Gangs of Wasseypur

Storyline

Screened in its full 321-minute glory at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight, Anurag Kashyap's two-part magnum opus Gangs of Wasseypur is widely heralded as the definitive Indian gangster epic and a monumental masterclass in visceral, gritty, realistic cinema. Spanning seven decades from the 1940s to the 2000s in the coal-mining town of Wasseypur in Dhanbad, Bihar (now Jharkhand), the sprawling saga chronicles a savage, multi-generational blood feud between the Qureshi clan and Shahid Khan's family. Manoj Bajpayee delivers a powerhouse, career-defining performance as Sardar Khan, a lustful, fearless mafia don determined to avenge his father's death by destroying ruthless coal baron and corrupt politician Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). When Sardar is gunned down in a petrol pump ambush, his soft-spoken, pot-smoking second son Faizal Khan (a breakout, star-making turn by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) transforms into a terrifying, cold-blooded king of violence. Boasting Sneha Khanwalkar's eclectic folk-rock soundtrack and dialogue that permanently embedded itself into Indian pop culture, Wasseypur redefined the grammar of modern Indian independent cinema. Universally celebrated by international film critics for its visceral realism and unflinching dark comedy, Gangs of Wasseypur remains a monumental cinematic textbook studied in film academies globally. Its brilliant ensemble cast, authentic dialect, and ruthless deconstruction of Indian political violence established Anurag Kashyap among the world's most daring independent auteurs.