Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur Part II..is a fitting conclusion to the revenge saga

Clocking at a combined runtime of 320 minutes, the Gangs of Wasseypur takes a long time to tell its tale. However, with the refreshing manner in which it is presented, the solid performances by its entire cast of characters, the contextual and thumping music that comes in every now and the transition of the story across practically a century without losing its audience, you’ve got to hand it to Kashyap. The Gangs.. project was ambitious but as the final credits roll in on part II, you clearly feel that he has done justice to the revenge saga and created quite a classic. It may not be perfect but it is pretty darn good
Part II begins pretty much where Part I left off and I mean that in every respect. The same solid performances by a diverse cast of characters, convoluted plotlines and cinematographic brilliance across some sequences. In fact, Part II also continues to introduce new characters all of which are very welcome. With names like Definite, Perpendicular and Tangent, one was already curious and each name’s explanation in the movie is pretty satisfying. What’s more some of these new additions are pretty much central characters and not mere ‘sidies’ thrown in for fun.
However, as was the case with the first version, part II also suffers from some unnecessarily extended story-telling, stretching of the plot where it could easily have ended half hour earlier and dragging through some scenes that add little value. In fact, the attempt to inject humor at one of the most important moments in the movie, fails all reason.
While the performance of the entire cast is noteworthy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s screen presence and Tigmanshu Dhulia’s restrained performance deserves special mention, as does the striking Huma Qureshi as Faizal Khan’s love interest. The music is good though not as contextual as part I and thankfully there aren’t too many songs in this instalment.
Overall, Part II offers all that the build up promised if not more. If you liked part I, you owe it to yourself to find out exactly how the revenge saga turned out.