Every animal has this intrinsic desire to rule, to lead. The effect is that it creates its own sphere of influence and tries to lead that. You observe this in many animals; humans are no exception. So what happens if this desire to rule, these raw instincts to gain power are complimented with innate intelligence? Politics is born! Yes, politics is nothing but use of human intelligence to manipulate others’ weaknesses to gain power. Love is politics of two hearts; marriage is politics of two families. Government is politics of a group of people with some misplaced desire to rule. This is what I interrepted from Gulaal!
 
            Did you ever think why do we need leaders? Why do we need a government for that matter? Why can’t we just do our daily businesses without any government? Did you ever give it a thought that the political ideologies such as democracy, communism and monarchy were all thought by just another human like you and me? What happens if you see them in flesh and blood? What is love? Is it a weakness? Are women a weakness to men? Can’t people who are weak at emotions become leaders? Is what you see is what you get? Are you really seeing the true colors of the person you know?
 
            Gulaal, among many incomprehensible things, is an extremely intelligent depiction of the answers to the above questions. Intelligent because the movie pokes your brain, you can’t just sit there and relax when you are watching the movie. It is like listening to a very important lecture. You will be amazed when you realize that the director chose to compare constitution, republic and democracy to alcohol. You actually start thinking if this democracy has intoxicated you. And when you are lost in the thoughts, the director plays the strict teacher and unfolds another intelligent plot of the story leaving you in a trance. In a state of helplessness which provokes you to think.
 
            Each and every character of Gulaal is result of an immaculate engineering of thought process. This resulted in unfathomable depths of characterization which appear deceitfully shallow in the beginning. Only when you start sinking into the movie do you actually realize the depth of each character. There is no use of discussing the plot here; I am at so loss of words that I am afraid if I could do justice to that.

           However, let me discuss a few scenes that really shook me. There is a scene near a pan shop where bhaati (Dobriyal) answers all the questions of a student leader with just looks and nods. The scene itself speaks volumes about arrogance, the arrogance of power. There is one more scene where Dobriyal finds Menon in a compromising poition with Ayesha; Dobriyal did it all with just a stare. The stare has got unfathomable depth, its like you have caught your belief cheating on you and you were just standing there and staring back at it. Also, in the scene where Chaudhary was shot, the way he gazes back at his killer mesmerizes you. It was these kind of scenes, an assortment, that made Gulaal.

        Another aspect of movie that I liked is that I was unable to judge who was good and who was bad. There were no heroes or villians in this. There are just ideologies which have been personified and their priorities and what they did (or did not do) to achieve them is what the movie is all about.

           All Iin all Gulaal is a true classic; I have not seen any movie which covered so much of human nature in just 2.5 hours and that too with an amazing ease. And I am sure that this is one of those kinds of movies whose viewing experience betters with number of times you watch it. I am going to watch it again (there are a few characters whom I could not understand as I dismissed them during the early stages of movie)! Anurag Kashyap, take a bow! you truly are a genius!
 
            My advice to those who want watch this movie is that watch the movie with utmost concentration, and don’t miss this classic; believe me it’s worth it.