Preface

Through this essay I have tried to extrapolate the movie Gulaal to paint a picture of India.
There are various aspects and symbolisms in the movie which both conspicuously and
intrinsically portray what India is. Infact, I chose the movie Gulaal as a topic because it was a
very contemporary movie and apart from the figurative way the movie was made, it was very
relevant to what India as a nation is today and one could draw parallels directly.
In order to reduce any unfamiliarity with the movie, the essay starts off by giving a brief
introduction to the movie. Then it delves into describing how the storyline, dialogues, lyrics
and other symbols in the movie depict what India actually is.

Introduction
Gulaal is a movie directed by Anurag Kashyap which released in March 2009. It stars actors
like Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava and a few prominent theatre personalities like Piyush
Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal etc. Piyush Mishra has donned multiple roles in the film from
acting to penning the lyrics to composing the music. The film is dedicated to Sahir Ludhianvi
and all the poets who had a vision of India. The plot starts off with Kay Kay Menon
vociferously addressing a gathering of people who have their faces smeared with colour. He
talks about creating a separate state for the Rajputs and retrieving back Rajputana from the
Indian Government. The movie then goes back on a flashback mode where Dileep Singh, a
Rajput from Bikaner, comes to Rajpur to study law. He stays in a bar named 69 with
Abhimanyu Singh Ransa who is a prince but stays alone owing to his hatred for his fathers
aristocratic ideologies. The docile Dileep Singh is quite impressed with the exuberant and
powerful persona of Ransa. Dileep is then ragged in the university hostel by Jadhwal and his
friends and he is locked naked with a girl Anuja in one of the hostel rooms. Anuja is a
lecturer at the same college. When Dileep informs Ransa, they go to the hostel to fight
Jadhwal and his group but are again beaten up. Ransa then goes to meet Dukey Bana (Kay Kay
Menon), a leader who is gathering support for his Rajputana movement. Dukey Bana gives
them his support in avenging Jhadwal. After that Dukey asks Ransa to contest for the General
Secretary elections. The Maharajas illegitimate daughter Kiran, aided by her brother Karan is
also contesting in the election. Ransa though is killed by Karan and Dileep is forced to contest
in his place and wins the election as Dukey rigs the process. Kiran seduces Dileep to become
the cultural secretary. Dukey Bana uses the money got as sponsorship for the college cultural
to fund his Rajputana movement. Dileep finds this out and though Dukey explains to him the
situation, he is not party to the propaganda going on. Meanwhile, Kiran gets Dileep to resign
from his post and becomes the general secretary herself and ditches Dileep. She even tries to
seduce Dukey but his right hand, Bhati steps in at the right time. Dileep meanwhile is frustrated
and angered at what has happened and goes on a killing rampage, even killing Dukey until he
finds out that Kiran had used him to make her ends meet. Even he is killed and the movie
ends with Karan being chosen the new leader of the Rajputana movement.
The movie is interspersed all through with poems and dialogues from Piyush Sharma (Prithvi
Bana) and songs which take the story further and convey the larger implications of the plot.
The film apart from having a gripping script has also been made very poetically and

figuratively. There are various imageries about India that build up through the dialogues and
poems which is cinematized with Rajasthan and the Rajputs as a medium. Though the plot
entails around Rajasthan and their struggle for a separate Rajputana, the incidents in the plot
convey a meaning which should not be restricted to that particular territory. The concepts that
build up as the story unfolds are listed below:
1. The concept of an Indian nation/Regionalism: The concept of one Indian nation
has always been debatable. Until the British drew up a map which facilitated their
administrative activities, there was probably never a notion of India. The number of
states in India has always been on an increase since the initial Constitution was
drafted. Even today within Andhra Pradesh, there are demands of a separate
Telangana state, the Mumbai for Mumbaikars propaganda by the Shiv Sena is well
known, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have always had tussles over the Kaveri river,
Kashmir has been deprived of its peace and still clings to India rather than being an
independent state, the North East is pretty much ignored and naxalism is breeding in a
number of places and we still call India a nation. The same is depicted in the movie
Gulaal. Even though the region of Rajputana, which was ruled by the Rajputs, was
converted into an Indian state of Rajasthan, the film shows how Dukey is planning a
movement to get Rajputana back. Apart from asking for a separate state of Rajputana,
the sense of regionalism depicted in the movie manifests itself at many other points. The
characters when introduced in the movie are many a time questioned about their identity
confirming whether they are a Rajput. Even the inspector during his interrogation with
respect to the absence of Jadhwal, takes a dig at the only guy who is not a Rajput.
When Dileep in one of the scenes tells Dukey that Rajasthan is not only for Rajputs,
the retort he gets from Dukey is filled with regionalism. Infact Prithvi Bana
questions the relevance of the Gulaal on everybodys faces when each recognises the
other. This is indicative of an artificial belonging, oneness and unity forcefully thrust on
everybody even though each one realises that they are different from the other. This is
true of the whole nation. At every juncture Anurag Kashyap has portrayed the
confused notion of a nation by flooding the movie with regionalism with respect to
Rajasthan. Gulaal is about any contemporary community that tries to further its cause
over another community in a paradoxically unified nation.
2. Fascism/Democracy: The quest for power is one of the main focuses of the film. All
of Dukeys efforts are directed towards gaining Rajputana. The Maharajas

