Movie Review: 'Gunday' is an old ale in a new bottle, but with a difference

 There is no denying the fact that whenever our cine scholars get after any cine making formula, then they start scouring it at such a vast extent, that it becomes an in vogue epidemic of a sort. And the ongoing epoch seems to be the era of ascension of `period films` in Bollywood. Now the newest to make its entry under the flag of `period film` is Priyanka, Ranveer, Arjun and Irrfan starrer `so called period flick" `Gunday`. And I called it a "so called period flick" because after watching the film I am still in a state of quandary, with a thought that whether it was actually a period film in any manner or was it just a routine "masala entertainer" encased in the robe of period film.

Whatever, due to a strategically relevant date of release, this YRF cine venture featuring Priyanka, Ranveer, Arjun and Irrfan at its release succeeded in securing a jam packed opening and opened with a cent percent occupancy.

Penned by Ali Abbas Zafar, premise of `Gunday` takes off from the era of 70s, when Indo-Pak war paved way for the formation of Bangladesh. As the plot further unfurls begins the story of two lil orphans Bikram (Ranveer Singh) and Bala (Arjun Kapoor), who after smouldering in the heat of partition, end being on the Indian side of the border. And while fighting this `war of survival` these two hot tempered young lads land in Calcutta of 70s and turn into petty coal thieves.

With the time rolling ahead at its pace, Bikram and Bala no longer remain the petty coal bandits, but rather turn into the most powerful, daring, yet loved by the masses coal mafias of Calcutta. As the frames roll ahead, with the advent of pretty Nandita (Priyanka Chopra) a cabaret dancer and ACP Satyajeet Sarkar (Irrfan Khan), who is assigned with a responsibility of eliminating Bikram and Bala, good-luck and bad-luck both mark their onset in the lives of the duo.

On one hand it's Satyajit behind the heads of Bala and Bikram, whereas on the other hand it's love triangle in making, where both Bikram and Bala fall in love with Nandita. So does the friendship succeeds in overcoming this deadlock like situation, or is it ACP Satyajit who succeeds in his mission of eradicating Bikram and Bala, to know go and watch the Gundagardi of these `Gundas`.

There is no denying the fact, that while penning down the premise of `Gunday`, Ali Abbas Zafar have tried to come up with a somewhat novel and captivating story idea, by blending together flavours like romance, bromance, love triangle and mafia versus cop war. But regrettably none of these variegated condiment had an iota of novelty in it. In fact it won't be wrong to say that every component deployed in the story line keeps you giving you a "Deja Vu" feel.

Besides, this it's the high degree of predictability which pokes in the plot right at the onset and remains your companion for rest of the runtime. Although Ali has not tried to unnecessarily complicate the premise but even that does not emerge as a plus for the storyline, which is too unadorned to leave any mesmerizing impact on the viewers.

But yeah one thing which can't be denied about premise of `Gunday` is that despite a guileless and excessively simple premise, up till some extent it's scripting which emerges as the grace saver for the writing department. As far as dialogues are concerned then while scribing them dialogue writer Sanjay Masoom has done a great job and has kept them believably realistic.

As far as screenplay of `Gunday` is concerned then it is simply dauntless, although at some places the flow narration appears to be losing its pace, but for that minor glitch one can make story accountable, instead of blaming screenplay for the same.

Besides it's the top notch editing of Rameshwara S Bhagat and cinematography of Aseem Mishra which uptill great extent boosts the flair of this hackneyed cine premise. Action of Sham Kaushal is again a plus for the movie and never gets over board. Exceptional background score of Julius Packiam thoroughly authenticates the credibility of the onscreen proceedings.

With peppy numbers like Jashn-e-Ishqa, Tune Maari Entriyaan and mesmerizing Saiyaan, music of Sohail Sen is simply applaudable and thoroughly beautifies the lyrics of Irshad Kamil.

Coming to the performances, then without doubt every performer of the movie has thoroughly proved his/her mettle, but undoubtedly `Gunday` is all the way Ranveer and Arjun's show.

From the very onset till the culmination it's the picture perfect camaraderie of Ranveeer and Arjun which keeps you captivated within confines of onscreen proceedings. Although in the initial part of first half, Arjun looks a bit hesitant, but by the time movie reaches mid-way the actor regains the momentum to give a tough fight to Ranveer. On the other hand it's Ranveer who starts excelling right from the onset and with every passing moment keeps on raising the bar.

Being the single leading lady of the movie even, Priyanka got ample opportunity to flaunt her acting adroitness and believe me the lady has once again proved that she has that acting dexterity in herself, at the power of which she can outmanuver any of her contemporaries.

As usual Irrfan Khan has been superb as ACP Satyajit, and yeah how can one forget Saurabh Shukla who despite having a limited scope of performances quite conveniently succeeds in making his presence feel

To sum up, there is no denying the fact that, storyline or the premise of `Gunday` has nothing new in the offering, and on top of it, it's the high degree of prevailing predictability coefficient which further lessens the entertaining potency of `Gunday`. But at the same time it's the stupendous performances of the protagonists which up till great extent shoulders this "Ghisaa Pitaa" premise and keeps the viewers engaged. Probably after perusing the engaging potency of Gunday's premise I would have gone for 2.5 stars, but keeping in view the performances of the protagonists and a few other relevant cinematic variables, `except the premise`, I am going ahead with 3 stars for this old ale in new bottle kind of cine delight.