January 14th, 2009
Anurag Kashyap would be seeing two of his films releasing in consecutive months. While ‘Dev D’ arrives on 7th February, ‘Gulaal’, the project closest to Anurag Kashyap’s heart, is eying a 13th March release.
Apparently, ‘Gulal’ took shape in 2001, when Anurag Kashyap was listening to songs from Pyaasa and ‘Paanch’ was struggling with censors. Inspired by a song from Pyaasa, “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai”, the film is a dedication to Sahir Ludhianwi, the lyricist of the song and all other poets who had a vision of India.
Gulaal is set in Rajpur a fictional city of Rajasthan, where a member of the erstwhile royal family stakes claim to the land of Rajasthan and wants to go back to the days of royalty. He wants Rajputana back from the Government of India and challenges the very idea of democracy. His history backs him, his people too, but the power corrupts him.
Similar to a Shakespearean fable of desire, lost identities, love, greed, violence, murder, deceit, power and innocence, it is a film inspired by poetry; the forgotten male, macho world of power, corruption and greed, where women are just means to an end while nobody can be trusted. It’s a film that brings back poetry to cinema, songs that inspire us, shake us; sometimes a thriller, a drama, but poignant, shocking and provocative. It’s a film about the conflict created as a modern India tries to break the shackles of its past.
The film sees Kay Kay Menon playing the role of one of the key protagonists called Dukey Bana who masterminds a Rajputana movement in order to have a separate state ruled by Rajputs.
A Zee Limelight presentation, ‘Gulal’ has music lyrics by Piyush Mishra and stars Aditya Srivastav, Piyush Mishra, Raj Singh Chaudhary, Ayesha Mohan, Abhimanyu Singh, Deepak Dobriyal, Mahi Gill, Pankaj Jha, Jessie Randhawa and Mukesh Bhatt in principal roles.
