We have seen it all, poor boy meets a rich man’s girl, they fall in love, there is always the villain and good prevails over the bad with sprinklings of songs outtakes and running around the trees with abundance of Alpine scenery and pretend tourist video type song and dance routine outside a European supermarket or town square.
Bollywood has come long way and this film or more like a musical drama breaks some barriers. Ranveer Singh (Murad) in the lead role of a slum dweller dreaming about becoming a rapper aided by Alia Bhatt (Safeena) both playing Muslim characters in gritty Bombay shantytown of Dharavi. The premiere was held in London on 13/02/2019 at The Court House Hotel Cinema in East London. The audience comprised young and old, the former from the National Indian Students Union in the UK and others from Indian Ladies UK group. The youngsters clapped at every dialogue and rap break which grew as the film proceeded from scolding by Muard’s dad of wasting his hard earned money on a son who can at best sing in broken sentences. The storyline is based upon real life Mumbai artists Nazey and Divine.
Safeena is a feisty medical student and likes to break taboo by telling half-truths to her parents and kissing Murad in public. The character of the rap artist MC Sher played by Siddhant Chaturvedi is very much in keeping with the tempo of the film and brining a shy Ranveer into the rap mode successfully. There are angry words in the poetry and the writing comes from the frustrations of Murad’s helplessness, seeing his father marrying for second time to someone younger possibly of his age who likes his rap in spite of his own mother and grandmother living in the same slum kholi (room). The hip hop and rap scene is taking over India and this is apt reflection of reality of the country’s youth trying to copy the West. The contribution to soundtrack is by various artists including our own Rishi Rich.
Gully Boy is a musical drama based on the true story of an aspiring rapper from a ghetto in Bombay and his journey from realising his love for rap, to chasing inadvertentltranscendinghis class.Directed by Zoya Akhtar, produced by Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby, Gully Boy features a stellar cast including Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin and Siddhant Chaturvedi.
I think Bollywood has arrived what with stand-up comedy, new actors, stories and depicting India as it is we look forward to more such well-acted and directed productions.
BY DESH PREMI
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