s just too long.”

     

    Vinayak Chakravorty, Today (3.5), raved: “Anurag’s new film, first of a two-part saga, repositions The Godfather lore with a hardy Bihari twist. You spot tribute nods to Tarantino, Scorsese and Sergio Leone all along, as the film leaves you dizzy with its wanton celebration of the gory and the immoral. But Anurag isn’t aping the western masters. He wholly turns every inspiration into an original cinematic statement as the reels roll. In that sense, GOW comes across as a crossover film in the truest spirit of the term – juxtaposing global influences onto a desi gangland canvas, and setting off masala basics within a believable premise.”

     

    Madhureeta Mukherjee of the Times of India (3.5) gushed: “This one’s a gang bang. Sorry, make that a gang bang-bang; because that’s how this story explodes – with bullets, blasts and bust-ups. Throw in gallons of blood, body-counts and ‘boom-boom’, true Bihari ishtyle. It doesn’t need coal to fuel this revenge drama. It fires on Anurag Kashyap’s penchant for the dark, dubious, deadly and daring.”

     

    Blessy Chettiar of DNA (3.5) commented: “There are times the self-indulgent ghost of That Girl in Yellow Boots wanders around Wasseypur, with seemingly pointless gore and montages eating into precious screen time. Many a time the camera wanders aimlessly, on severed heads and pretty faces. The changing history of Dhanbad at its centre, over a dozen important characters, a web of plots and subplots moving deftly to a to-be-continued finale, can leave you exhausted and confused.”

     

    Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV (3.5) wrote: “The saga tosses and turns convulsively from one shootout to another as a bunch of amoral human bloodhounds sniff around for their next kill in a volatile, lawless landscape. The unbridled violence and fetid language – the expletives fly as thick and fast as the bullets – are, however, only one facet of this cinematically layered shot at a time-honoured and popular genre. The spirit of no-holds-barred derring-do embedded in the narrative sinews of Gangs of Wasseypur is so pronounced that there is little in the film that goes along expected lines. Gangs of Wasseypur is part Sergio Leone, part Sam Peckinpah on the one hand. On the other, it embraces elements from Quentin Tarantino and Johnnie To. But the manner in which Kashyap stamps his own home-grown style and sensibility on the manic melange makes it an exhilaratingly edgy movie experience.”

     

    Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave it a surprising 4 stars: “‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ is a sprawling, exuberant, ferociously ambitious piece of film making, which hits most of its marks. It reunites Anurag Kashyap with exactly the kind of style he is most comfortable with: hyper masculine, hyper real, going for the jugular. It’s not so much about gangs, as about men who are pushed into ‘gangstergiri’ as a thing to live by; as you go along, you see that Wasseypur is not just a place, but a state of mind, which roars and strikes after each deceptively quiet patch. I liked most of ‘Gangs’, Part One, enormously.”

     

  • Anurag Kashyap, along with Manoj Bajpai and Richa Chadda, to enact pivotal roles in the special episode of the teenage crime series

    Gangs of Wasseypur to raise the thriller quotient of Channel V’s Gumrah

    By A Correspondent

     

    Channel V has entered into an association with the cast and crew of Gangs of Wasseypur to deliver a spine chilling episode of ‘Gumrah’ this Sunday.

     

    In the forthcoming episode, director Anurag Kashyap and the stars from his movie Gangs of Wasseypur – Manoj Bajpai and Richa Chadda will render crucial roles. Gangs of Wasseypur is a celluloid depiction of a revenge saga set against the socio-political dynamics in the land of coal and scraps trade mafia of Wasseypur.

     

    Unlike regular tie-ups, wherein movie stars limit their screen time to only special appearances, Gumrah has the lead stars from the movie enact roles and give shape to the entire story. Sardar Khan ( Manoj Bajpai) and his wife (Richa Chadda) are set to play their characters from the movie and that has been skillfully interweaved with the episodic content, with a special voice over by Anurag Kashyap.

     

    Speaking on the show’s association with the movie, Prem Kamath, Executive VP and GM, Channel [v] stated: “We are pleased to be associated with Anurag, Manoj Bajpai and the team for Gumrah. This association lends credibility to both sides unlike any other occasion. In this episode we have tried to synthesize the key narration of the movie and the fundamental objective of Gumrah – that is to simulate a thought amongst the new generation to realize and chose the right path of action.”

     

    Anurag Kashyap, director and screenwriter, Gangs of Wasseypur said: “Gumrah is very closely knitted to the theme and story of Wasseypur. Based on the youth psyche, each story in Gumrah projects crowded emotions that often lead to unconceivable actions. GoW also deals with one such emotion namely revenge, which instigates human mind to take the path of crime.”

     

  • The soundtrack becomes the first in India to premiere on the mobile platform before the album's physical music release – thus tapping into the fast expanding base of mobile music listeners

    Airtel & Hungama announce mobile music premiere of Gangs of Wasseypur

    By A Correspondent

     

    Music from Anurag Kashyap’s most-awaited movie ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ became the first soundtrack in India to premiere on the mobile platform, prior to the album’s physical music release thanks to a tie-up between Airtel  and Hungama Mobile. The music is now available exclusively for Airtel mobile customers till May 26 via Hello Tunes and Airtel Radio.

     

    Commenting on this, N Rajaram, CMO – Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel said: “The music premier of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ on the mobile platform speaks volumes of the changing consumption pattern among customers today. Be it music, movies, gaming, social networking or emailing – the discerning Indian customer is increasingly relying on the mobile phone for accessing content. As more and more customers prefer listening to music on their mobile phones, we expect to see mobile music launches as a fast emerging trend towards catering to the preferences of India’s expanding base of mobile music listeners. We are delighted to join hands with Hungama to announce this industry first and exclusive for Airtel mobile customers”.

     

    Albert Almeida, COO, Hungama Mobile, said: “The mobile ecosystem is evolving and with a staggering number of consumers wanting to consume music and movies directly on their phones, we are happy to satiate their appetite. Airtel has been at the forefront of marketing and distributing entertainment and music content via mobile devices and through this initiative together we will make a compelling offer to music lovers yet again.”

     

    What makes this tie-up special is that ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ has been selected for the prestigious “Directors’ Fortnight” at the 65th Festival De Cannes and has already garnered unprecedented buzz from international media and critics.