Finding a couple of tickets to see the latest Zoya Akhtar movie might have been hard for some filmgoers considering the film has been a sellout. Akhtar has given a nuanced movie here about a timid boy from the slums of Mumbai who eventually overcomes bitter poverty to achieve rapping success. At Film Comments we take a look at this Ranveer Singh-starrer in the Gully Boy film review.
Murad (aka Gully Boy) is quite unhappy merely existing in the slums with no discernable future. His father is a taxi driver and does not approve of his son’s rapping endeavors. Murad has Safeena who comes from a more affluent family and is studying to become a surgeon. The two of them while away their idle time by talking about nothing in particular.
While Murad is lucky to find a godfather in a more established rapper MC Sher, he is not entirely confident of himself, to begin with, but builds in stature as he rises in the echelons of the rapping world of Mumbai. Along the way, Murad meets an NRI music producer Sky played by the dependable Kalki Koechlin who is looking for local talent. His association with her and MC Sher will go a long way in establishing him as a rapping sensation.
Although Akhtar has left her comfort zone behind with this work, she still handles the constricting atmosphere of the slums with effortlessness. There is a nice blend of music and drama in this feature by her. The movie does feel extended at its runtime, but the ending stroke does cover for its inadequacies.
Gully Boy will appeal to a broad spectrum of filmgoers. While those into rap music will find it more in tune with the music that they are accustomed to listening and thus will appreciate it for that, those who are not that familiar with rap music will still find something to hold their interest with the rags to riches story here.
A lot of the success of Gully Boy is due to the chemistry between its two central leads of Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. Singh who has had a good run at the box office with his last film does remarkably well in an understated performance as Murad in this movie. Bhatt, on the other hand, captures the exuberance and sensitive qualities of Safeena with a calm poise. Apart from these two, Siddhant Chaturvedi who plays MC Sher is a revelation in his debut film. As someone in his first film, he looks quite self-assured. Vijay Raaz does not disappoint in the supporting role as Murad’s father.
Although Gully Boy treads a fine line between getting too dark and not showing enough grimness, Akhtar manages not to let its commercial value slip away by keeping her audience in mind. Gully Boy may not be a film for those looking for a realistic portrayal of life in the slums of Mumbai as much of its narrative bypasses the harsher truths of the favelas. If you want to see Zoya Akhtar’s take on the slums with its prime focus being the coming-of-age story of a talented young man who makes his name in the rap music circuit, then Gully Boy is for you.
(3.5 / 5)
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