Gangaajal (2003)

Strong and Moving!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Cop films are made in Bollywood since old days, films like ZANJEER(1973) to the much recent SARFAROSH(1999), KURUKSHETRA(2000)Some good ones, some typical filmy typesSHOOL(1998) was one of the best cop films made followed by SARFAROSH GANGAAJAL was a comeback of Ajay-Prakash Jha after the disaster DIL KYA KARE(1999) and this was their best film togetherThe film showcases the violence, the problems a sincere cop goes through in Bihar and the film is well handledThe film starts off well and without comedy, much romance, music and dance comes straight to the point though we have stereotypical scenes but yet the film stands out, the problems, humiliation and vulnerability the innocent cop goes through is very well handled The turn of events, the scenes involving Mukesh Tiwari, Ayub Khan characters is well handled The twist in the tale too is fabulous though ted over violent yet realistic as it had really occurred in 1979 where cops had blinded the jail victims But post interval the film does tend to stray away at times towards the end and the film ends on a stereotypical note which is a downer yet the film manages to bring the message across wellDirection by Prakash Jha is fabulous, he handles the film brilliantly well Music(just 1 song) is passable and could be done without Background Music by Wayne Sharp is terrific Ajay Devgan excels in the role of crusader-cum-cop and he portrays the character superbly, his eyes, body language, expressions and dialogue delivery lend the right vulnerability and is flawless Gracy Singh is passable in a blink and miss role Amongst rest Mukesh Tiwari who nowadays does buffoonery in Rohit Shetty films is superb in his role which he does brilliantly Ayub Khan, Anup Soni are superb too Manoj Joshi and Yashpal Sharma are typecast Dr.Mohan Agashe, Akhilendra Mishra are adequate

Gangaajal is a highly underrated movie. A fast paced story which keeps you involved and doesn't give you any breathing space and keeps your adrenaline going. Simply brilliant.Realism portrayed manages to suck you completely in the scenarios. You feel like punching those guys myself every time I watch it. Simply loved Ajay Devgan in Gangaajal. I haven't liked him better in any other movie. Only he could have played Amit Kumar like he did. His expressions and those eyes instill his angry police officer look. His body overall body language speaks volumes about his idealistic character.Apart from Ajay, all his subordinates have played their roles well. Mohan Joshi and Yashpal Sharma, though stereotyped, play their parts authoritatively. The performances overshadow the weaknesses of the second half.If you watch movies just for getting stress off you by watching a light hearted comedy, then Gangaajal is not for you. But if you like fast, edge of the seat, hard hitting stuff like "A Wednesday", for instance, then Gangaajal IS for you.

I quite liked the solo 'nautanki' song sequence in the movie Gangaajal. I thought it was very original, rustic and authentic.I admit that almost all the reviews that are on the web have found the song sequence either superfluous or not up to the mark, but I think otherwise.I much liked the choreography, the dancing (Maanyata), the singing, and the music (Wayne Sharpe, Sandesh Shandilya). Kudos to Prakash Jha and his team.I rate it much better than many a remix videos that have become popular. Maybe some remix producer should revisit the item number. Any takers?

I never expected to be impressed by this movie, going by the cover which had the regular in-your-face expressions from an outraged hero and a heroin with sadness written all over her face. It seemed like just another good-cop bad-guy movie. It was pleasantly surprising for me. Ajay Devgan, who is the only interesting and important character in this movie has given a more-than-decent performance. The song are minimal and this keeps the movie riveting for most part. The role of the villain is weak and did not develop into anything significant. However the dialogue delivery of AD and his no nonsense style of acting (or of the director) adds to the effect of the movie. The final dialogue: when AD has the villains under his feet and whole city is all set to burn them, AD says "I am not protecting them from you, but I am protecting you from them. It is my duty to make sure you don't descend to the level of these villains. Jaisi Janatha, Waisi Police. If you are corrupt, what do you expect the police to be?" It is overall a good movie to Watch. A similar movie, Shool, was made by Ram Gopal Verma with Manoj Bajpai. It is not nearly as entertaining as this.