Gulaab Gang (2014) Reviews

• watchable for madhuri and juhi's performance

  vinaysagar2014-03-07

  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.

• Do not miss this..........

  nareshavil092014-03-09

  After watching the movie on the first day of its release, I was eager to read the reviews. But i was shocked to learn that critics have rated this film as average to poor. If you watch a film wearing magnifying glasses you will surely find errors in every film. But this film, which is made with such conviction surely deserved better reviews. The highlight of the film is its star cast. Juhi Chawla is excellent as the evil politician. She brings so much life into the diabolic character that you get goosebumps whenever you see her on screen. Juhi is totally believable as as a malignant and immoral lady. Madhuri too has acted well, but something was lacking in her characterization , due to which this does not make one of her memorable performances. Rest of the cast is also good. The actresses who played madhuri's associates have delivered a great act. Despite having no male lead actors, the film is thoroughly entertaining. It is thrilling to watch the confrontation between Madhuri & Juhi. I wish the critics had set aside their double standards and watched the movie from audience's perspective. This film is far better than multi million grossing films which i feel are making fool out of the audiences.

• Madhuri has wasted this golden opportunity

  samfox-956-5197112014-03-24

  When the opening credits started to roll, I was mighty impressed by the animated work in the background. However, half an hour later, I started to get this sinking feeling that "this animated work" would probably be the only thing impressive about the movie. First things, first. When you make a realistic or "art type" film and that too based on/inspired by true events, the handicap faced is that most viewers are already aware of the topic and those who aren't have this knowledge thrust upon them by the untiring media. Therefore, the filmmaker has no choice but to stick to the basic storyline and extract extremely good performances from the star cast to be able to hold the viewers' attention and this is precisely where Gulab Gang fails miserably. Yes, even with two good box office bets of yesteryears – Madhuri Dixit & Juhi Chawla. The script demanded dialogue delivery of typical Hindi belt. If that be the case, then casting Juhi as the villainous politician mouthing lines in desi accent defies all logic. Some Juhi fans will argue that she was a superstar of her time. Well, she was a star who was "part of" quite a few hit films but that doesn't necessarily mean that she was brilliant in all of them. Even when she was in her prime, she was at best above average, never path breaking. She was and will be best known for her liveliness, youthful charm and disarming smile which is why her being cast as a negative character created such a buzz but then as it turned out, the bee just buzzed, it lacked the sting! Juhi's crooked smiles and shifty glances were grossly overdone. She was trying so hard that it hurt. Can't villains and vamps speak normally? It is difficult to comprehend why Juhi was given such rustic dialogues when she was so ill at ease delivering them. Coming to Madhuri Dixit, well, sadly for her fans even she couldn't do much to save her Gang. She too struggled with her vernacular skills albeit lesser than Juhi. Madhuri had the chance to make the most of this opportunity but she faltered. She is also let down by the template of the film. Just because Madhuri's name is synonymous with jhatkas and matkas, does it mean that post every action sequence, a song and dance routine is a must? Needless to say, the ill timed song and dance pieces distract the viewers from the core issue. That the songs were nothing to write home about, is a different story altogether. The action sequences are well shot and some of the one liners are good but does portraying a woman as the protagonist necessarily mean that she copies what a male hero does best which is - utter seeti inducing dialogues and execute slow motion action stunts? In fact, the woman as the Hero can add absolutely new dimensions. Cases in point, Smita Patil in Mirch Masala, Meenakshi Sheshadri in Damini, Tabu in Chandani Bar, Vidya Balan in Kahaani and Madhuri herself in Mrityudand (arguably her best performance) and Lajja. Another thing not understood is why it is a prerequisite even in a movie based on a serious/real topic to cast an actress with a beautiful face (even at the cost of acting). I mean Madhuri is (or was?) a good actress but wouldn't someone like Mita Vashisht with undeniably great acting skills but with unconventional good looks been a better choice? Add to it, her ability to convincingly look and sound rustic and she would have fitted the role to the T. Cutting back to the actual movie, we have Madhuri (although staying in a remote, dusty, nondescript village) appearing on screen, looking as if she has just stepped out of a beauty parlour – flowing hair, tastefully styled and coloured, not to mention the flawless skin and eye makeup. Even the rest of the gang is dressed in designer cut blouses and fashionably pleated saris. And I am sure I espied an exquisitely manicured hand in the background. The only ones looking and sounding somewhere near real are Tannishtha Chatterjee (the talented "Brick Lane" actress), Divya Jagdale and Priyanka Bose. In fact, they are the only ones who manage to hold your attention. The climax seems to have been inspired by Total Siyappa because that is what it is – "totally siyappad!!" A documentary based on the original gang titled GULABI GANG was (thankfully) released prior to this masala version and I have heard that it is extremely hard hitting. So I would say three cheers for Sampat Pal and her gang. As for Madhuri's Gulab Gang, I would say that this GULAB has too many thorns.

