Gunday – Superb Performance by Arjun Kapoor

Rating: 3 Stars

GUNDAY starts with a lot of promise.  The grim refugee camp after the India – Bangladesh partition in 1971,  the sad plight of 2 orphaned small kids (Bikram & Bala) survival & how they are forced to take to crime.

But, thereafter, it sparkles in some parts & makes you yawn in some parts.  Sometimes, it seems like a stretched out movie.

Bikram (Ranveer Singh) & Bala (Arjun Kapoor) are thick friends – who rule Calcutta’s illegal trade and are the undisputed Gundays.  They steal entire coaches of wagon trains carrying coal and control illegal trading of timber and Calcutta’s world famous fish – Hilsa.  They are like Robin Hood & finance lots of charitable activities.

Satyajit Sarkar (Irfan Khan) is recruited on a special mission to stop Bikram & Bala’s illegal activities & get them behind bars. But is unable to arrest them due lack of legal proof and witnesses against them.

Enters – hot, vivacious & beautiful cabaret dancer Nandita (Priyanka Chopra).  Both – Bikram & Bala fall in love with her and try to woo her.  And from thereon, Bikram & Bala’s merry life takes a cruel turn.  Bala – who is madly in love with Nandita, couldn’t control his anger when a spectator in a cinema hall cheers for Nandita and shoots him in front of the entire movie viewing audience.  To save Bala from getting caught by the police, Bikram sends Bala to Dhanbad for safety.  But, Bala agrees to flee to Dhanbad on one condition that Bikram should not meet or speak with Nandita till he returns back to Calcutta.

Nandita is in love with Bikram and Bikram too loves her.  Bikram is reluctant to fulfil her desire of coming to Durga Puja as he had promised Bala that he will not meet or speak with her till he returns. But, due to Nandita’s emotional outburst, he fails to keep the promise given to his thick friend Bala. 

Knowing about this, Bala goes mad, returns back to Calcutta and seeing Bikram & Nandita together in Durga Puja, he accidently shoots Nandita in Durga Puja celebrations and flees. 

Now, Bikram & Bala become each others blood enemies.  And Bala kidnaps Nandita and forces her to fall in love with him.  Finally, Nandita is able to clear Bala’s misconception about Bikram and tells him that she really loves – one and only Bikram. In the meanwhile, persuaded by Satyajit Sarkar, Bikram swears to finish off Bala for kidnapping Nandita and agrees to be the legal witness against Bala. 

On seeing the spectator alive (who was shot in the cinema hall by Bala), Bikram comes to know that the entire process from Nandita falling in love with him & Bala and the shooting of the spectator in the cinema hall by Bala, was fabricated by Satyajit Sarkar to collect legal evidence against Bikram & Bala and shut down their Gunda Raaj in Calcutta.

In the end, Bikram rushes off to Dhanbad to save Bala’s life and how they are back and evade police is the climax of the movie.

The movie plot is excellent,  the rustic scenes of coal mines, wagons carrying coals, Calcutta’s fish market  have been excellently captured on the camera. The music is excellent particularly ‘Tune Maari Entriyan’ is very well choreographed and fully entertaining.  Ali Abbas Jafar’s Direction is good,  action scenes are suberb, dialogues are excellent – the masses will really love it. 

Priyanka Chopra’s entry scene is hilarious when Bikram & Bala are in dhotis and using the washroom.  There are quite a few other enjoyable moments too in terms of humour, songs, action, dialogues. 

But there are quite a lot of flaws too. Like why Satyajit Sarkar is not in police uniform and why he wants to detain Bikram & Bala through false murder of a cinema viewing spectator.  He should try to arrest them when they are doing illegal activities.  Why this whole drama of Nandita falling in love with Bikram and Bala and why Nandita really falls in love with Bikram & marries him if she is recruited on official mission to collect evidence against them.  Also, Bala is in Dhanbad when he comes to know about Bikram and Nandita meeting each other in Durga Puja in Calcutta and immediately he rushes off and confronts them in Calutta.  Another one, a guy whose uncle was killed by Bikram and Bala, is recruited in their gang and is a police informer.  Police is chasing Bala, who has fled to Dhanbad and the police informer knows about the same. Then why the police doesn’t arrest Bala in Dhanbad. 

The movie meanders is some parts.  It could have been made into a very taut and rivetting movie.  But the production house, Yash Raj Productions, got carried away by showing lavish production quality.  Acting wise, it is Arjun Kapoor who carries off  his role excellently as a thick friend, a mad & funny lover and a menacing heart broken lover. Ranveer Singh looks like putting on too much effort in his acting. Irfan Khan & Saurabh Shukla are ok, nothing great.  Priyanka Chopra looks very beautiful and her acting is fine.

Watch it for vintage type of Bollywood entertainment, some good music, action, dialogues & some time pass.