Gully Boy Archives

Before Murad, Saeed Mirza’s Salim Langda Was the OG Gully Boy Dreaming of “Apna Time Aayega”

Thirty years before Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, another Muslim protagonist like Murad seethed away at class inequality. Personal and political identities blend beautifully in Saeed Mirza’s Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, making it a richer, more complex telling than Gully Boy.

Pragyan Mohanty May 23, 2016

People

MC Tod Fod: Musician, Wordsmith and Eco warrior

Dharmesh Parmar was not just a singer, but also a philosopher, an environmentalist and the rarest of all, a principled artist.

Anurag Tagat April 23, 2016

POV

Bollywood’s a Sellout! Did We Really Need Cobrapost to Tell Us That?

A sting by Cobrapost, Operation Karaoke, set up a fake PR agency that asked Bollywood celebrities to endorse a political party for money. But after a slew of propaganda films and biopics, are we really surprised to learn that the industry is full of actors who are cosily nestled in political pockets?

Kahini Iyer April 19, 2016

Bollywood

The Half-Yearly Report Card: Ranking the 10 Worst Female Characters in Bollywood

It’s 2019 and yet in some of the year’s biggest scripts, actresses continued to play second fiddle. Save for Gully Boy’s Safeena, most of them were devoid of a personality. In one of the highest grossers of the year, Kabir Singh, Preeti exists only to get exploited, and in Kesari, we still don’t know if Parineeti Chopra is a ghost or a memory.

Poulomi Das March 31, 2016

Bollywood

Apna Time Aayega: What Privileged India Needs to Learn from Gully Boy’s Shabdon Ka Jwala

Gully Boy’s characters — not just Murad, but all the angry, hopeful, listless, fighting, restless people that crowd his world — refuse to be silenced or ignored. They don’t speak “our” language, but by God, they’ll have their say.

Sonali Kokra March 18, 2016

Pop Culture

Why Kunal Kamra’s “Bold” Satire Stands Out in the Age of Bollywood’s “Apolitical” Stars

In our vast and diverse democracy, is it really possible for every filmmaker, writer, and performer to have the same rose-tinted view of the country? Obviously not. That’s why Kunal Kamra, whose bracing political satire dares to challenge that status quo, stands out.

Kahini Iyer March 16, 2016