Vishalsundar S

Gully Boy 10/10 Kya bolti public? Bohot-icchh hard movie banaili Zoya bibi ne. Dil ko rulaya, asli hip hop se milaya aur apun ko rap ka fan banaya. Gully Boy is probably one of the finest films coming from Bollywood. It's loosely based on the lives of rappers Divine and Naezy and is a story of an underdog who dreams big kyuki 'apna time ayega'. Murad played by Ranveer is a boy who lives in the slums of Mumbai and writes poetry. He is in a beautiful love story with a feisty Safeena, an aspiring doctor played by Alia. Then there is the character of MC Sher played by Siddhant, an underground rapper who takes Murad under his wings and mentors him, guiding him in the art of rap battles. Murad lives a hard life plagued by poverty where in his father puts in money into his education so that he can get a white collar job. Then there is the conflict in his family. And you can clearly see he doesn't get along well with his father played by a brilliant Vijay Raaz. The film beautifully narrates Murad's journey into discovering himself and going on and becoming successful despite all the hardships he faces. The film is two and a half hours long but never feels like it. The magic that Zoya weaves on the camera is amazeballs. The central character might be Murad but every side character gets a piece of the pie. This is a rarity in Bollywood. Special mention to Siddhant Chaturvedi as MC Sher, what a character. Such brilliance as he goes toe to toe with Ranveer. He is magnanimous. Ranveer baba is in top form. This is the first film where you see his emotions do the bulk of the work. His expressions brilliantly portrays his hardships, his love, his passion. You can't help but root for his character. Alia surprisingly was used very less. But she literally lit up the screen while she was at it. Ekdum dhop-tich wo sabko. Vijay Verma who plays Moin, Murad's friend who does odd criminal jobs also does a brilliant work. We see different levels of their friendship throughout and the final level tears me up. Rest of the star cast too does a mighty fine job and hold the film together never letting it get boring. The cinematography captures the slum life in Mumbai in a oddly beautiful way. Quite a few shots are close ups right in your face engaging you as an audience. The difference in high rises overlooking the slums thus showing the disparity is brilliant. The other highlight of the film has to be its music. Kudos to all the artists who came together to give us an album of a lifetime. An 18 track movie is unheard of in Bollywood. Every song comes with a meaningful scene attached to it and the lyrics match the scene like puzzle pieces. Zoya as a director is brilliant and this has to be her best work till date. Her research on the hip hop culture seems to be near perfect. She along with Reema Kagti have written an amazing screenplay with some astonishing dialouges by Vijay Maurya. The Mumbai ya tapori lingo is so much fun to hear. It stays with you even after the credit rolls come to an end. The movie is not only an underdog story but has a beautiful love story at heart and an ode to the city of Mumbai. The film can be a great motivator to the audience so as to never give up on your dreams no matter who you are or where are you coming from. I'm thankful to Zoya and the team for giving us such a brilliant movie. This one is definitely a must watch and atleast 3 times in a theatre. #gullyboy #debReviews