Anurag Kashyap, the Godfather of contemporary Indian independent cinema, takes on the epic gangster genre and produces a masterpiece that can rightfully rub shoulders with the classics of Coppola and Scorsese.
Split in two parts, Anurag Kashyap’s film spans three generations of families whose lives are wrecked by a long-standing blood feud. It opens with an impressively staged shoot-out before shifting back in time to chart the history of the conflict. Rattling along at breakneck speed – like Sergio Leone on acid – this is bravura filmmaking on an epic scale.
Part 1 screens on Sat 23 Feb at 13:00.
Part 2 screens on Sat 2 Mar at 13:00.
PART 1 Towards the end of colonial India, Sahid Khan loots the British trains, impersonating the legendary Sultana Daku. Now outcast, Shahid becomes a worker at Ramadhir Singh’s colliery, only to spur a revenge battle that passes on to generations. At the turn of the decade, Shahid’s son, the philandering Sardar Khan vows to get his father’s honor back, becoming the most feared man of Wasseypur. Staying true to its real life influences, Gangs of Wasseypur explores this revenge saga through the socio-political dynamic in erstwhile Bihar (North India), in the coal and scrap trade mafia of Wasseypur, through the imprudence of a place obsessed with mainstream ‘Bollywood’ cinema.