Underplayed Gems

Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

Gangs of Wasseypur poster
Original title
गैंग्स ऑफ़ वास्सेपुर पार्ट - १
Directed by
Anurag Kashyap
Genre
drama film
Country
India
Runtime
5h 21m
Rated
16
Rating
7.1 of 10 from 445 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

This two-part film follows the violent feud between three crime families in a coal-mining town in India from the 1940s to the 1990s. It shows the cycle of vengeance, politics, and power struggles over generations.

epicgrittydarkly comicviolentfast-pacedrevenge-drivensprawlingsardonic

What happens

Gangs of Wasseypur is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language epic crime film directed by Anurag Kashyap, and written by Kashyap and Zeishan Quadri. It precedes Part 2 as the first of the two-part film, centered on the coal mafia of Dhanbad, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families from 1941 to the mid-1990s. Gangs of Wasseypur stars an ensemble cast, featuring Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadha, Reema Sen, Piyush Mishra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vineet Kumar Singh, Pankaj Tripathi, Huma Qureshi, Anurita Jha and Tigmanshu Dhulia. Although both parts were shot as a single film measuring a total of 319 minutes, no Indian theatre would screen a five-hour film, so it was divided into two parts. Gangs of Wasseypur was screened in its entirety at the 2012 Cannes Directors' Fortnight. It was also screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. It was filmed in Varanasi, Bihar, and Chunar, with these settings inspiring the film's soundtrack, which consists mainly of Indian folk. The film was theatrically released on 22 June 2012, but was banned in Kuwait and Qatar for violent content. Upon release, Gangs of Wasseypur received widespread critical acclaim, and won a number of awards. It received nominations for Best Film and Best Director for Kashyap at the 55th Asia-Pacific Film Festival, and won for Best Audiography at the 60th National Film Awards, while Siddiqui won a Special Mention for acting at the same ceremony. Gangs of Wasseypur also won four Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film, while Chadda won the Critics Award for Best Actress, at the 58th Filmfare Awards. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.