Movie Review: Gully Boy

Rating 4.5/5

Bhubaneswar: Much eagerly awaited Gully Boy released on Thursday, a day ahead of usual Friday, to make full use of Valentine’s Day weekend. The movie is loosely based on real-life street rappers Divine and Naezy and brings out the typical rags-to-riches story in a surprisingly refreshing manner.

That a movie could have been solely based on rapping would have been unbelievable some time ago. The best part about this cinematic brilliance is that there is so much happening simultaneously and not once does it feel like it is overloading your senses. The struggles of everyday life in Mumbai’s much famous slum, Dharavi, is way too real. Every single character’s struggle is so strongly empathetic that you, as a viewer, would start feeling their happiness, grief, excitement or even helplessness.

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Gully Boy director Zoya Akhtar with writer Reema Katgi creates a beautiful reel world. This is not an outsider’s view of these people and their lives and homes; this is a keenly observed portrait, a lived-in world and that’s why it never feels fake. Zoya keeps a tight rein throughout the course of the movie. The length of the movie does seem a tad bit long but with a lot happening and the flow does keep you engaged. I had no complaints.

Talking of characters, each actor playing the characters (even the smallest ones) do bring out best shade. Most of the time their expressions emote way more than their words ever could. It would be an absolute crime to give due credit to the lead actors here. Ranveer embodies Murad aka Gully Boy. It takes you a moment to realise that this guy has never sung professionally in his life. He is that good. Ranveer’s Murad and Alia’s Safeena have such amazing chemistry. There’s a strong hint of feminism in spunky Safeena- whether marking territory with her boyfriend or living out her life to fullest. Every time Safeena is on screen it would be difficult to keep your eyes off her.

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The supporting cast of Vijat Raaz, Vijay Sharma, Amruta Subhash, Vijay Maurya, Kalki Koechlin do an excellent job. But worth a special mention is debutant Siddhant Chaturvedi playing MC Sher who takes Murad under his wings and gives him the much-needed guidance. Very difficult to believe that this is his first film.

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Coming to the actual hero of the movie- the mind-blowing music. The music of Gully Boy is bang on with every piece. It will have your feet tapping and grooving to the beats. Without giving any spoilers, the first song written and performed by Murad is also the last song he performs. And the transformation is what the whole film is about. The music is bohot hard.

In short, the movie is a cinematic affair to experience.

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