akash_sebastian 'Gandu', Director Q's bold and artistic dive into the world of Surrealism, is quite an interesting experimental film. Q describes his film as a 'rap musical' which, in a way, is an agreeable term to describe it. The background score by the alternative rock band 'Five Little Indians' goes quite well with the tone of the movie.The movie revolves around a not-so-bright jobless adolescent named Gandu (meaning Moron). He has his simple life with dreams and fantasies, getting by on the money he steals from the guy screwing his mom. He befriends a rickshaw-walla named Ricksha (ironically), and both spend most of their time in a heroin-induced haze, filled with adventures, porn, and sex. Gandu gets music deals, wins lottery ticket, has a grand deflowering by an exotic prostitute, gets invited by a Rap foundation, every single thing just blurring the line between reality and fantasy. But most of the incidents have to do with Gandu re-establishing his masculinity, which he had lost over time due to the ill-treatment by the people around, especially his ever-complaining mother.The decision to show the film in crisp black-and-white was commendable; it depicts the bleak, monotonous and mundane existence of the central character. Colours are visible only for a single scene where the main protagonist Gandu is having sex for the first time, which perhaps is the highlight of his life. The masturbation scene and the oral sex scene are shot quite artistically, and fit with the tone of the movie; there's nothing pornographic about them. The editing and music add to the beauty of the sex scene.The acting by Anubrata Basu as Gandu is brilliant; he portrays the varies hues and shades of the character with proper tact. His depression, his pain, his dreams, his hopes... by the end of the movie, a proper sketch of the character is etched in your mind. Joyraj Bhattacharya is good as the rickshaw-walla friend. And Rituparna Sen (Rii) is praiseworthy for her boldness in the sex scene. She plays three different characters in the movie, all quite varied and unrecognizable from each other.People who are tired of linear and predictable storytelling should surely check this out.

Supriyo Mukherjee Gandu 4.5/5Tarantino? Lulz. Quashiq Mukherjee makes Tarantino look like an idiot in this movie. I have seen this movie twice in the last 24 hours and am still awestruck by the weirdness. You have never seen something like this before. NEVER. This movie shocked me, in a pleasant way :PGandu is a loser who hates his life, who hates his mother and pretty much everything else except his Rickshawpuller friend. Gandu has to tolerate a shady guy who comes and has sex with his mother regularly. He decides to live life on his own terms and enters the world of smack, rap and porn. The soundtrack is bloody amazing. Absolutely awesome. Indian progressive rock at its f**king best. The direction is top notch and the camera work is outstanding. Actors have done a splendid job. We often crib about the quality of Indian Cinema but this movie has definitely changed the face of Indian cinema forever. Trust me, this movie deserves over a 100 re-runs. I am probably gonna screen it in my college pretty soon. I am not always impressed by random stuff but I loved this movie. Devote 90 minutes of your life to this movie and I promise, you won't regret it.

Prasenjit Biswas Q wanted to be noticed with his first independent venture and this film accomplishes it, especially the nothing-but-shock-value sex.Q has an uncanny ear for local dialogue and some of the exchanges are wry, ironic and sometimes hilarious. He's sketch of the flirty cybercafe Bengali girl is possibly one of the truest sketches I have seen. Also the street talk of lowlifes is bang on.But then - what? Where does this all lead to? Gandu builds up great expectations, then does not deliver. I felt as frustrated as the main character - empty and wasted.As is typical of many those who are attracted to film via the superficials - pithy dialogue or "the look" or sensationalism, that only works on the underlying framework of a solidly good story. You cannot erect a memorable film without a solid foundation of plot, character arc or a satisfying ending.I feel sad that this potentially great talent will only swim on the surface and end up being forgotten unless he goes deeper to see what makes good stories work.Bengali cinema desperately needs a new voice, a new testament and my fear is that unless Q respects STORY and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, it will be all downhill for him from here.Why is that the ancient spiritual Indian culture only produces talent incapable of true introspection? Who destroyed our image of ourselves? Why must everything we do be a copy of a copy of a copy?

beerhug I am not quite aware whether the director was inspired by Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls" or not but the film certainly highlights that exact frame mannerism of presenting the story for cinematic viewing like the one presented by Warhol in "Chelsea Girls".The film consists of some erotic scenes which are explicit in nature but most certainly not pornographic in any way whatsoever. The script was innovative for Indian audience though I am pretty sure that majority viewers have not got the basic notion of the script. The cinematography was brilliant must congratulate Kaushik aka Q for that. Lyrics were certainly explosive in nature but truth cannot be denied from it. Acting is good especially by Anubrata(Gandu) and Joyraj(Rickshaw), Rii is hot but she did not got enough leverage to showcase her acting abilities. Komolika(Mother) was good in her role and Shilajit(Das babu)....well he was just the jolly good fellow.I have only one complain that the sound was not recorded properly and at times background score became too noisy to hear the dialouges with proper effect.Must say a good step forward for Indian cinema and kudos to Overdose Joint for thinking out of the box.