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.

Its surprising that the Director who gave us Dev D, comes up with Gulaal in the same year. True to Anurag kashyap's style, the movie is dark, rough and hard hitting. KK as Dukey bana who has his secret political ambition to revive "Rajputana" rule in Neo-Nazi style. Then the Brother sister duo with own political agenda and the student politics in the backdrop of Rajasthan. There is a plot and sub plots but the director keeps them all together and never goes off track. Gulaal shows all colors of Human nature.The strong performance by all characters is the highlight of the film. For me Piyush mishra as KK menons brother with his satirical poems steals the show.

seriously man come onIndian cinema is finally touching some new boundaries this movie was excellent,different from other b-wood s h i tno smoking was sadly misunderstood(will be understood some centuries later) but this movie is mainstream brilliant movie about love,rage etcsad part is people don't know bout this movie(cos it has no stars or nice dance numbers or s h i t like that)so you're the one who can really direct such good cinema to wider audience and encourage such movie makingmy final verdict_______ 10/10

Delivering what was expected, here is another quality abstract art movie from Anurag Kashyap. And as the case always is, the movie may win over the critiques but it fails to make a direct contact with the common man coming in theaters for entertainment. Anurag is brilliant in his own form of film-making and will definitely satisfy his fan following, which has reached a higher graph after "Dev-D", but on the entertainment quotient movie scores quite low.The movie puts an intense, dark, disturbing and even shocking portrayal of College Politics in Rajasthan locales but lacks the depth we had seen in "Haasil". The sequences are all well conceived, intelligently directed and superbly shot capable of satisfying the thinking viewers in a big way. On the other hand, for the people coming in looking for the comic factor equivalent to "Dev-D" may find it disappointing on that track. This time, Anurag strictly sticks to the intense narration in the complete movie with no relief moment at all.The story revolves around young college students who become victim of cruel local politics and it also has an angle of conspiracy being planned against the government by the Rajput families. The first half shows the rusty college campus in Rajasthan, still obsessed with brutal ragging of new students and even lady teachers. It reveals the youth election back-up sources, which include still called Maharajas, local politicians and a hidden Rajputana rebellion force. Later the emphasis shifts to how a brother uses his sister in getting his due name, respect and leadership. Anurag clearly shows how a female character can win anyone and anything in the world if she is willing to forget her dignity and limits. He represents the power of woman in the man's world in his own unique and captivating way.In the acting department, the best comes from Abhimanyu Singh as Ransa and Ayesha Mohan as Kiran. Ahimanyu though dies in the first hour only but has the power to light up the screen with his presence. Kiran gives an impressive performance as the girl using her feminist qualities in the best possible manner. Pankaj Jha as Jadhwal, Deepak Dobriyal as Bhaatti and Raj Singh as Dilip are effective. Kay Kay and Aditya Srivastav are first rate as always. Two characters who stay in your mind are Piyush Mishra as the mentally retarded elder brother of Kay Kay and Jesse Randhawa as the ragged teacher who has got no one to help her.The find of the season undoubtedly is Mahi Gill in a special appearance. She was loved by everyone in "Dev-D" and here also she gives a splendid lovable act as the lover of Kay Kay. She dances and acts equally well with conviction and depth. An actress who deserves more good projects and directors like Anurag Kashayp. A good find indeed by Anurag.Coming back to the movie, it has some worth mentioning sequences which include the one when Dilip is stripped and thrown in a room where he finds his own lady lecturer also stripped and locked. The conversation scene between Ransa and Aditya, just before he is killed and hanged in the market place. And the sequence where a policeman is shot sending all his accompanying policemen back in their jeep.The dialogues are strong and hard but also use abusive words in an overdone manner. Many times, abuses are used where they were not needed at all. Cinematography is brilliant capturing the intense moments in the right ambiance. But the script has many loopholes which could have been avoided easily keeping stress on the main plot only. There are too many stories moving in at the same time which take away the real meaning of the title "Gulaal". The main plot of the rebellion force of Rajputana gets lost in other stories and gets attention only toward the climax.The writer tries to point out the stress felt by all the Rajput Kings, who had to surrender their areas to the government after independence. But at the same time he also dangerously suggests another kind of fire which still may be hidden in those areas of the country. Luckily it's only a fictional thought of the writer, quite away from the reality.Piyush Mishra comes up with some good meaningful lyrics and composition just apt for the feel of the movie. The songs are not for everyone but they do deserve a serious listening by all music lovers and chances are that many would like the score a lot.The movie was in the making for more than 4-5 years and several reasons were responsible for its delay. The project was recently revived, when it was taken over by ZEE Group under its ZEE Limelight Movies. The movie may find itself recognized in the New Wave Cinema but it would be difficult for the film to make huge profits for the production house.In simple words, GULAAL is not for all and is strictly for the people who know that they want to see this out of the box kind of cinema. Viewers going to the cinema having that in mind will not be disappointed, but it's not as engrossing as it promised to be.