Gangs of Wasseypur is one of the Best Films, But...

Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur didn't register itself as an event in Indian cinema, so much in the time of its release, as much as it did subsequently. On a fundamental level, it changed how we perceive Anurag Kashyap. He has been a master when it comes to restoring the darkness into the glossy edges of Bollywood panorama. He rebuilt a tragedy and the layers underneath with Black Friday, shot his creativity into a euphoric high with Dev-D and dissected the politics of hierarchy in Gulaal. However, Gangs of Wasseypur didn't heighten the gloom in his storytelling- at least that isn't what I believe. It engraved a lot of humanity in the lives of these gangsters. The cinematic substance of the film was a triumph.

But that isn't the focus of what I'm writing about at the moment. The sequential inspirations Kashyap took from Francis Ford Coppola and Sam Peckinpah would be for the discussion for some other day. As someone who was born and brought up in Dhanbad, I honestly hope that I get to engage you by talking about the level of information the film casts on you as an audience. And do remember, this isn't an implication that these are my complaints from the film. These are only some personal insights to get you a little more informed than you probably actually were. 

DHANSAR

Dhansar is one of the major areas of Dhanbad. It serves as a border between the main city and the town of Jharia. This is also my home- almost everyone here is an extended family. The area has the enormity of an entire village. What people don't know is that it also serves as a major political region of the city. For one, it houses Mr Pashupati Nath Singh, the MP of Dhanbad. Politicians from across the city have Dhansar as one of their target points for their election rallies. In recent years Dhansar has also emerged as the hub of all the BJP-related activities in the city. Beneath the social and political layers though, what lies in the fact that this is also one place that has been the ground for most of the quasi-Muslim proceedings. People from Wasseypur have seldom pricked the surface of Dhansar's activists or politicians- never would be the right word.  

Gangs of Wasseypur severely puncture this. The pronunciation silences the emphasis of the letter A (pronounced Dhansār) and makes it the police station of Wasseypur. Which is definitely untrue. Wasseypur comes under the jurisdiction of the thana of Bank More, a bustling urban centre. Dhansar hardly came along for any happening related to what was shown through the five-and-a-half-hour epic. A few arrests did happen in the early eighties, but the Khans or Singhs have always kept Dhansar people, which comprised the family of PN Singh and some members from the Marwari community in a committee that only organized Durga Puja festivities annually. At least that is what people believe. Although not so violent as the original mafia narrative, the truth of Dhansar might be slightly twistier.

RAMADHIR SINGH AND SINGH MANSION

Although I'm not using my piece to tell you about what deflected from the actual events and where the names were changed, the fabrication of the Ramadhir Singh narrative in the film is something that I questioned throughout. First of all, the Singh surname in itself holds importance to the history of this city. While no majority, it has become a title card for all that happens to and with the city, both demographically and politically, and at times, critically. Being from the Singh family from my father's side, I suspect it's hard to disown the fact that politics is a daily conversation in all aspects of our life. 

While Singhs from Bihar and UP have two different cultures altogether, the shared Bhojpuri semantic culture draws them together or apart, either way. Suryadeo Singh was a pioneer in the timeline that Kashyap follows with Gangs of Wasseypur. The 1939-born politician was born in a small village in Ballia. He inherited the politics and mafia-hood from his father, and then his elder brother Vikram Singh, although playing a key role in altering the destiny of the land of coal. His other brothers are Rajan Singh and Bachcha Singh, who had slightly more political interests (Rajan Singh left Singh Mansion and relocated to his newly built mansion Raghukul). However, there was also one younger brother of Suraj Deo Babu- Ramadhir Singh. Although the leading character's name is Ramadhir, it bears no semblance to the former. 

Ramadhir Singh has been given life imprisonment for killing Vinod Singh, the erstwhile Trade Union leader. Ramadhir from the film is a vicious man constantly trying to survive and be in power, which is more like Suryadeo and Vikram Babu. He was the original rival of Shafique Khan (Sardar Khan of the film, played by Manoj Bajpayee). However, the fact that Ramadhir gets killed is entirely fictional and essential solely to satisfy the whole arc of generational vendetta that the film creates. Suryadeo Singh famously hid in a toilet in a Koyla Nagar hospital during an attack, which is a rumour across the city. 

There was a lot of inner turmoil in the Singh household which changed the city's politics in its entirety. Suryadeo Singh's son Sanjeev Singh, a BJP leader in the city, was accused and arrested for the assassination of Neeraj Singh, an ex-deputy mayor of Dhanbad and the son of Rajan Singh, hence a cousin. Sanjeev's wife Ragini Singh is the widow of one of his cousins (although there are no citations on this). Ragini stood as a candidate in the 2019 Assembly elections and was defeated by the young and dynamic Purnima Singh, the widow of Neeraj Singh. Rumours say that she is planning to get her revenge on the infamous brother-in-law. 

Kunti Devi, who is shown in the film as the character Ramadhir's wife (and the actress resembles Kunti), has been one of the key figures in Jhariya's social, political and technological development. She lives in Kunti Niwas, removed from her husband's Singh Mansion and her son's Raghukul. Singh women are playing an active part in the social change- one of the daughters-in-law of Suryadeo Singh, Mini, is one of the highly accomplished and youngest humanists of the city.  

MIXED RELIGIOUS PORTRAYALS

What is the stance of this film when it comes to the politics of religion leaves one perplexed. The old men and commoners of Wasseypur are infuriated by their representation in the film. Anwar, one of the civil service teachers of Wasseypur, says that the cinematic representation is rather real but it doesn't feel personal at all because the Wasseypur people are shown as individuals used to killing and bloodshed which is strangely normalized in the film. The people say that the film exceedingly reinforces Muslim area stereotypes. While it might be that the screenwriter Zeishan Quadri challenged the stereotypes by embracing them, and the bloodshed took heavy cues from Quentin Tarantino, Anwar and other locals pose a fair point. 

Also, the insistence of rooting towards the Pathans right from the beginning is just one-sided. The satisfaction of Iqbal Khan, the son of Faheem (who, by the way, is Faisal Khan from the film and is in life imprisonment) who lives in Calcutta, is astonishingly satisfied with how his family was portrayed in the film. Also, the kidnapping of a Muslim girl by Singh supporters is entirely untrue, on the contrary, it was the Wasseypur people who kidnapped a Hindu girl and was let free on the threats given by the Singhs. The villainization of the Singhs is artistically compelling but socially, it feels a little far-fetched (although not entirely untrue). One of these characters, JP, who is the son of the character Ramadhir, is based on the real Ramadhir who is the brother of Suryadeo Singh. 

BOTTOMLINE

There's no bottom line. Gangs of Wasseypur is one of the greatest films ever made because of its depiction of human rivalries and life in general. But there is information about the city which needs to be transmitted because the film reflects it.