“Looking at India through “Gulaal””

Preface

Through this essay I have tried to extrapolate the movie “Gulaal” to paint a picture of India.
There are various aspects and symbolisms in the movie which both conspicuously and
intrinsically portray what India is. Infact, I chose the movie Gulaal as a topic because it was a
very contemporary movie and apart from the figurative way the movie was made, it was very
relevant to what India as a nation is today and one could draw parallels directly.

In order to reduce any unfamiliarity with the movie, the essay starts off by giving a brief
introduction to the movie. Then it delves into describing how the storyline, dialogues, lyrics
and other symbols in the movie depict what India actually is.
Introduction

Gulaal is a movie directed by Anurag Kashyap which released in March 2009. It stars actors
like Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava and a few prominent theatre personalities like Piyush
Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal etc. Piyush Mishra has donned multiple roles in the film from
acting to penning the lyrics to composing the music. The film is dedicated to Sahir Ludhianvi
and all the poets who had a vision of India. The plot starts off with Kay Kay Menon
vociferously addressing a gathering of people who have their faces smeared with colour. He
talks about creating a separate state for the Rajputs and retrieving back Rajputana from the
Indian Government. The movie then goes back on a flashback mode where Dileep Singh, a
Rajput from Bikaner, comes to Rajpur to study law. He stays in a bar named ‘69’ with
Abhimanyu Singh “Ransa” who is a prince but stays alone owing to his hatred for his father’s
aristocratic ideologies. The docile Dileep Singh is quite impressed with the exuberant and
powerful persona of Ransa. Dileep is then ragged in the university hostel by Jadhwal and his
friends and he is locked naked with a girl Anuja in one of the hostel rooms. Anuja is a
lecturer at the same college. When Dileep informs Ransa, they go to the hostel to fight
Jadhwal and his group but are again beaten up. Ransa then goes to meet Dukey Bana (Kay
Kay Menon), a leader who is gathering support for his Rajputana movement. Dukey Bana
gives them his support in avenging Jhadwal. After that Dukey asks Ransa to contest for the
General Secretary elections. The Maharaja’s illegitimate daughter Kiran, aided by her brother
Karan is also contesting in the election. Ransa though is killed by Karan and Dileep is forced
to contest in his place and wins the election as Dukey rigs the process. Kiran seduces Dileep
to become the cultural secretary. Dukey Bana uses the money got as sponsorship for the
college cultural to fund his Rajputana movement. Dileep finds this out and though Dukey
explains to him the situation, he is not party to the propaganda going on. Meanwhile, Kiran
gets Dileep to resign from his post and becomes the general secretary herself and ditches
Dileep. She even tries to seduce Dukey but his right hand, Bhati steps in at the right time.
Dileep meanwhile is frustrated and angered at what has happened and goes on a killing
rampage, even killing Dukey until he finds out that Kiran had used him to make her ends
meet. Even he is killed and the movie ends with Karan being chosen the new leader of the
Rajputana movement.

The movie is interspersed all through with poems and dialogues from Piyush Sharma (Prithvi
Bana) and songs which take the story further and convey the larger implications of the plot.
The film apart from having a gripping script has also been made very poetically and
figuratively. There are various imageries about India that build up through the dialogues and
poems which is cinematized with Rajasthan and the Rajputs as a medium. Though the plot
entails around Rajasthan and their struggle for a separate Rajputana, the incidents in the plot
convey a meaning which should not be restricted to that particular territory. The concepts that
build up as the story unfolds are listed below:

