Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Gangs of Wasseypur Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 21, 2015

Screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Anurag Kashyap's "Gangs of Wasseypur" (2012) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Cinelicious Pics. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and audio commentary with director Anurag Kashyap, actors Huma Qureshi and Richa Chaddha, composer Sneha Khanwalkar, lyricist Varun Grover, associate director Anubhuti Kashyap, and assistant director Neeraj Ghaywan. The release also arrives with a 10-page illustrated booklet featuring Aseem Chhabra's essay "Guns & Songs: Anurag Kashyap's Bollywood". In Hindi, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Shahid Khan

During the long prologue, a calm voice explains that the feud started in the beginning of last century. It had nothing to do with religion -- the people living in Wasseypur were all Sunnis. It was the Qureishis, a large clan of butchers, against everyone else.

In the early 1940s, a few of the Qureishis, led by Sultana, started robbing the trains that transported coal and money from the mines the British had built in the area. The British eventually captured Sultana and exiled him to the Andaman Islands, but somehow he managed to escape and quietly returned home. This time he gathered even more people and started robbing the trains again. Much to Sultana’s annoyance, however, someone else also started attacking the British, while pretending to be him. When the Qureishis discovered that it was Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat), a quiet horse cart driver, they went berserk. The Qureishis then killed most of the Pathans and forced Shahid Khan and his family to leave Wasseypur. Shahid Khan found work in the mines in Dhanbad. After the British left and the mines changed owners, Shahid Khan became a muscle man for Ramadhir Singh, a local businessman with big plans for the future. For a while life was good, but then the Qureishis found Shahid Khan and killed him. His son, Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee), vowed to avenge his father’s death and rid the area of the Qureishis.

The story spans fifty years and it is as much about revenge and honor as it is about the transformation of a country with a rich history. It is broken into multiple episodes, each focusing on different events and the impact they have on the major characters and their goals.

And there seem to be way too many of them. Indeed, there are various parts of the film where the relationships become so complicated that it is very difficult to tell what is actually happening. There are numerous subplots, for instance, that bring secondary characters together, but it is impossible to tell why their presence is of importance and why one should care about them. As the story progresses, loyalties also tend to evolve so quickly and so dramatically that at times it almost feels like there are missing bits explaining why changes occur.

The film is more than five hours long, however, so there is still a lot to like. For example, the social commentary is very bold and offers plenty of food for thought. (It seems like each time the mines changed owners after the British left, things got significantly worse). The dark humor also gives this film a very unique identity, one that very few big-budget Bollywood productions have (or at least the ones that have reached these shores). The various action sequences are also impressively lensed and guaranteed to please admirers of Quentin Tarantino’s over-the-top visual style.

Anurag Kashyap, who directed Gangs of Wasseypur, is largely unknown in North America, but a lot of people will learn his name now. While not the glorious crime saga some of its fans have argued it is, the film is obviously directed by a man with a tremendous vision who does not want to follow the same path generations of Bollywood directors have. For that, one cannot but admire him.

Gangs of Wasseypur Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of U.S. distributors Cinelicious Pics.

Shot with Arriflex cameras, the film looks incredibly lush and vibrant. In fact, at times it looks too rich, literally pushing select color tonalities to the extreme, but such is its original visual design (see screencaptures #6 and 10). Detail and clarity are exceptional, and many of the close-ups actually look like recent digital photographs. Image depth is excellent, but depending on how light is captured by the camera some minor fluctuations can be spotted. The most obvious examples are typically during darker or nighttime footage (see screencaptures #2 and 7). Contrast levels remain stable. Overall image stability is terrific. Finally, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. All in all, Gangs of Wasseypur Part I and Part II look quite incredible in high-definition and I feel confident that those of you who have been waiting to see them at home will be very impressed with the technical presentation. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Gangs of Wasseypur Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: Hindi DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional white English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The lossless track will most likely test the muscles of your audio system. Depth and clarity are excellent and there are quite a few action sequences with very impressive surround movement. Separation is immaculate as well. The dialog is clean, crisp, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is very good.

Gangs of Wasseypur Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - in this audio commentary, director Anurag Kashyap, actors Huma Qureshi and Richa Chaddha, composer Sneha Khanwalkar, lyricist Varun Grover, associate director Anubhuti Kashyap, and assistant director Neeraj Ghaywan discuss in great detail the rich story of Gangs of Wasseypur, the film's production history and the various locations where different sequences where shot, the different improvisations some of the actors did, the framing of select sequences (with some very interesting comments about a few of the more violent sequences), etc. In English, not subtitled.

• Trailer - original trailer for Gangs of Wasseypur. In Hindi, with optional English subtitles. (3 min).

• Booklet - 10-page illustrated booklet featuring Aseem Chhabra's essay "Guns & Songs: Anurag Kashyap's Bollywood". (The author has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Time Out, New York).

Gangs of Wasseypur Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur is in a league of its own. It is very bold, very cynical and surprisingly honest -- unlike any other Bollywood film that I have seen during the years. It could be quite overwhelming at times, but the journey and the visuals do not disappoint. The film is now available on Blu-ray from U.S. distributors Cinelicious Pics. It looks and sounds absolutely terrific. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.