Gully Boy

Gully Boy

Gully Boy is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film is produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby Films and Excel Entertainment productions, with Nas as an executive producer. It stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, and features Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers Divine and Naezy,[6] the film is a coming-of-age story about an aspiring street rapper from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai.

Principal photography for Gully Boy began in January 2018 and wrapped up in April 2018. It was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2019 and released on 15 February 2019 to positive reviews from critics. With a global gross of over ₹238 crore ($37 million), it emerged as the seventh-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.[7] It was selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[8][9] Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Singh) and Best Actress (Bhatt).

Plot

Murad Ahmed (Ranveer Singh), a final year college student, lives in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. His abusive father Aftab Shakir Ahmed (Vijay Raaz) brings home a much younger second wife, much to the chagrin of the family. Murad nurtures a fascination for rap music. His longtime and overtly possessive girlfriend Safeena Firdausi (Alia Bhatt) is training to be a surgeon and routinely meets him in secret. Forced to work part-time as a chauffeur after his father is injured, Murad starts to write, with his lyrics informed by the inequalities he observes while on the job. Making the acquaintance of local rapper Shrikant "MC Sher" Bhosle (Siddhant Chaturvedi) whom he saw performing in his college fest, he is drawn into performing his lyrics at underground shows and rap battles and eventually uploading a video on YouTube.

Berklee College student Shweta "Sky" Mehta (Kalki Koechlin), an evolving musician, reaches out to Murad and Sher after seeing the video, offering to collaborate on a new song. The accompanying video, which is shot in Dharavi, rapidly becomes popular. Murad shares an intimate moment with Sky, later lying to Safeena about it. When Safeena finds out, she reacts violently towards Sky by smashing a bottle of beer on her head. As a result, she is brought in by the police but is not arrested as Sky doesn't press charges against her. Murad eventually breaks up with Safeena due to her possessive attitude. As Aftab's violence towards him, his brother and his mother escalates, Murad decides to leave home with his mother and brother and work full-time for his uncle Ateeq Khan (Vijay Maurya).

Later, when Sky expresses her romantic feelings for him, he declines her as he still loves Safeena and decides to reconcile with her. Murad and Sher enter a contest to open for Nas at his Mumbai concert, and Murad advances to the finals after a successful rap battle. Murad's confidence grows from interacting with rap fans' appreciation of his performances, and he finally stands up to Aftab and Ateeq when they belittle his passion. He later gets back together with Safeena. He goes on to win the contest and becomes one of India's top rappers. The film ends with his friends, family and Safeena watching him happily as he begins his opening performance.

Cast

Ranveer Singh as Murad Ahmed a.k.a. Gully Boy

Alia Bhatt as Safeena Firdausi

Siddhant Chaturvedi as Shrikant Bhosle a.k.a. MC Sher

Vijay Raaz as Aftab Ahmed

Vijay Varma as Moeen Arif

Amruta Subhash as Razia Ahmed

Ikhlaque Khan as Nasir Firdausi, Safeena's father

Sheeba Chaddha as Hamida Firdausi, Safeena's mother

Kalki Koechlin as Shweta a.k.a. Sky

Ayaan Zubair Rahmani as Safeena's brother

Rahul Piske as Chintoo

Jyoti Subhash as Dadi

Nakul Roshan Sahdev as Salman

Shruti Chauhan as Maya

Vijay Maurya as Ateeq Khan, Murad's uncle

Srishti Shrivastava as Albina Dadarkar

Malika Singh as Suhani

Tina Bhatia as Parveen

Rahil Gilani as Rishi

Rahul Shahani as Shah Rule

Svar Kamble as Suhail

Chaitnya Sharma as MC Checkmate

Jasleen Royal as Juhi

Michaela Tanwar as Gemma

Kubra Sait as Scarlett

Manj Musik as himself

Bilal Shaikh as himself

Omi Kashyap as Driver

Raja Kumari as herself

Emiway as Emiway Bantai

Divine as himself as a DJ in a bar

Production

Akhtar has co-opted the story of two Mumbai based MCs, Naezy and Divine, into a musical story portraying a struggle of an aspiring rapper and his surroundings that influence his journey.[11] Principal photography of the film began in January 2018[12] and it was wrapped up by April 2018.[13] American rapper Nas is an executive producer for the film

Critical response

Gully Boy received positive reviews from critics with praise directed to Akhtar’s direction, Maurya’s dialogue and Singh, Chaturvedi and Bhatt for their performances.[27][28][29] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 95% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10.[30]

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave Gully Boy four stars out of five, writing, "Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt are devastatingly good in Zoya Akhtar's ultimate anthem for the rebel".[31] Raja Sen of Hindustan Times called it "the first great Hindi film of 2019",[32] while Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama went on to call it "Akhtar’s best film to date".[33] Rachit Gupta of The Times of India also gave four stars.[34] Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave four stars.[35] Livemint wrote, "It’s a hard-won transformation – bohot hard – and it rings true".[36] Anupama Chopra commented, "By the end, I was wiping tears and cheering furiously not just for Murad, but for each one of these characters to find happiness".[37]

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opined, "Gully Boy can be whole-heartedly commended for its craft, fascinating characters and Ranveer Singh. He absolutely kills the slow-burning rapper act. What's more, he does with a lot of energy to spare."[38] Writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan gave Gully Boy three stars out of five and found it to be "softer than expected, but hugely entertaining and beautifully made".[39] Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today rated it three stars out of five.[40] Mayur Sanap of Deccan Chronicle also gave three stars.[41] The Wire felt the film dealt with Bollywood tropes.[42]

Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News rated the film 4/5 and wrote, "When he breaks down, you break down with him and that’s one of the biggest victories of Gully Boy".[43] Among international reviewers, Lee Marshall of Screen International wrote, "Singh busts rhymes with the best of them in this energetic, entertaining film".[44] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three stars of five.[45] Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended Akhtar for her direction.[46] Anita Iyer of Khaleej Times rated the film four stars out of five.[47] Jay Weissberg of Variety wrote, "Zoya Akhtar's most accomplished film to date is a mainstream rap musical about a Muslim guy from working-class Mumbai determined to break free from the strictures of expectation and class, all served up with generous helpings of deftly written hip-hop lyrics and a largely well-woven narrative" starring "Ranveer Singh in all his charms."[48]

Box office

Gully Boy opened with collection of ₹19.4 crore on its first day. In two weeks of release, the film grossed ₹220 crore. The film grossed ₹165.58 crore in India and $9.6 million (₹72.58 crore) overseas, taking its worldwide gross to ₹245.21 crore ($36.55 million).[49] It is 2019's eighth highest-grossing Bollywood film worldwide.

Awards and nominations

The film won 13 awards at the 65th Filmfare Awards, the most awards for a single film in a year, has broken the record of Black, which won 11 awards in 2006.[50][51] Alongside, the film won 12 awards at 26th Screen Awards[52] and 9 awards in Zee Cine Awards.[53] The film was also India's official entry to 92nd Academy Awards for the Best International feature film category though it was not nominated.