1. The concept of an Indian nation/Regionalism: The concept of one Indian nation

has always been debatable. Until the British drew up a map which facilitated their
administrative activities, there was probably never a notion of India. The number of
states in India has always been on an increase since the initial Constitution was
drafted. Even today within Andhra Pradesh, there are demands of a separate
Telangana state, the Mumbai for Mumbaikars propaganda by the Shiv Sena is well
known, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have always had tussles over the Kaveri river,
Kashmir has been deprived of its peace and still clings to India rather than being an
independent state, the North East is pretty much ignored and naxalism is breeding in a
number of places and we still call India a nation. The same is depicted in the movie
‘Gulaal’. Even though the region of Rajputana, which was ruled by the Rajputs, was
converted into an Indian state of Rajasthan, the film shows how Dukey is planning a
movement to get Rajputana back. Apart from asking for a separate state of Rajputana,
the sense of regionalism depicted in the movie manifests itself at many other points.
The characters when introduced in the movie are many a time questioned about their
identity confirming whether they are a Rajput. Even the inspector during his
interrogation with respect to the absence of Jadhwal, takes a dig at the only guy who
is not a Rajput. When Dileep in one of the scenes tells Dukey that Rajasthan is not
only for Rajputs, the retort he gets from Dukey is filled with regionalism. Infact
Prithvi Bana questions the relevance of the Gulaal on everybody’s faces when each
recognises the other. This is indicative of an artificial belonging, oneness and unity
forcefully thrust on everybody even though each one realises that they are different
from the other. This is true of the whole nation. At every juncture Anurag Kashyap
has portrayed the confused notion of a nation by flooding the movie with regionalism
with respect to Rajasthan. Gulaal is about any contemporary community that tries to
further its cause over another community in a paradoxically unified nation.

2. Fascism/Democracy: The quest for power is one of the main focuses of the film. All
of Dukey’s efforts are directed towards gaining Rajputana. The Maharaja’s
illegitimate children Karan and Kiran are also in the same league in the quest for
power. Jadhwal, the person who rags Dilip also is in search of power. The reference to
Dukey bana being an autocrat is brought out time and again by Prithvi Bana. The
lyrics of the song “Ranaji” in the movie goes:

“jaise harek baat pe democracy me lagane lag gayo ban

jaise door des ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane
jaise sareaam iraaq me jaake jam gaye uncle Sam
jaise bina baat ke afgaanistaan ka baj gaya band”

All these are references to America’s hegemony and fascist attitude and through this
song; Anurag Kashyap tries to draw similarities between America’s fascism and what
happens in India. He tries to bring in an Indian angle to the whole issue of fascism and
tries to state that it is not above India. This sense of difference is conveyed again
during the “Rajputana” meeting when everybody’s face is smeared with colour except
for Dukey Bana’s. Again in the end when Karan becomes the leader of the movement
he first washes off the smearing, indicating the fact that he is no longer just a warrior
but a person who has ascended the throne of leading the Rajputana movement. A
sense of quest for power rather than the achievement of the original purpose gets
reflected here. Prithvi Bana even does a “Hail Fuehrer” to Dukey Bana. Dukey
threatens Jadhwal saying that he will be hung like Najibullah was hung in
Afghanistan. It was the Taliban that had meted out this treatment to Najibullah.
Anurag Kashyap here tries to convey that Dukey is also a form of Taliban and the
foreign systems we tend to criticize are also present in our own soil. Ironically, Ransa
was also hanged the same way but this time by Karan. This fascism is again relevant
to India. The whole caste system is a reflection of fascist tendencies. A system where
even today certain people are not revered or accepted into the society because of the
caste they belong to is a manifestation of fascism. At the same time we talk about
racism happening across the world, but isn’t the caste system we follow a kind of
racism. For discrimination and alternatively power concentrations is wrong whether it
is based on skin colour or the family you are born into. The exploitation of the lower
classes by the upper classes can also be extended to be called a form of fascism. The
whole question of asking for independent states might turn out to be a fascist
movement.
 Whether democracy exists is another thing that has been questioned in the movie. We
see “Democracy Beer”, “Republic Beer” etc. All this is indicative of the fact that the
institutions of democracy, republic etc. has been productized to suit peoples tastes.
The choice of the product is also very wise. They have been portrayed as intoxicating
drinks. Now the movie also defines democracy as the “Buy the powerful people, for
the powerful people and of the powerful people”. This is indicative of the farcical
notion of democracy in India and a place where Democracy is promoted as an ideal to
achieve one’s own objectives. It serves as a tool for vote bank politics. The concept of
“Hindutva” as such goes against democracy which speaks of equal rights for
everybody. Oppression of any segment of the society be it oppression of woman, a
particular caste or a particular minority community goes against democracy. Though
India as a nation might contradict its claim as a democratic and republic nation
through its actions, yet these ideals are very well packaged to beguile the public.

