This is Hindi cinema at its best, and I say Hindi cinema, because Gulaal follows the unique tradition of the Bombay film industry of having songs at the drop of a hat. Only in this case, the hat is weighty and the sound is a thud. It is a film which perhaps will not make much money. I had gone to the loo during the interval when I watched it the first time, and I heard people asking one another: “Yaar, what’s the story?” In fact, the story is powerful and tightly plotted, but it’s so different from anything that you’ve seen in a Hindi film before that it is possible you could be flummoxed for a while.

I have never met the film’s director Anurag Kashyap, or Piyush Mishra, who has acted in the film, and written the lyrics and scored the music, so I have no vested interest in doing this big plug for this small film. But this is a film that is a rare mix of intense passion and high intellect. You are emotionally imprisoned as you watch, and when you walk out of the hall, you replay it in your head and analyse and brood. It is assured of a cult following, but it deserves more than that. Watch it, your money won’t be wasted. And you can save some cash too: you needn’t buy the popcorn, this is not a popcorn movie.

Sandipan Deb is the editor of RPG Enterprises’ weekly features and current affairs magazine, Open

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