Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Apana Time Aayega!

“Abhi koi aur batayega main koun hai?”... Murad aka Gully Boy.

In nutshell, “Why I need somebody else to tell me what I am” is the best way I could translate this dialogue (or quote) from the movie Gully Boy which I stumbled up on this week end! I am die-hard fan of movies but very very rarely it has happened that after watching a movie I felt like writing something about it immediately, though off-late you get to read hundreds of reviews on FB/Twitter/ Whatsap (thankfully I am not on Insta) about any movie the day it get released. And in addition you get to read about it in every news papers which were only source of knowing about the movies but then Internet driven social media has got out artists (read critics) in many & the movie Gully By itself has social media as its back-bone, so I thought I too will wash my hands in flowing Ganges (means, “mai be bahati Ganaga me haat dho leta hu”, don’t ask me what it means) , now if you are going to kill me for this English translation language then you won’t enjoy Gully Boy, is what I will tell you in advance as it is full of a dialect which we shrug off like a cockroach has fallen on our hand!

Ok, “Intensely slow story of a zopadpatti boy who makes to his dream of becoming a rapper!” Those who doesn’t know what is a rapper, they also can watch the movie, btw Badsha (singer not movie), Yo Yo Honey Sing are two Indian rappers & rap is a type of hip-hop music, though its more popular in western music but a current rage in youths! In above 10 words one can tell story of the movie & in a way its mix of Dhoni to Chakde to Iqubal to ABCD (Its also a movie) to Jo Jita Wo Sikandar, where hero (read lead character) by fighting against all odds especially poverty & parents (mostly poor or single parent or no parents) & no exposure to world or having no infrastructure to succeed which we call legacy; achieves success which in societies terms is fame & money! Well, on this theme (read story) there must be at least twenty Bollywood & more than fifty Hollywood movies (again mostly hit) & is said to be based on some real life character, yet what’s special about this Gully Boy?

Is it the lead role guy Ranveer Sing who is today’s youth icon, or Director like Zoya Akhtar who has given, Jindagi Na Mile Dobra types flicks or supporting star cast like Alia Bhatt, Sidhant Chaturvedi(as MC Sher, Hero’s friend) & Vijay Raaj, who knows their width, depth & breadth of role & fills it perfectly; what has made Gully Boy such a lethal poison, yes it’s a poison, a very slow one which once injected at the start of first shot of movie keeps on intoxicating you for next two & half hours & even when you go back to home after late night movie & keeps you awake looking at ceiling of your bed room & you wonder what has happened to you! That’s the impact it made on me & that’s the reason of this sharing as to start it’s not just story or direction or Ranveer Sing, or Aliya Bhat as well supporting star cast nor the music which continuously keeps hitting you with its rap beats as well the lyrics (in true meaning like Aag i.e. fire); it’s the combine effect of all of it which makes you numb with intoxication because all of this has been captured in the camera & the canvas of Dharavi i.e. Mumbai’s pride, biggest slum in Asia! It’s not first time Dharavi slum has been back-bone of any movie, Slum Dog Millionaire has gone winning Oscar with it but here in Gully Boy Dharavi hits you the way nobody has hit you ever! Its dull, yellowish gray colors with sullen faces of residents & endless expand of tin structures, garbage flowing everywhere, narrow lanes, stair cases, stray dogs (yes they are very much part of it, in many frames with people), nallhas with girder foot-bridges across them, BEST busses, Local trains & their bogies! Here in this world of Dharavi, people don’t live between the walls but the walls lives between people such is scarcity of space & the camera covers every minute details with cold aloofness! And yet like shown in some Room-Freshener’s advertise, the camera-man covers the stench which is inherent part of Dharvai with the ease with which all the characters’ has accepted this slum life! After a bit you also become part of Dharavi like all the characters on the screen has & that’s the first sign of poison has hit you!

But then, Dharavi has been shot in all seasons in many movies by more powerful (read big names) Directors yet best part of it comes through Gully Boy is the way Ranveer Sings character has accepted this dogs’ type life & has kept his gift (read determination) alive within! A canvas as dark as Dharavi could have (should & does) killed hardest of the man or woman & made him or her surrender to the life’s brutality. Just the way Ranveer’s father’s character has accepted that his father was nobody, he is nobody & so Ranveer will also be nobody & on that the quote (dialogue) I have used at start comes from Ranveer, that’s gist of Gully Boy! In continuation Ranveer says one more thing, “Allah ne muze tohafa diya hai aur mai wo khone nahi dunga” i.e. God his gifted me this Rap thing (i.e. made me artist) & I won’t allow that gift to be wasted! I think this attitude or determination or confidence whatever you call is the best thing all Gully Boy team has gifted us by a venomous way!

Has some one realized that actually Zoya Akhtar has given us Gully Super Hero just like Spider Man! You don’t believe me? Take a look at this, we speak about the youths around today, they have everything & yet when they don’t get success (their definition whatever it may be) then they blame every other person for it & retaliate, mean what, just give up actually by doing nothing & hang on especially on their parents! For all such youths Murad (Ranveer’s characters name) delivers hard slap on every such face as just like Spider Man aka Peter Parker, he has nothing. He lives in a place which is slum, he wears torn clothes, his cell phone net pack is finished so he has to borrow I-pad from his girl friend, he travels by BEST or Local train, he don’t have decent shoes, no pocket money, when his father gets ill he has to do drivers job & he studies as he wants a degree because his father is paying for his studies & he respects it. He silently accepts step mother, hardly few years younger than him & still took beating by father for singing Rap but he raise the hand on his father not for himself but for his mother’s pride & oh yes to take care of his mother he steals cars too! And like Spider Man he too is gifted by his Rap music & creativity & just like Spider Man keeping that super power aside he struggles like a common man for survival but in much much positive way, patiently & with shy smile on face. He is never shown guilty of his status or poverty rather he answers all the humiliation through his lyrics which burns heart out of the listeners!

Well what is a Super Hero after all, he has some super powers but that doesn’t mean every time he has to fly up in the sky & catch falling aero planes; even singing or writing songs can be super power which Murad has & he uses his super power to make every common man’s life better by writing “Apna Time Ayega” with the mask of Gully Boy! I think here this movie scores on every such type movie as this is not the journey or story of someone just becoming successful by fighting adversities. This is story of a Super Hero, who is just any-body from slum & yes with a gift which we all are in some way & Murad by using this super power gives confidence to every that person who thinks he or she has got nothing & his or her time will never come, Gully Boy gives them hope, yes, “your time will also come”! And while doing this Zoya has shown the real meaning or depth of Rap music as Murad doesn’t write just rhymes while creating Rap i.e. playing with words but he writes words which are feelings actually & its modern genre’s Shayari with Dum!

One last finer aspect, our Gully Boy is shown Muslim & knowing the present social scenario in our country yet not a single person he comes across in his journey to fame (read success) asks him what his caste or religion is; as terminologies like talent, dedication & self belief knows no such boundaries! Thanks again Zoya Akhtar for silently giving this most important message regarding our nautanki secularism this country proudly carries! Zoya & team, to conclude all I will say is keep poisoning us with more such venom as millions of Gully Boys are in dire need of such dosage more than pulse polio & they are the future of this society & “their time” is running out!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/g3lx1Nq7pBs

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2018/08/pune-city-no-1.html