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Film / Gangs of Wasseypur

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My life has only one aim: revenge. Seeing Ramadhir Singh prosper, it is intolerable. I want to erase that bastard. A bullet is too good for him – he will know my name when I fuck him up. I will show him his place, slowly take everything from him and that itself will kill him, the motherfucker.
- Sardar Khan

Gangs of Wasseypur is a Bollywood crime epic film released in 2012 directed by Anurag Kashyap. It's about a six decade long fight between the Khan family and Ramadhir Singh.

The movie premiered at Cannes and received unanimously positive reviews. It was five hours long and was released in two parts. The first movie showed the death of Shahid Khan and his son Sardar Khan's attempt to avenge him and become the most powerful man in Wasseypur. The second movie showed Sardar's son Faizal attempting to avenge the death of Sardar.

The movie is known for brutal but not exploitative violence and harsh language with an Evil Versus Evil morality.


Examples of:

  • Affably Evil: The three Villain Protagonists, Shahid, Sardar and Faizal. Also Ehsaan Qureshi and Nasir Ahmed.
  • Ax-Crazy: Sultan.
  • Anyone Can Die: Seemingly important characters are disposed off ruthlessly and very unexpectedly to the point that a cloud of unease hangs over the entire movie.
  • Big Bad: Ramadhir Singh.
    • Big Bad Ensemble: In Part II, Ramadhir is joined by Definite and his mother Durga.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Faizal successfully kills Ramadhir Singh and avenges the deaths of Sardar, Shahid, Danish and several others. Then he gets killed by Definite who successfully completes his own revenge. Meanwhile, Faizal's wife and Nasir Ahmed go away to Mumbai to get away from all the crap in Wasseypur and raise Faizal's kid properly.
  • Blood from the Mouth: Ramadhir Singh after he gets shot like a hundred times. Faizal as well, after being shot by Definite.
  • Butt-Monkey: J.P. Singh, Ramadhir's son who always tries to act tough but is owned by his father and others.
    • The Dog Bites Back: After being told by his father that "he won't be able to do it", JP manages to rig the endgame by taking control of Definite, the most important piece, letting Faizal kill his father before having Definite kill him (Faizal) after the climax.
  • The Chessmaster: Ramadhir Singh who also lampshades this by saying how several like Sardar and Shahid came and went. But he is still there.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Shamshed Alam.
  • Crapsack World: As bad as it is starting off it gets worse for everyone.
  • Creepy Child: Perpendicular who is only fourteen but is a stone cold killer. Even young Definite qualifies as he carries a gun at the age of 10 in his bag.
  • Decoy Protagonist: If you watch the whole movie in one sitting, then Shahid is the hero for first hour who dies abruptly. Then, his son Sardar becomes the hero for the next 2 hours before dying himself. Faizal is the final "hero".
  • Endearingly Dorky: Faizal, when with Mohsina. Perhaps the best demonstration is the part where he asks Mohsina for permission to have sex with her, and when she refuses and semi-angrily tells him to leave, he simply stutters 'But you said you wouldn't mind...'
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The only redeemable aspect of the Khan family is they genuinely love each other.
  • Evil Matriarch: Nagma who is not evil but doesn't stop her kids from growing up evil either.
  • Evil Versus Evil: The heroes are equally as evil, if not worse than the villains. The story is just told from their POV.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When Faizal finally encounters Ramadhir Singh in the climatic shootout in the hospital, he quietly just steps back and sits on the toilet cover before Faizal peppers him with bullets.
  • Fatal Flaw: Most characters have one:
    • Shahid Khan's is Ambition. His rise makes him oppress his former coworkers as supervisor even after having lost his chance to see his son's birth due to his supervisor not letting him leave, and his desire to overthrow Ramadhir (unknowingly overheard by the latter) causes Ramadhir to kill him.
    • Sardar's is, undoubtedly, Lust. Sardar absolutely cannot keep it in his pants. He visits whorehouses while his wife is pregnant, to the point Nagma finally relents and allows him to do so as long as he never brings them home, and his second marriage to Durga and his dismissal of her when he's done with her causes her to help Ramadhir kill him. Sardar's dick actually manages to screw over Faizal as well, because Definite, Sardar's son from Durga, is the one to kill Faizal.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Almost all the gangsters and corrupt politicians especially Ramadhir Singh.
  • Gorn: By Bollywood standards.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: All of them but particularly Sultan Qureshi who shoots his completely innocent sister which pisses even Ramadhir Singh off simply because it was stupid and uncalled for.
  • Karma Houdini: Definite, the bastard son of Sardar but considering the Crapsack World who knows how long.
    • Ramadhir Singh in Part I if you watch the movie as two separate parts. But Karma catches up thick and fast in Part II.
  • Made of Iron: A Mook whom Sardar has to stab like fifteen times after chasing him a fair distance till he finally dies.
    • Sardar himself.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: Sardar gets shot multiple times and even once in the head but still manages to walk a few feet in a daze before dying.
    • A comedic example would be Danish getting shot around the kidney and not reacting at all. Even Sardar freaks out and slaps him in shock.
  • Meaningful Name: Definite knows his definite purpose which is to kill Sardar and Perpendicular and Tangent slash throats by perpendicular and tangent motion of the knife respectively.
  • Only Sane Man: Nasir Ahmed. Fittingly, he is the Narrator as well.
    • Ehsaan Qureshi calms down with age as well.
  • Police Are Useless: Played frighteningly straight.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Averted completely.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Way over to the Cynical side.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Seems to be standard in Wasseypur, with most murders being, essentially, every hitman emptying their pistols into the target. Special mention, though, really must go to Faizal's climatic killing of Ramadhir Singh, in whose body he empties his sub-machine gun, then his pistol, and then asks Definite for more and more rifles to vent three generations of rage.
  • Token Good Teammate: Ultimately averted with Danish, Sardar's eldest son who is genuinely nice and tries to patch up the relationship between the Khans and Qureshis by marrying Qureshi's daughter. However, Sardar's death sends him over the edge completely.
    • Nasir Ahmed is the straightest example of this. He does his share of evil but eventually becomes the Only Sane Man in a world of crippling, brutal corruption.
  • Takes a Level in Badass: Faizal. Throughout the first part and in the beginning of second part,he stays away from his family's feuds with Singh family and he is not a feared figure unlike his father ,and to some extent his brother, but when his brother,Danish,dies he unleashes his inner hound and takes a level in badassery.
    • J.P. Singh, who by the end of movie, kills his father through clever scheming and assumes power.
  • Tranquil Fury: Faizal is ridiculously calm while pumping about a hundred bullets into Ramadhir Singh. In fact, this seems to be a defining characteristic of Faizal; his response to the allegation that he is incapable of leading the assault on Sultan and Ramadhir Singh is to, quietly, pull out his pistol and shoot the complainer multiple times.
  • Undying Loyalty: Nasir Ahmed to the Khan family.
  • Villain Protagonist: Shahid, Sardar, Faizal. All of them are villains due to their upbringing in a horrible Crapsack World.

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