3. Nihilism: “Nihilism” is the word that is written on the blackboard which a character
Anuja wipes off in one of the classes. Nihilism is a position that values do not exist
and are falsely invented. Moral Nihilism, a form of Nihilism asserts that there are no
moral values and morality as such does not exist. Anuja wiping off this particular
word on the board was indeed very significant as it sets the tone for the rest of the
movie and the character of Anuja as such. Anuja, on an individual scale, is later
shown to have an attitude of nonchalance and indifference. This is applicable to the
movie as such too. A lot of things that are generally considered to be moral in India
are thrown to the wind. Killings, infidelity, corruption, foul-mouthed abuses; things
that are generally considered immoral, happen on a large scale. On top of it is the
image of an India which is peace-loving, idealistic and principled and a country that is
rooted in values. This notion probably goes for a toss when what happens inside India
is actually considered. Starting from the household where a daughter-in-law is
tortured for not bringing in dowry to the large scale riots that happen here, it really
seems a nihilistic world. Yet it is contradictory to the view foreigners take back of
India on the surface level. At the same time the system that we have in India is a self-
destructive system like shown in the movie. At the end of the movie one person
Dileep causes a lot of destruction and ends up killing the Senapati, Dukey. But the
system resurrects itself through the installation of Karan and the process might go on
again and again.
4. Portrayal of Women: Women in the movie have been portrayed to have little say in
intellectual matters and are merely an object of desire. Dukey Bana’s wife, as shown
in the movie, does not have much of a say on what Dukey Bana does even though she
is shown to dislike what he does. Madhuri plays Dukey’s mistress and is again not
much than an object of desire. Kiran, even though starts off like an intellectual
character, but as the movie progresses even she is subordinated by her brother Karan
and is used as a pawn to seduce people in power. All women are basically
subordinated by some man whether it be her husband or her brother or anybody else
in a relationship with the woman. The only woman who does not play a stereotypical
role is Anuja but then she does not have a substantial role to play in the movie. The
condition of the women shown here might not exactly reflect what is happening in the
Indian society. There have been developments in the status of women over the years
in India but predominantly even today a number of women are associated with
household work and being an object of desire rather than playing more proactive roles
in the family as well as the society.

5. Conscience: The movie has tried to portray a sense of conscience that interplays with
the main character as such questioning him/her on what he/she is doing. For Dukey,
Prithvi and the “Ardh-Nar” act as the conscience. Prithvi keeps questioning Dukey in
many of his actions and at the same time the “Ardh-Nar” appears on the screen
whenever somebody’s masculinity is in question. Indirectly, Prithvi through his
poems and dialogues acts as Dukey’s conscience and keeps questioning him whereas
the “Ardh-Nar” questions the masculinity of Dukey and thus the Rajput masculinity.
Prithvi infact wears a locket of John Lennon and like John Lennon is of a rebellious
nature. Once towards the end Dukey himself kills the “Ardh-Nar”, Prithvi pulls off his
John Lennon locket indicating the end of his rebellion against Dukey. Infact after that
particular scene he is not shown confronting Dukey again. At the same time what
Dukey has also done is killed his conscience after which he goes berserk. He falls
prey to Kiran and looks like he has lost his ability to take the right decision. Parallel to
this runs the story of Dileep and here his conscience is the girl Anuja. Both of them
first meet in the room where they are ragged, in a similar plight. After this while
Anuja throws all values to the air, same happens with Dileep. Towards the end of the
movie Dileep accuses Anuja of driving Kiran away because of which Anuja leaves
the home. At this point Dileep has actually driven away his conscience and after this
 goes berserk and goes on a shooting spree. Once he realises from Kiran that he has
been cheated his conscience returns back to him which is again depicted by Anuja
coming back to the house where he finally dies. Both the protagonists tried to shun
their conscience away when they realise they were doing something wrong. Now this
is something that is not true just in India’s case but nevertheless the presence of a
conscience that counters whatever you do and a sense of moral hypocrisy prevails
here. This is the land of Kamasutra yet there is a taboo and discomfort prevailing over
talking about sex. Khajuraho is a major tourist spot, yet we ban a painter if he shows
nudity. We call ourselves a peace loving country yet everybody knows the amount of
riots and feuds that happen inside. Hindu mythology takes Goddess Saraswati to be
the abode of knowledge yet there are many families that restrict or cut short the
education of a girl child. On the same lines, Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth yet
women do not inherit property as such which goes to the son. We don’t believe in
racism but we believe in castes. Attacks keep happening against the minorities every
now and then, women are treated derogatorily, certain political parties indulge in
regionalism but every morning children is school begin their day by reciting “All
Indians are my brothers and sisters”. This is the moral hypocrisy that is prevalent
here, on one hand is a sense of good that keeps questioning us and on another hand
are our actions that go against the conscience further shunning it away. This is
applicable to Dukey Bana and Dileep but can be extended to a number of Indians and
the country as a whole. We might be bang on in many things, at the same time we
exhibit a sense of moral hypocrisy in a lot of other things.

