Gunday, directed and written by Ali Abbas Zafar, is an unabashed love letter to the 1970s, the height of our romance with Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man. A time when heroes, even if they were criminals, were honourable men. When friendship was bigger than love. When the system was always the biggest criminal. Though the story is set in the 1980s, Zafar recreates a classic ’70s vibe with punchy dialogue-baazi, scenes designed to make you applaud and a relentless background score by Julius Packiam that underlines every beat just in case you missed a high note. Gunday is all slow-motion and swagger, with nods to Deewaar, Sholay, Kaala Patthar, Kabhi Kabhie and sprinkles of John Woo’s doves and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But this film would be dead on arrival without the energy of the male leads — even when they are hamming, and they ham often, they are doing it with glorious style. Of the three stars for Gunday, one is for Ranveer and Arjun.
The story is set in the backdrop when Bangladesh was formed. It highlights the fact that a lot of people became refugees because of the partition. Not sure if it's a perfect film to watch on Valentines Day but let me assure you that you won't regret paying for the ticket of this film. It's packed with action, emotions, friendship, drama and some terrific performances. Music by Sohail Sen is good but not great. Better music would definitely add to the film. Action and cinematography is very good but some effects like the scene where Arjun Kapoor's character blows up a godown is done in a tacky way. Gunday is an entertaining film. It's old wine in a new bottle and it tastes awesome!
The plot of Gunday kicks off from the violence that surrounded the creation of Bangladesh. But nobody expected the film be an illuminating history lesson about the subcontinent. Sadly, Gunday delivers only on bits and pieces of that promise. Gunday is smartly mounted and studded with a few lively song and dance routines. But the parts do not quite come together to create a gripping whole. Written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the film suffers in the end owing to slipshod editing and a hackneyed storyline that runs out of steam all too quickly. Neither Ranveer Singh nor Arjun Kapoor is a finished article yet. So salvaging the half-baked script, despite their best efforts, is way beyond them. It really is difficult to keep a two-and-a-half-hour film from losing its wheels when its engine room is bereft of the propellant of genuine inspiration. Gunday is like the dusty minefields it is set in. Its loud explosions deliver loads of coal, but no trace of any diamonds. It is certainly not the ideal date film on this Valentine’s Day weekend.
Gunday is the sort of film some people may mistakenly call a bromance. There is, however, nothing bro-tastic at all about this loud and slow-motion actioner, a film that tries hard to be old-school but proves only that its makers need to be schooled. This is, as a matter of fact, a more blatantly homoerotic film than any in our history. It coulda been a progressive film if it wasn't constantly trying to call itself macho. They could have called it Gun-Gay but that'd mislead us into believing this could be a quieter film. Director Ali Abbas Zafar has directed a monstrous film, one with a repellent 70s-set storyline that makes no sense whatsoever, and a cast who should all hang their heads and offer up a minute’s silence for assaulting their respective filmographies. This is garbage. That's what Gunday is. And Ali Abbas Zafar should have his directorial license revoked for daring to end this godawful film with a Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid finish.
‘Gunday’ is as generic as its name suggests: even that old phrase luchche-lafangey had more character. In the name of plot, we get a mash-up of many popular blockbusters, several of them belonging to Yashraj, the producers of this one. In the name of acting, we get pumped up beefcake and one number plumped-lip eye candy. There are a few solid supporting acts, and they are the ones that keep you watching, but they get buried in the sludge. What you get is what you’ve been getting. Over and over again. The design is meticulous and everything looks as if it belongs to the period, but we are left waiting for something, anything new. Why do a ’70s style film with actors whose body language belongs to the here and now? The rest is strictly, and depressingly, by-the-numbers.
Straight up, Gunday pays loving homage to Bollywood classics 'Sholay', 'Kaala Patthar' and other 'brothers-in-arms' films while offering more. Gunday is Oliver Twist, given a Bollywood twist. Gunday showcases refugee Robin Hoods refusing to be beaten. Its music has peppy, bright dil while its muscular action is hard-hitting. However, the plot distractedly rushes in several directions - refugee angst, ration cards, the system's rot, gang wars, bromance, romance, broken bromance - while Calcutta appears like a Wild West of the east, fringed by Chambal-like landscapes through which goods trains sway, gundas bashing each other to coal dust atop. Gunday's heart is in the right place but the plot gets overwhelmed by its own voluptuousness, its slick torsos and slow-motion slaps, its extended Durga Puja which leaves it lost between Calcutta's cabarets and Dhanbad's dark mines. However, Gunday's fun while it lasts. Bala and Bikram's chemistry is literally fleshed out well - don't miss the cheeky salaam to Salman Khan when their shirts fly off - and you giggle as they're scolded, "Daant mat dikhao!" More depth, more fire would've sharpened this film. But Gunday offers glitter coating a grim tale.