Review: Gangster: A Love Story *Spoilers*

Gangster: A Love Story
Stars: Shiney Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut, Emraan Hashmi
Directed By: Anurag Basu
Released: 2006

Gangster: A Love Story is a unique tale about Simran (Ranaut), a girl who has no care for her life, Daya (Ahuja), the much feared gangster that she is in love with, and Akash (Hashmi), a sweet young singer that is in love with her and wants to make her forget about her troubled past. At the beginning of the film, one probably falls in love with Akash and believes that he is the big hero there to rescue to sweet, curly haired heroine. I promise you, that will change.

As the two get closer, Simran confides in Akash about her past in which she fell in love with, lived with, and ran with a powerful, wanted gangster named Daya. It provides some very interesting and fun flashbacks into Simran's life with Daya and what tore them apart (My favorite part of the movie). It is then that one begins to understand why this girl is so heartbroken and sad. Once Simi is able to open up to Akash, they begin to have a real relationship. However, their happiness is cut short when Mr. Gangster shows up and is not very happy to see Akash warming his girlfriend's bed. Simran is conflicted. The man she's been in love with for so long has finally returned to her and is vowing to change his ways, but she loves Akash as well. Then, when prompted by the police, she leaves with Daya. They find a place to hide out and he begins to work, finding that he actually quite enjoys doing an honest job. However, Simran still is not very happy as she misses Akash and then discovers that she has yet another problem to worry about. She calls her sweet singer and tells him what is going on, and he prompts her to turn Daya in. She does, and realizes much too late that her darling Akash had a very dark secret that shifts the hero label from him to the sexy, dangerous Daya. Want to know what that is? Watch and find out! ;)

Let me first say that this movie was amazing, mainly because of the story. I'd never heard of a tale like this before, and was very satisfied with it in the end. At the end of the movie, Daya and Simran both end up dead but until I watched this movie for the third time, I didn't even think of it in a sad way. They were finally together and able to be happy, which was something they weren't allowed to have when they were alive. At a first glance, that makes you happy, but when you look at the cracks you do begin to feel sad and wish that Daya hadn't been executed (Okay, maybe I'm a little biased..) and that the dirty dodgy Akash had gone in his place.

The acting was somewhat iffy, in my opinion. Kangana gained much praise for her role as Simran and even won the Filmfare award for Best Debut. Although she was impressive, especially since this was her very first role, there were several times when I thought she overacted and then there were times when she showed me nothing. As for Shiney, he was a bit better. He still overacted in some parts, but I always, always felt his emotions, whether it was anger, sadness and in rare moments, happiness. I find this especially impressive since he didn't have as many lines as his costars. It was all in his eyes and body language. He too won an award - the Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow (Male). Emraan? He was impressive, not amazing, but impressive. For what it's worth, until Daya came along (oh you know.. at 30 minutes..) I was falling for him (didn't last long, obviously..) He was very sweet and I now think that he is one of the better looking actors in Bollywood.

One more high point of the film was the music. Ya Ali, Mujhe Mat Roko, Bheegi Bheegi, and Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai were especially entertaining. I felt that the music went very well with the scenes it was paired with, and that came sometimes be an issue (We Are Family, anyone?) Altogether I found that this movie was quite enjoyable. I think it had a great story, but in some areas failed to deliver. However, being the huge huge huge Shiney, Kangana and Emraan fan that I am, I can watch it over and over and over again. I would especially recommend it for those who love those tragic romances that's a little rough around the edges. Who to watch it with? A sweetheart mainly. Maybe a friend. Not children though. It got violent at times (Hello, GANGSTER) and had some rough and vulgar dialogue. I hope you enjoy it :)

Rating: 8/10