• An amateur and unrealistic gang

  dineshprakash2014-03-07

  Direction of this movie is not good. First shot of most of the scenes revel that what is going to be happen. So, you loose curiosity. There are lots of illogical metaphors too. Idea of women empowerment behind this film is appreciable but the execution is not. I was expecting some realistic approach towards this subject but screenplay is full of fictitious and abrupt scenes. Corrupt politician, corrupt officer, dowry torture, rape, all these are very routine formula and all thee are weaved in a naive way. Dialogues are good at places. In a scene Rajjo addresses an officer as Collector and in the same scene she calls him Bada Babu(Head clerk)!?Even the office shown was not clearly showing that what type of office is it? Few scenes are conceived well but executed below the written one, i.e train scene of taking revenge is good but there was not a single passenger in train, even the characters are not placed well so the drama and humor could come out well. Even framing is not good. They show a ribbon wrapped Motor Cycle in a scene which is prominent but no use of it afterwards. Yes, someone gifts it in a marriage ceremony but that was totally abrupt because both scene do not have any connection. Performance wise Juhi Chawala is out standing. Madhuri Dixit is OK. Two associates of Rajjo, Divya Jagdale as Mahi and Priyanka Bose as Sandhya are fantastic. Tanisha Chatterjee is fine. Music is OK. One song Gun Gun Gagan is good.

• Juhi Chawla is wicked in an otherwise weak film

  Chrysanthepop2014-05-01

  Soumik Sen's 'Gulaab Gang' released amidst some controversy especially the lawsuit it faced from real Gulabi Gang leader Sampat Pal. After seeing this mess of a film I completely understand why. Of course, when the lead actress Madhuri Dixit describes it as her 'Dabangg' (another overrated awful movie) one pretty much knows what to expect: that this wouldn't be a film that intends to depict the Gulabi Gang and tell their story but just another meaningless good versus evil 'masala' flick masquerading as something that depicts and supports women's rights. Even the producers shamelessly throw in the disclaimer that the movie is entirely fiction. Okay. There are several songs (ranging from mediocre to awful) and dances. Yes, Madhuri does dance and I doubt she'd ever do a film where she isn't required to dance. After all, she's a much better dancer than actress and here she fails to have an effect. Sen's 'Gulaab Gang' (should have been titled Madhuri's Gang) are all good looking thin women with nice makeup. Occasionally, they swing their hips to music, stand erect looking indifferent or jump around with domestic weapons. Madhuri also gets to do some Kill Bill-Matrix style action sequences (which are mostly shot in slow motion because Bollywood thinks that's cool). Moreover, the references to Madhuri Dixit the star (and her steamy numbers from 80s movies) are painfully evident. This film was supposed to be about the real Gulabi Gang and not Madhuri the hero. But enough on that. Even otherwise, it's all done so over-the-top. A shootout final? Really? Is this 'Sholay'? The sequences of Rajjo's childhood are laughably bad. Alphonse Roy's cinematography is decent but Sen's script and direction are messy. The film lacks a consistent narrative. The tongue in cheek dialogue appears forced at times. The only interesting thing about the movie are the Sumitra's sequences especially those with Rajjo. In fact, the Sumitra character is way more interesting than the formulaic (super?)hero. It makes the viewer wonder about her background, what made her into this ruthless power-craving monster. She's clearly a sociopath who's managed to get away with so much all those years. And of course, Juhi Chawla is transcendent as she steals every scene and is the only reason why the film is even watchable (despite limited screen time). Of the supporting cast Tannishtha Chatterjee and Priyanka Bose stand out. Divya Jagdale is quite loud. Overall, 'Gulaab Gang' is silly. It, very noticeably, tries to milk on Madhuri's former stardom and the growing recognition of the real Gulabi Gang, with it's supposed 'feminist message'. No.