''Gangs of Wasseypur'' is a 2012 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language two-part

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

produced and directed by

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...

, and written by Kashyap and

Zeishan Quadri Zeishan Quadri is an Indian writer, actor, director and producer who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay for the Bollywood crime genre film ''Gangs of Wasseypur'', directed by Anurag Kashyap. Quadri has also acted in '' Gangs of Wassey ...

. Centered on the coal mafia (Mafia Raj) of

Dhanbad Dhanbad is the second-most populated city in the Indian state of Jharkhand after Jamshedpur. It ranks as the 42nd largest city in India and is the 33rd largest million-plus urban agglomeration in India. Dhanbad shares its land borders with Pa ...

, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families, the film has an ensemble cast, with

Manoj Bajpai Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in ''Patang'' (2012). He ga ...

Pankaj Tripathi Pankaj Tripathi (Birth name, né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and has also appeared in Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil language films. Tripathi has established himself as one of the n ...

Richa Chadda Richa Chadda (born 18 December 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. After debuting in a small role in the comedy film ''Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!'' (2008), Chadda's breakthrough came in 2012 with a supporting role in the noir gangs ...

Huma Qureshi Huma Saleem Qureshi (; born 28 July 1986) is an Indian actress, model and producer who primarily appears in Hindi language films. She has also received three Filmfare Award nominations. Qureshi obtained a bachelor's degree in History—with ...

and

Tigmanshu Dhulia Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film '' Dil Se..'', the f ...

in the major roles. Its story spans 68 years from 1941 to 2009. Both parts were originally shot as a single film measuring a total of 321 minutes and screened at the 2012

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

, but, since no Indian theatre would volunteer to screen a more-than-five-hour film, it was split into two parts for that market. Both films received critical acclaim with mostly positive reviews and were commercially successful.

Cast

Manoj Bajpayee Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

as Sardar Khan, Shahid Khan's only son; Nagma and Durga's husband; Danish,Faizal, Perpendicular and Definite's father; Mohsina and Shama's father in law; Feroz's grandfather. *

Jaideep Ahlawat Jaideep Ahlawat is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He completed his graduation from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune in 2008. After completing his education, he headed Mumbai, to pursue his dreams to become an act ...

as Shahid Khan, the patriarch of the Khan family; Sardar's father; Nagma and Durga's father in law; Danish, Faizal, Perpendicular, Definite's grandfather, Mohsina and Shama's grandfather in law; Feroz's great grandfather. *

as Faizal Khan, Sardar and Nagma's second son; Durga's stepson; Danish, Perpendicular's brother; Definite's stepbrother; Mohsina's husband; Feroz's father. *

as Nagma Khatoon, Sardar's first wife; Danish, Faizal, Perpendicular's mother; Shama and Mohsina's mother in law; Feroz's grandmother. *

Piyush Mishra Piyush Mishra (born as Priyakant Sharma; 13 January 1963) is an Indian actor, lyricist, playwright, musician and screenwriter. Mishra grew up in Gwalior, and graduated from National School of Drama, Delhi in 1986. Thereafter, he started his ca ...

as Nasir, Shahid Khan's servant, Sardar's sworn uncle, and narrator in the movie *

Jameel Khan Jameel Khan is an Indian actor famously known for his tv series Gullak. Born in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, Khan was educated at Sherwood College, Nainital and Aligarh Muslim University. He moved to Mumbai to pursue his acting career, and has acte ...

as Asghar Khan, Nasir's nephew and Sardar's sworn cousin *

Reema Sen Reema Sen (born 29 October 1981) is an Indian actress and model who primarily appeared in Bengali theatre films, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. Early life and education Sen was born in Kolkata on 29 October 1981. She completed high school fro ...

as Durga, Sardar's second wife ; Definite's mother; Danish, Faizal, Perpendicular's stepmother. *

as Mohsina Hamid, Faizal's wife *

as Definite Khan, Sardar's third son (from Durga) *

Vineet Kumar Singh Vineet Kumar Singh (born 28 August 1978) is an Indian actor and writer known for his strong portrayal of an aspiring boxer Shravan Kumar Singh in Mukkabaaz (2018). A M.D. in Ayurveda from Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, Vineet ...

as Danish Khan, Sardar's eldest son *

as Ramadhir Singh, a criminal cum politician. *

as Sultan Qureshi, nephew of Sultana Daku, one of Sardar's enemies. * Satyakam Anand as J.P Singh, Ramadhir's son *

