Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela

About the film

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (transl. A Dance of Bullets: Ram-Leela), also simply known as Ram-Leela, is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic tragedy film written and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who also composed its original soundtrack. The film was jointly produced by Bhansali and Eros International's Kishore Lulla and stars Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh in lead roles with Priyanka Chopra making a special appearance in the song "Ram Chahe Leela". The supporting cast includes Supriya Pathak, Richa Chadda, Sharad Kelkar, Gulshan Devaiah, Barkha Bisht Sengupta, and Abhimanyu Singh. Based on the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Ram-Leela narrates the star-crossed romance between the two eponymous lovers from two gangster families, who fall in love with each other, but are forced to separate due to their families' centuries old rivalry.

Bhansali conceived Ram-Leela while working on his directional debut Khamoshi: The Musical; an insufficient budget led to the project being postponed. After reviving the project in 2012, Padukone and Singh were cast in the lead roles over many other choices. Principal photography began in Gujarat before moving to Rajasthan. Much of the filming was done on sets, despite previous plans against doing so. The background score was composed by Monty Sharma, while the lyrics were written by Siddharth–Garima.

Plot

In the lawless Gujarati village of Ranjhaar, known for its illicit firearms manufacturing, the Rajadi and Sanera clans have maintained a violent blood feud for 500 years. Tensions erupt when Bhavani, a Sanera, shoots at the son of the Rajadi chieftain, Meghji Bhai. Meghji tries to kill Bhavani in retaliation, but his younger brother, Ram, intervenes to save him. Unlike his heavily armed kinsmen, Ram is a free-spirited wanderer who, despite dealing in black-market cars, actively seeks a peaceful truce between the factions.

During the festival of Holi, Ram sneaks into the Sanera compound and meets Leela, the fierce daughter of the Sanera matriarch, Dhankor Baa. The two instantly fall in love. However, their secret romance is shattered when Leela's protective older brother, Kanji Bhai, accidentally kills Ram's older brother in a skirmish. Driven by grief and tribal duty, Ram confronts and kills Kanji. Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, Ram and Leela elope and marry in secret at a remote lodge. Before they can settle, Ram's friends betray his location to the Saneras. Bhavani tracks them down and forcibly abducts Leela, while Ram is dragged back by the Rajadis. Instead of being punished, Ram is hailed as a tribal hero for compromising Leela's reputation and is appointed the new Rajadi chieftain.

Back at the Sanera estate, Dhankor Baa attempts to force Leela into an arranged marriage with a wealthy expatriate. When Leela refuses and displays her wedding ring, her mother cuts off her ring finger in a rage. Upon hearing of her mutilation, Ram cuts off his own finger in solidarity. Desperate to escape, Leela sends her widowed sister-in-law, Rasila, to deliver a message to Ram. Instead, Ram's undisciplined guards assault Rasila. Learning of the attack, a vindictive Dhankor Baa retaliates by ordering her men to assault Kesar, Meghji’s widow, but she evades.

Production

Bhansali conceived Ram-Leela while directing Khamoshi: The Musical. The latter was critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful, leaving Bhansali with no money to fund Ram-Leela. He next directed Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam instead, which was also set in Gujarat like Ram-Leela. Feeling that directing two films set in the same place would be repetitive, Bhansali waited. He intended the film to be a tribute to Gujarat, saying, "I am Gujarati at heart. I love Gujarat's music, culture and food and I want to take all this back to the people." The film was dedicated to Bhansali's mother Leela. According to him, Ram-Leela was his "most violent film" at that point, while the filmmaking style was similar to his previous directional ventures Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.

Bhansali called it a "desi adaptation" of William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. He clarified that Ram-Leela is not related to Rama

or Krishna and that the character Ram does not depict the Hindu god. Speaking about the influence of his childhood environment on the film, Bhansali said that his family members used to speak "the most outrageously uninhibited things as though they were the most natural". He felt that the language heard by him were idioms for the current generation, who speak directly. Bhansali found it "very liberating to explore the union of body and mind in a love-relationship" and felt that it wasn't enough "to show a boy and a girl looking at one another when they fall in love". The lovers don't have sex together in the film as Bhansali felt the importance of showing the lovers "united completely in death".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album is composed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, which is his second film after Guzaarish (2010), and lyrics were written by Siddharth–Garima. Monty Sharma composed the background score. The album features eleven songs, except one track "Mor Bani Thanghat Kare" is a 1944 Gujarati song translated by Jhaverchand Meghani and composed by Hemu Gadhavi. The remaining tracks were composed by Bhansali himself. The soundtrack album was released on 4 October 2013 after a delay due to Ranveer Singh's health issues.

Key details