6. Politics: The movie shows a blend between college level micro politics and politics
on a larger scale. How politics is not a macro level phenomenon but starts right from
the college level or even before that is depicted in the movie. The process of rigging
the elections, presence of bigger parties behind the success of candidates, widespread
corruption during elections, killings; everything is shown in the movie. All these are
things that happen even during the general elections that happen in India and the
elections shown in the movie is a realistic portrayal. The movie also shows how the
lives of three people had changed as they get into politics. Dukey is a politician who
wants a separate state of Rajputana and gets killed in the end ultimately. Ransa gets
into politics in order to bring in some change in the society but again gets killed.
Dileep, who has no intentions of getting into politics, gets pushed into it and
 ultimately even he gets killed. Though mostly in a negative sense the movie talks
about how politics alters the lives of people irrespective of the cause or intention of
the concerned person in joining politics.

7. The movie also shows that Dileep, Dukey, Ransa are upper castes (in one of the
scenes). Karan and Kiran are also upper castes. The movie in a way shows how the
upper castes dominate the lower castes (the people who are smeared with the Gulaal
in the Rajputana speech) and how the laws and behaviour of the society is decided by
the whims and fancies of a few upper castes.

8. The movie also talks about what has changed over a period of time and what remains
constant. The movie starts off by one of the characters showing Dileep the way to his
house. This character says “Angrez chaley gaye, bar chod gaye yahan pe”. This
probably refers to the fact that the British have physically probably left India but their
practises and customs are still present here. Have we really got independence is the
question to be asked. In one of the scenes later Dileep’s brother consoles Dileep by
telling him that during his times ragging was far worse. This I believe is again an
indication of the status quo that has been maintained. If ragging is considered as a
form of manifestation of power then this quest for power still remains. The modified
form of “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna” song that Prithvi Bana sings talks about how people
as such have changed. Similarly if we take the character of Karan into account and
contrast it with the Karan in Mahabharata, both of them are illegitimate sons. Both
needed some sort of affiliation to gain some legitimacy in their lives. Yet the Karan in
Mahabharata was honest, benevolent and used the right ways to achieve things even
though his loyalty was with the wrong side. On the other hand, this Karan uses illegal,
illicit ways to achieve his ends and even manipulates his sister in his quest for power.
So, the conclusions that can be drawn from this are that though the context and
environment has not changed much, it is probably the people and their attitude that
have changed. And this leads to the context and situation getting exploited to satisfy
their own desires.

These were the various aspects through which I believe the movie Gulaal portrayed the story
of India. Though the exact meaning of the plot, the various symbolisms etc. cannot be
irrefutably stated unless and until it is out from Anurag Kashyap’s mouth, this essay dealt
with my understanding and interpretation of the movie. Right or wrong is a different matter
altogether, but the exercise was worth the time spent on it and the learning aplenty.