MUMBAI: If Gangs Of Wasseypur was not enough of an overdose of local gang wars, Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 is worse. It is like being invited for dinner and then having hours of family holiday videos inflicted upon you with a running commentary by the host. The story continues with yet another generation of Khans carrying on the enmity with the Quereshis who have survived round one. The string-puller-cum-rule-maker of the wars of the clans is still the same, Bahubali Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). What has changed is the way of killing: guns of all kinds have replaced knives and swords. If one looks at the sequence of events in this story of the clans, it is obvious that the Hollywood classic The Godfather has been brought in to Jharkhand and slaughtered without mercy.
Sardar Singh is killed at the end of Gangs Of Wasseypur with bullets shot at him from every conceivable angle. Times have changed and the place has become the breeding ground for wannabe dons, just like wannabe Sachin Tendulkars and wannabe Salman Khans are sprouting all over in real India. One of the aspirants for the kingdom is Khan‘s own half brother, Zeishan. That is why it is even more pertinent for the Khan clan to guard its reputation and top position in the underworld. As soon as Sultan‘s body is laid to rest, the elder son, Danish Khan (Vineet Singh), sets out to find his father‘s killers but is soon killed himself. The second one, Faizal Khan (Nawazuddin Sidiqui) is unmoved; he is heavily into smoking weed and romancing his wife to be, Mohsina (Huma Quereshi).
The good for nothing Sidiqui may have been written off, taunted and called names by his mother, Richa Chadda, but he belies all expectations. Waiting for the mourning period to get over, he strikes on his enemies. Following the old filmy pattern, he starts from the bottom rung. Why can‘t he go for the top plotters of his family‘s ruin? After all, Ramadhir Singh and the perpetrator of the murder of his father and elder brother, Sultan Quereshi (Pankaj Tripathi), is roaming all over, exposing himself. But that would mean the film would end in half an hour!
The killings continue, with children and women all being fair targets for the Quereshis as long as the person bears a Khan tag. Killed in the spree are Sardar‘s (Manoj Bajpayee) widow, Richa Chadda, her youngest son and elder son Vineet Singh‘s widow. This takes the enmity a bit to the extremes. This and many such sequences not only not add to the content value of this film but only help prolong it. As a result, it slows down and becomes boring. Also, like his father, Nawazuddin changes businesses at whim and the one he chooses for himself stays his monopoly; nobody else dare indulge in same business.
Playing the Quereshis and Khans against each other, Dhulia has survived so far because he has changed sides as and when needed and has never been in the forefront. However, his son is foolhardy and against the wishes of his father, who always chides him for being a fool, wants to prove himself. He keeps provoking the Quereshis to go behind the Khans. They are provided automatic guns and grenades and the fight to the finish takes place on the Khan residence. Closeted in one room deep into the house, the family survives as Nawazuddin sneaks out to get treated for a bullet wound and later retaliate. The man leading the Quereshis, Tripathi, is spotted and killed easily enough but Dhulia is not so easy to finish. He is ensconced safely in the big town, Dhanbad, well guarded. Nawazuddin has an aide in his half brother, Zeishan. The climax is prolonged what with Nawazuddin using one gun after another to empty the bullets on Dhulia, who is cornered and settled on a toilet seat. All one can see of him is his blood when the shooting is over so as to not make this sequel pale in anyway compared to its first part in depicting gore where weapons like swords were used and blood flowed freely!
This over two and half hour film is mainly about killings but there is also an attempt at humour, even if it is of the crude type. Like the band led by Yashpal Sharma, playing a fitting song at funerals or weddings or the three boys named Definite, Perpendicular and Tangent; then there is honeymoon night with Nawazuddin and Huma and the whole house shakes due to the vigour with which they make love. Whatever humour is tried in dialogue it is of the vulgar kind.
Performances of the artistes are generally good with real life portrayals; Nawazuddin Siddique excels as he never goes overboard and treats his role in a matter-of-fact manner. Richa Chadda and Tigmanshu Dhulia carry on from the earlier part of the film and are as effective in Part 2 as in Part 1. The same goes for Piyush MIshra and Pankaj Tripathi. Of the others, Mohsina as the film buff and Zeishan Quadri as the don aspirant are both good and natural. Direction by Anurag Kashyap is indulgent; he tries to cram too much into the film and uses violence as the shocker but such shock value can work only occasionally. That the film is divided in two parts is fine but even as such the length of each part is too much. Music is purely local except one where Huma uses English words in a song to encourage Nawazuddin each time there is a setback.
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 is even less effective than its earlier part. After all, part one has shown all that the makers wanted to show except the culmination of a family feud. The film‘s Wednesday release to rake in as much as it can before Ek Tha Tiger hits the screens next week, may only have affected the film the wrong way.
