Gali Guleiyan Movie Review: This One Will Haunt You With Its Realistic Performance And Intricacy. Intriguing At Its Best!

This Dipesh Jain directorial which premiered at the Busan Film Festival and recently played at the 19th edition of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival unfolds at the dusty lanes of Delhi. In a dilapidated house, the haggard and weary Khuddoos (Manoj Bajpayee) spends his time spying on his neighborhood lanes through a set of CCTV cameras installed in his TV sets. Trapped in this cynical cockpit of his, he only has his friend Ganeshi (Ranvir Shorey) who is the sole guiding anchor he has in his crumbling world. 

Khuddoos has a bitter relationship with his alienated younger brother which further adds to his misery. The demand of his brother to return a family heirloom leads him to resort to a long closed room which opens a Pandora’s Box of memories, nostalgias and struggling emotions. Khuddoos soon starts hearing a child being beaten up brutally by his father from across the walls of his house. Soon he becomes obsessed and somewhat of a maniac on his quest to rescue this child and frantically starts searching for this child till it further takes a toll on his sanity. 

The screenplay is commendable to its core and unravels the character of a boy called Idu (Om Singh) the son of the menacing Liakat (Neeraj Kabi) who is the local butcher and who often bestows an uncalled for violence and torment on Idu. A special mention to the intricate encapsulation of the locale by cinematographer Kai Meidendorp. While Khuddoos goes almost psychotic in his search for the victimized child, Idu seeks an escape from his mundane and oppressive world. The only ray of hope in Idu’s life is his mother Saira (Shahana Goswami) who has surrendered to her hapless fate but is only expectant with life for her children. The various interplay between the characters coupled with the reiteration of emotions adds to the realism of the film. Just when you thought that the ambience and the complexities of the characters cannot be any more convoluted, there is a gnawing twist which is bound to enthrall you. This is one psychological drama with such inquisitive characterization where one can derive that child abuse and torment form the main crux of the film. 

There is much intricacies in the locales with the depiction of the forlorn, crumbly and ramshackled bylanes of Delhi . There are some slow placed and weary junctures in the film which could have been prevented with a more refined editing. Manoj Bajpayee is the main ballast of the film. He is flawless and is bound to leave you stunned with his performance . Ranvir Shorey is at his realistic best but we wish he had some more room to perform. Neeraj Kabi is terrifying and this definitely is one of his finest acts. Shahana Goswami is like a breath of fresh air, her character depicting motherhood and optimism at its best and lastly debutante Om Singh steals the show in this one, he is a budding talent one has to watch for. 

All the characters of the film undergo a diverse range of emotions like grievance, compliance, abdication, love, revulsion, sympathy and misery. 

But do not miss the film for one man and that is Manoj Bajpayee. His portrayal of Khuddoos who is deserted and cornered in his own dingy cockpit experiencing a palpable, hysterical and mental trauma is truly praise worthy and exceptional.