Gangaajal

A few years back my grandmother told me about an incident that happened when family was coming out of theatre after watching Hrishikesk Mukerjhi's 'Satyakam'.My grandmother told me that one of my cousin grandfather commented after watching the grim movie that'We watch movies to better our mood,not to spoil it'.I guess many people echo this feeling even today after watching a serious-hard hitting saga like Gangaajal.

The movie begins with the coming of SP Amit Kumar(Ajay Devgan) to an imaginary town of Tezpur.He is acoompanied by his wife(Gracy Singh).Kumar is very perturbed to see the condition of law-breakers and law-keeperes in this crime filled city.Sadhu Yadav(Mohan Joshi) and his notorious son(Yashpal Sharma) are the self-proclaimed crime kings of the city.They have reduced Tezpur to a corrupt,violent and terrible city.The police officers charcters range from honest Khan(Ayub Khan) to corrupt yet brave Bachcha Yadav(Mukesh Tiwari) to totally corrupt (Akhilendra Mishra).Even the IG(Mohan Agashe) also has close inks with Sadhu.Amit tries to pump life in the dead system and succeeds to an extent.However when angry policemen start giving criminals the punishment they deserve by blinding them in jail(a violent depiction of the Bhagalpur blindings) and pouring acid over them(Gangaajal),the condition goes out of hand.What follows is a series of events which confuse Amit as much as it confuses the viewer as to what is right and what is wrong.While Amit feels that criminals should be dealt strictly,the concept of Gangaajal(acid pouring) is a total no-no.What should be done and what should not be done is the question which keeps lingering in the mind of audience hours after the saga has ended.

To start off with the negative points, it has to be said that the concept of police fighting the criminals has been done to death.Prakash Jha's saga ranges from intense to grim to drag.infact the last half an hour is unecessarily dragged and tests the patience of viewer.Anothet negative point of the movie is that it is too violent.The scenes of policemen blinding the prisoners is chilling but at the same time too gory.The usage of swear words many times in the movie will not be accepted by the family audience.The song sequence looks forced in.

Now the positive points.Prakash Jha's script shows that he has done commendable research on Bihar.Many of the incidents shown in the movie are real and have been handled very ably.Jha's direction is first rate.He has succeeded in giving that rough look and made the movie in a very realistic way.Unlike other cop movies here the hero does not use the barrel till the end as a mean to end the menace.Ajay devgan one again shows his talent as an actor and screen presence as a star.He looks every bit the police supritendent and acts amazingly controlled.The way he uses his eyes,lights his cigaratte and dailogue delivery is absolutely first rate.Mohan Joshi also tries to underplay his character but falls flat.Yashpal Sharma hams.Akhilendra Mishra is hopeless.Mohan Agashe as usual is horrible.Ayub Khan is ok.However after Ajay Devgan if any actor makes an impact it is undoubtedly Mukesh Tiwari.In the role of a police officer Tiwari has given a sterling performance which is award-worthy.

On the whole despite having its set of flaws,Gangaaajal is Still several notches above a normal hindi movie.It is quite capable of creating a controversy for its realism and very capable of getting Jha and Devgan both awards as well as critical acclaim.