Best of the year so far? Yes - easily. It has a few issues, so let me get them out of the way first: Gangster has some shoddy acting by it's main character, the girl at the crux of a Love Triangle. She has a bad accent, and a stunted way of speech. Her arms are around one Emraan Hashmi who does lip-lock. But with all your pre-conceived notions of him, he is not easy to dislike. And the pay-off for that is pretty nice. And as is usual for Bollywood movies, the movie does go through some unnecessary melodrama, but thankfully these are just three short ones.
What really is good about this movie is the writing. Director Anurag Basu has written the movie with a very clear idea about what he intended to depict. Yes, we have a gangster, we have foreign locales, and we have a "sexy pair", but the movie religiously sticks to its story-telling without once stopping to over-sell violence or sleaze. The whole narrative plays like a solo violinst playing through a single-long piece with its share of happy/sad portions and a few crescendos at the right times with some recurring themes. So much so that it is easy to be sucked into the whole flow and go along with where the director takes you.
Anurag Basu is good. His second movie (I thunk), but he clearly has his own language of cinema. From the shot-arrangements and camera angles to the score and songs, this man plays it like he cares for his movie, and not for the producer's coffer. He tells us the story mostly in flash-backs - but with decent inter-cuts to make it not entirely linear. The movie moves along a relaxed yet fast pace. It reminded me of cruising in a luxury car at 180Kmhr. You are speeding, but very comfortably.
The movie follows the story of one-girl (Bar dancer, yawn!) who a Gangster falls for, rebels against his gang, goes on the run, then puts her away safe and stays away to keep her safe. After holding-on for years she, in her loneliness, falls in love with another man - just when the gangster comes back. Clashes, loyalties, retribution, betrayal, vengeance.
Shiny Ahuja shines (sorry, couldn't resist) as the titular Gangster. His going from unspoken emotionless man to unspoken jilted lover to unspoken "karma-yogi" works very well mainly for his intensely masculine persona. How good is he as an actor will take something against his type to prove. But he fits here perfect, and within the world of this movie, the man is like the writer's imagined.
Watch this movie if you can catch it sometime soon. It's worth at least that much respect.
Rating --> 4 of 5