Vipin Sharma Vipin Kumar Sharma is an Indian actor, editor and filmmaker. He is best known for his acting roles in ''Taare Zameen Par'' (2007), ''Gangs of Wasseypur'' (2012), ''Kick'' (2014), ''Paatal Lok'' (2020) and ''The Family Man'' (2021). Early life ...

as Ehsan Qureshi, Sultan's uncle *

Pramod Pathak Pramod means joy or happiness in Sanskrit and is one of the names of the Hindu god Ganesh. People with the name "Pramod": * Pramod Bhasin, Indian businessman * Pramod Chakravorty (1929–2004), Indian director and film producer * Pramod Dubey, In ...

as Sultana Daku / Badoor Qureshi *

Anurita Jha Anurita Jha (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian actress and model. She hails from Katihar, Bihar and was groomed and studied at Patna and Delhi (correspondence study). She has taken part in fashion weeks in Delhi as well as Mumbai. She made he ...

as Shama Parveen, Danish's wife and Sultan's sister * Sanjay Singh as Fazlu (Faisal khan's friend) *

Rajkummar Rao Rajkummar Rao (born Raj Kumar Yadav; 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in more than 30 films since 2010, and is the recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, three ...

as Shamshad Alam *

Aditya Kumar Aditya Kumar is an Indian actor who acted in film ''Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2, Gangs of Wasseypur II''. Early life Aditya Kumar was born in Bihar Sharif, Nalanda district, Bihar, India.Yashpal Sharma as Occasional Singer (Guest Appearance) *

Vicky Kaushal Vicky Kaushal (; born 16 May 1988) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi films. Kaushal is the recipient of numerous accolades including a National Film Award and two Filmfare Awards, and has appeared in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 1 ...

as silhouette bystander (Cameo Role)

Parts

''Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1''

''Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2''

Critical reception

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that the film holds a 97% approval rating, based on 31 reviews, with an average score of 8.2/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "More than five hours go by in a blink in this frantic Indian crime epic that spans generations and encompasses hundreds of characters in a bloody spiral of brutality, all masterfully filmed by Anurag Kashyap." The film holds a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

score of 89 based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Critic Danny Bowes of RogerEbert.com called it " e of the most ambitious gangster films ever made, and quite possibly one of the best", writing that it is "worthy of discussion alongside Coppola's first two '' Godfather'' films, or Leone's ''

Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produce ...

''."

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

's Andrew O'Hehir wrote: "As a rich and exuberant character-driven crime saga in an idiom you absolutely have not encountered before, and a dense, unsentimental portrayal of the collision between democracy, capitalism, and gangsterism on the frayed margins of the post-colonial world, ''Gangs of Wasseypur'' is a signal achievement in 21st-century cinema."

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

, one of Kashyap's influences on the films and personal heroes, sent a letter to Kashyap, offering praise, stating that he "loved them", even expressing a desire to meet him.''. In September 2019, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' ranked ''Gangs of Wasseypur'' in 59th place in its 100 best films of the 21st century list, and give it review as: "A possible turning point in Hindi cinema, Anurag Kashyap's epic drama doesn't pull any punches in its portrayal of gangster life in an Indian mining town". ''Gangs Of Wasseypur''’s success led to a number of Hindi movies across the next few years that were essentially inelegant variations on the “hinterland gangsters” theme.

Awards and nominations

Rumored sequel

There was a rumored third part of the franchise, named ''Gangs of Wasseypur 1.5''. However, Director Kashyap discarded the rumors and confirmed there won't be a third part of the franchise.

Box office

However, ''Gangs of Wasseypurs box office records vary from website to website, sources to sources, but "''it did a great business at box office''" stated by ''

''. According to

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014. About Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its owne ...

, both parts combined grossed , against a combined budget of .

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gangs Of Wasseypur Indian films about revenge 2010s Hindi-language films Indian crime drama films Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s 2012 crime drama films Indian crime thriller films Indian gangster films Indian epic films Films set in Bihar Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films set in West Bengal Films shot in India Films set in India Films about organised crime in India Films about corruption in India Indian film series Films set in the British Empire Films set in the Indian independence movement Films directed by Anurag Kashyap Crime in Jharkhand Films shot in Bihar Films released in separate parts Films with screenplays by Anurag Kashyap 2012 crime thriller films 2012 films