Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2

About the film

Gangs of Wasseypur 2 is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language crime film co-written, produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap. It follows Part 1 as the second of the two-part film, centered on the coal mafia of Dhanbad, Jharkhand and the underlying power struggles, and dynamics of politics and vengeance between three crime families. Part two features an ensemble cast with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi, Reema Sen, Piyush Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, Zeishan Quadri, Rajkumar Rao and Tigmanshu Dhulia in major roles. Its story spans from the 1990s to 2009.

Both parts were originally shot as a 319-minute single film and screened at the 2012 Cannes Directors' Fortnight but since no Indian theatre would volunteer to screen a five-plus hour movie, it was divided into two parts (160 mins and 159 mins respectively) for the Indian market.

Plot

Following the assassination of Sardar Khan, his sons Danish and Faizal, along with their cousin Asgar, track down and execute two of the killers. However, Danish is arrested during the retaliation and is subsequently gunned down at a courthouse by the Qureshi clan leader, Sultan, and a treacherous associate, Fazlu. At the funeral, a grieving Nagma Khatoon doubts the capability of her remaining son, Faizal, prompting a stone-faced Faizal to vow absolute vengeance.

Faizal initiates his retribution by tricking Fazlu under the guise of congratulations for a local election victory, only to brutally behead him. This act cements Faizal's reputation, allowing him to consolidate control over the region's lucrative illegal scrap iron trade. He establishes a tactical truce with Ramadhir Singh, securing political immunity in exchange for pausing their blood feud, and marries his sweetheart, Mohsina Hamid. Faizal eventually tracks down his father's third assassin, completing his direct revenge. In doing so, he also inadvertently avenges his grandfather, Shahid Khan, by executing the veteran hitman Yadav, who was on Ramadhir's payroll.

By 2003, Faizal forms an alliance with an ambitious businessman, Shamshad Alam, to maximize profits in the scrap iron trade. When Faizal discovers that Shamshad is secretly embezzling significant portions of the revenue, a rift forms, prompting Shamshad to defect to the police and provide wiretapped evidence of Faizal’s operations. Simultaneously, local merchants, exhausted by the violent antics of Faizal’s younger brother, Perpendicular, hire Sultan to eliminate him. Compounding the chaos, Ramadhir's political grip weakens due to the administrative incompetence of his son, J.P. Singh. In December 2003, Sultan's men assassinate Perpendicular. When a devastated Faizal attempts to retrieve his brother's body, the police arrest him.

Production

Anurag Kashyap said he had wanted to make a film on Bihar with the name Bihar for some time, but for various reasons it didn't take off. In 2008 he met Zeishan Quadri (the writer of Gangs of Wasseypur) who told him about Wasseypur's story. He found it unreal to believe that mafia activity and gang war existed at such a high level, and what really attracted him was not gang war but the entire story of the emergence of the mafia. According to him, to tell the story through a few families is what interested him but that also meant a longer reel. "We all know mafia exists but what they do, how they operate, why they do we don't know and that is something which forms the basis of the film".

According to Bajpayee, the role of Sardar Khan is the most negative role he has done till date. His motivation for doing this role came from the fact that there was "something new" with the character of Sardar Khan. Piyush Mishra and Tigmanshu Dhulia were given the discretion to decide who, among them, would perform the roles of Nasir and Ramadhir. Mishra chose the role of Nasir and Dhulia portrayed Ramadhir Singh. Chadda revealed in an interview that this role helped her bag 11 film roles. This was Huma Qureshi's first film, and she characterised this as her "dream debut". Qureshi landed this role after director Anurag Kashyap spotted her in a Samsung commercial he was directing.

Major portions of the film were shot at villages near Bihar. Shooting also took place in Chunar. During filming in Varanasi in December 2010, film's chief assistant director Sohil Shah died while performing one of the stunt shot scenes. The movie was dedicated to Sohil Shah, as is seen in the opening titles. The film finished production in late March 2011.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album of the two-part compilation of Gangs of Wasseypur has a whopping 27 songs, which are composed by Sneha Khanwalkar and Piyush Mishra, with lyrics by Mishra and Varun Grover. However, the album was split up according to the film's release. The film score is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. Part-2 has 13 songs which were released on 11 July 2012.

Marketing

The Gangs of Wasseypur franchise promoted a fake electoral campaign through the streets of Mumbai and Delhi to market the second instalment of the political thriller. In several areas of the two cities, political posters had been plastered, in which the two opposing contestants from the movie Ramadhir Singh and Faizal Khan, vied for votes.

The main cast of Gangs of Wasseypur 2 shot with the cast of Afsar Bitiya. Actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Faisal Khan) and Huma Qureshi (Mohsina) made a special appearance on the show. The show was aired on 7–8 August 2012.

Key details