Gulaab Gang (2014)

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Best movie of this year hands down!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is one of those 'exception to the rule' films, which still gets rated as an essential watch despite being just average and having many major glitches in its execution to put it honestly. So getting over with its weaker points first, the film's basic plot is now widely known to all after the recent controversy over its title and the court case filed by the original Gulaabi Gang's leader Smt. Sampat Pal. A well made documentary on the amazing social work by this famous women group was released just a few days back. And though the film is not entirely based on the real life facts, still it is quite evident from where the idea has been borrowed for its basic theme.Directed by Soumik Sen, GULAAB GANG is a sheer commercial adaptation of a serious mission wherein the women power is shown in full force with some well directed confrontation and action sequences along with many punchy dialogues. But since the director also had the knowledge of music, so to display it loudly he goes on adding numerous average as well as not-required songs in his narration right from the first few minutes to the last. Also including a clearly forced HOLI song in the final moments, in which Madhuri starts singing and dancing right after a pretty serious sequence in an utterly silly manner. So mainly due to this worst feature of the film (i.e. the songs), GULAAB GANG fails to make that desired impact which could have easily been achieved with just a theme song being played repeatedly.The film begins at a very lazy pace coming to the point after a long introduction and the entertaining tension actually commences, once Juhi Chawla enters the scene with her cunning smile. Later it keeps moving as a bumpy ride with some worth applauding high points coming after regular intervals. However many routine seen before sequences hamper its overall pace post the intermission and then the all hurried up, illogical climax ruins the entire build up quite badly.So then why I am still interested in recommending the film for all the Hindi cinema lovers willing to see something great? The reason is that yes GULAAB GANG turns out to be a clear masala interpretation of a relevant theme as expected, yet it gives you something unique and entertaining in few of its well conceived sequences focusing on the powerful clashes between the two veterans i.e. Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit, executed like never before. Its indeed a treat to watch the stunning Madhuri walking with her solid attitude in slow motion along with the pumping music playing at the back. Plus the pleasantly shocking Juhi replying to Madhuri's every move with just a playful, teasing smile like a typical shrewd politician.In fact here I would like to admit that though the project was widely promoted as a Madhuri Dixit film in its entire promotional campaign and print advertisements. But in reality its Juhi Chawla who makes a more killer impact in her first ever role of a vamp unarguably. Hence as an exciting surprise, here we have the beautiful Juhi in a completely new negative avatar played real well, offering a lot more than the viewer's expectations from the talented actress. In other words, where Madhuri's decent attempt struggles to make an instant connect due to her mixed language (accent) or all meaningless songs (dances), there Juhi takes the full advantage of this unintentional flaw and emerges as a clear winner in this on screen contest evidently.Now if truth be told then the only person responsible for this visible imbalance in the two key portrayals is the music composer residing inside the body of the director only, who forced him to put so many songs & dance numbers into the film, which actually weakened the entire aura around Madhuri's strong character of a revolting lady ultimately. In other words, if only this film was made with just a theme song and stressing more upon the balanced depiction of both the clashing characters thoughtfully, it would have surely become a gem of a trendsetter in all possibilities, as it seems.Technically speaking, GG has a splendid camera-work complementing the enjoyable actions sequences of the film superbly and one really keeps waiting for all the tension filled scenes of Madhuri-Juhi together, eagerly. The novelty of a woman standing against another evil woman, moving away from the routine stuff keeps the interest alive and its truly a treat to watch only for these specific scenes alone as mentioned before. In the supporting acts, Divya Jagdale performs a bit over the top in a forceful mode but both Priyanka Bose and Tannishtha Chatterjee are wonderfully natural. All the men featuring in their various negative roles are fine, especially the one playing the local politician forced to face the cruel humiliation.In short, do give GULAAB GANG a chance, especially for the two veterans clashing with each other like never before and I am sure you would not regret the decision made, celebrating this year's Women's Day with Madhuri and Juhi together.

Once in a while we get too see a movie where you see female leads dominating the proceedings. But Gulaab Gang is the only movie where one woman - Rajjo, does everything from acting to singing to dancing to fighting...and it is our greatest actress Madhuri Dixit who portrays this role to the T.She stands for good, fights for good and succeeds in being good - it is a classic tale of good vs. bad and one more reminder to all of us that we should always tread on the righteous path.That is the message conveyed by the director and Madhuri proves it once again that there is no other actor that can portray this character with such poise and elegance.Make no mistake, even the supporting cast has done a good job. Dialogues are riveting, action scenes superb and the background score packs the needed punch.Go celebrate this women's day with this noble piece of cinema - Indians need more such cinema once every decade. And let us honor Madhuri Dixit Nene with the utmost recognition for showing the guts to play this role...Pure Respect to you Madhuri ... Keep Rocking !

Madhuri's Gulaab Gang is a film about two key things:1) Women's situation in India and how women can change their fate - through education 2) Good is always > Evil; no matter how 'sexy' doing evil things and saying bad things lookMadhuri Dixit reflected and stood for "Good" and she succeeds in it ! Madhuri acted, emoted, danced, fought, sung - she did everything in this movie. SALUTE to her. No body I mean no body could have done justice to this role in Indian cinema.Her acting will make you cry, feel proud, and also stand up for other women...Gulaab Gang is a great movie, a must watch for every Indian... Go watch it !

First, i would like to appreciate the director for making movie on gulabi gang. which is already a world famous and some people doesn't know about it in most parts of India. First i thought the movie would be only on revolution against injustice to women. But gulaab gang fights against every injustice in their village where men come to them ask their help,which is impressive. there is also political drama which makes you interesting to watch. After watching the movie i started surfing online about gulabi gang and it's leader sampat pal. Men might be against the movie or the gulabi gang. But what i want to say is common yar, let them do at least which we men have no courage to do. when it comes to the movie,you may watch it once for madhuri and juhi. rest of the cast also did their job very well. i'm sure it won't disappoint you. performances of entire cast will make u sit through the movie. that's enough to watch a movie i guess.