Bolstered by its riveting performances and its thrilling plot dynamics, this is a gripping film that seizes your full attention. I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five for Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur. Despite its occasionally indulgent narrative, this bullet-ridden saga is worthy of a repeat viewing, if only to catch all its nuances. Don’t miss it.

‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ is a sprawling, exuberant, ferociously ambitious piece of film making, which hits most of its marks. It reunites Anurag Kashyap with exactly the kind of style he is most comfortable with : hyper masculine, hyper real, going for the jugular.

Yet it is the excess that suffocates all the magic, originality dying out for lack of room to breathe. Kashyap gets flavour, setting and character right, but the lack of economy cripples the film. There is a lot of gunfire, but like the fine actors populating its sets, Wasseypur fires too many blanks.

Gangs of Wasseypur is by turns absorbing and frustrating. Watching it feels like gorging on too much good food, leaving you feeling more exhausted than satiated. But there is enough in the sound and fury to enjoy.

It may not be for the faint-hearted and the prissy. Gangs of Wasseypur is a heavyweight knockout punch. You’re down for the count!

This one’s a gang bang. Sorry, make that a gang bang-bang; because that’s how this story explodes – with bullets, blasts and bust-ups. Throw in gallons of blood, body-counts and ‘boom-boom’, true Bihari ishtyle. It doesn’t need coal to fuel this revenge drama. It fires on Anurag Kashyap’s penchant for the dark, dubious, deadly and daring. Starting in 1941, in the dusk of colonial India, in Wasseypur (Dhanbad), the land of coal and scrap trade, simmers an age-old hatred between Muslims and Muslims (Qureshis V/S Pathans). And the bloodbaths, power struggles, family feuds and gang wars rage over three generations.

Even though there’s so much going for GOW I, there’s something always amiss, something that leaves you underwhelmed after all those expectations. May be it’s a hope of a dashing GOW II. Let’s wait and watch.

On the whole, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR symbolizes the fearless new Indian cinema that shatters the clichés and conventional formulas, something which Anurag Kashyap has come to be acknowledged for. It has all the trappings of an entertainer, but with a difference. The film prides itself with substance that connects with enthusiasts of new-age cinema. But, I wish to restate, one needs to have a really strong belly to soak up to a film like GANGS OF WASSEYPUR. Also, this striking movie-watching experience comes with a colossal length and duration. The reactions, therefore, would be in extremes. GANGS OF WASSEYPUR is for that segment of spectators who seek pleasure in watching forceful, hard-hitting and gritty movies.

Considering it’s a complex film, handling the moods of his different characters would have taken a lot from Kashyap. He gives a ‘close to reality’ dose of cinema without taking the crude layer off.

If there is one thing for sure this film is both a history and geography lesson of Wasseypur. As Anurag said himself as the London preview screening “If you Google search Wasseypur the place will not come up, only the film will!” He has clearly put Wasseypur on the map and I, like many, will reserve my final judgement until I watch the second part.