There is enough to admire in Dipesh Jain’s ambitious first film about a lonely paranoiac living in Old Delhi – especially the unstinting talent of Manoj Bajpayee

This view of the supposed spiritual decay of our times, which is at the core of Gali Guleiyan, is thus more fashionable than perceptive…

Gali Guleiyan is obviously not a conventional entertainer. Just as well. The film stands out because of the balance it attains in depicting a man sinking steadily into incoherence and yet clinging to his humanity. If for nothing else, watch Gali Guleiyan for the joy of witnessing a lead actor in full flight getting into the skin of a completely fettered man. It’s a master class of rare resplendence.

Director Dipesh Jain’s dystopian vision, editor Chris Witt’s clever intercutting of tracks and cinematographer Kai Miedendorp’s attention to detail, make Gali Guleiyan a riveting watch. A spectacular cast led by the inimitable Manoj Bajpayee, comprising talented actors like Ranvir Shorey, Shahana Goswami and Om Singh make you relive the trauma of Idu and Khuddus. If you expect pleasant escapism from the movies, Gali Guleiyan is not for you. At one point Khuddus admits, Main kho gaya hoon.” It pretty much sums up the film’s intent — it hopes to understand a man who feels lost and doesn’t want to be found.

There are shades of his tour de force performance as Professor Siras in Aligarh in Gali Guleiyan, with Bajpayee reiterating his command on his craft as he conveys so much while given so little to say or do.

Inspired by a true story, Gali Guleiyan is an astutely mounted psychological drama that unfurls intriguingly. At the core of it is an interesting story of Khuddoos (Manoj Bajpayee), a brooding character living in denial, trapped within his locality and circumstances.

Debutante director Dipesh Jain does well in mirroring the confusion and feverishness of Khuddoos’ mind in the bewildering lanes of Old Delhi. Much like mindgames, these alleyways lead you nowhere, often taking you to a dead end. Very rarely in Hindi cinema have both character and locale melded so effectively. The mood of the place, its claustrophobia get personified in Khuddoos. The film is a fine study of deteriorating places, people, relationships, families, neighbourhoods, communities and human minds with the one aerial shot at the end capturing it all economically. It’s a bird’s eye view of a manic maze in which not just a child but practically everyone is lost.