On the pile for a very long while for reasons unknown. Still #248 on the IMDB top-250. Directed and co-written by Anurag Kashyap. I thought I was in for about three hours but that was only the first part; the second brought it up to about five-and-a-half in total. Over two nights therefore.
Dynastic gangland Bollywood that samples from everything. Loads of violence, some of it is very bloody but mostly not graphic (think John Woo, Scarface (1983), Gomorrah (2008)). This is cut up with romance and musical numbers with (according to the subtitles) raunchy prove-you're-a-man lyrics. The script is weak, a bit brainless, too repetitive: there's no escape from the cycle of life which here means finding a baby momma, killing those who killed your father, having a few kids, mindlessly thieving what you can, getting killed by the next generation. That really starts to drag in the second part. A few editing and/or continuity errors mar the presentation of the plot which is often progressed in brief dialogue between the big scenes. Some are distended, as if we're supposed to care about these shallowly-drawn characters whose motivations are either obvious or implausible. The final part is a tame recreation of John Woo's shooting up a hospital from Hardboiled (1992). The cinematography is generally quite good. The butchers turn out to be irrelevant.
Ben Kenigsberg at the New York Times. Not The Godfather, not Casino, perhaps City of God. Wikipedia.