illegitimate children Karan and Kiran are also in the same league in the quest for power.
Jadhwal, the person who rags Dilip also is in search of power. The reference to Dukey
bana being an autocrat is brought out time and again by Prithvi Bana. The lyrics of
the song Ranaji in the movie goes:
jaise

harek

jaise

door

jaise

sareaam

baat
des

pe
ke

iraaq

democracy
tower

me

me

jaake

me

lagane

ghus
jam

jaaye
gaye

lag

gayo

re

ban

aeroplane

uncle

Sam

jaise bina baat ke afgaanistaan ka baj gaya band

All these are references to Americas hegemony and fascist attitude and through this
song; Anurag Kashyap tries to draw similarities between Americas fascism and what
happens in India. He tries to bring in an Indian angle to the whole issue of fascism and
tries to state that it is not above India. This sense of difference is conveyed again
during the Rajputana meeting when everybodys face is smeared with colour except
for Dukey Banas. Again in the end when Karan becomes the leader of the movement
he first washes off the smearing, indicating the fact that he is no longer just a warrior
but a person who has ascended the throne of leading the Rajputana movement. A
sense of quest for power rather than the achievement of the original purpose gets
reflected here. Prithvi Bana even does a Hail Fuehrer to Dukey Bana. Dukey
threatens Jadhwal saying that he will be hung like Najibullah was hung in
Afghanistan. It was the Taliban that had meted out this treatment to Najibullah.
Anurag Kashyap here tries to convey that Dukey is also a form of Taliban and the
foreign systems we tend to criticize are also present in our own soil. Ironically, Ransa
was also hanged the same way but this time by Karan. This fascism is again relevant
to India. The whole caste system is a reflection of fascist tendencies. A system where
even today certain people are not revered or accepted into the society because of the
caste they belong to is a manifestation of fascism. At the same time we talk about racism
happening across the world, but isnt the caste system we follow a kind of racism. For
discrimination and alternatively power concentrations is wrong whether it is based on
skin colour or the family you are born into. The exploitation of the lower classes by the
upper classes can also be extended to be called a form of fascism. The whole question
of asking for independent states might turn out to be a fascist movement.
Whether democracy exists is another thing that has been questioned in the movie. We
see Democracy Beer, Republic Beer etc. All this is indicative of the fact that the

institutions of democracy, republic etc. has been productized to suit peoples tastes.
The choice of the product is also very wise. They have been portrayed as intoxicating
drinks. Now the movie also defines democracy as the Buy the powerful people, for
the powerful people and of the powerful people. This is indicative of the farcical notion
of democracy in India and a place where Democracy is promoted as an ideal to achieve
ones own objectives. It serves as a tool for vote bank politics. The concept of
Hindutva as such goes against democracy which speaks of equal rights for everybody.
Oppression of any segment of the society be it oppression of woman, a particular caste
or a particular minority community goes against democracy. Though India as a nation
might contradict its claim as a democratic and republic nation through its actions,
yet these ideals are very well packaged to beguile the public.
3. Nihilism: Nihilism is the word that is written on the blackboard which a character
Anuja wipes off in one of the classes. Nihilism is a position that values do not exist
and are falsely invented. Moral Nihilism, a form of Nihilism asserts that there are no
moral values and morality as such does not exist. Anuja wiping off this particular
word on the board was indeed very significant as it sets the tone for the rest of the movie
and the character of Anuja as such. Anuja, on an individual scale, is later shown
to have an attitude of nonchalance and indifference. This is applicable to the movie as
such too. A lot of things that are generally considered to be moral in India are thrown
to the wind. Killings, infidelity, corruption, foul-mouthed abuses; things that are
generally considered immoral, happen on a large scale. On top of it is the image of an
India which is peace-loving, idealistic and principled and a country that is rooted in
values. This notion probably goes for a toss when what happens inside India is actually
considered. Starting from the household where a daughter-in-law is tortured for
not bringing in dowry to the large scale riots that happen here, it really seems a nihilistic
world. Yet it is contradictory to the view foreigners take back of India on the surface
level. At the same time the system that we have in India is a self- destructive system
like shown in the movie. At the end of the movie one person Dileep causes a lot
of destruction and ends up killing the Senapati, Dukey. But the system resurrects itself
through the installation of Karan and the process might go on again and again.
4. Portrayal of Women: Women in the movie have been portrayed to have little say in
intellectual matters and are merely an object of desire. Dukey Banas wife, as shown
in the movie, does not have much of a say on what Dukey Bana does even though she

is shown to dislike what he does. Madhuri plays Dukeys mistress and is again not much
than an object of desire. Kiran, even though starts off like an intellectual character,
but as the movie progresses even she is subordinated by her brother Karan and is used
as a pawn to seduce people in power. All women are basically subordinated by
some man whether it be her husband or her brother or anybody else in a relationship
with the woman. The only woman who does not play a stereotypical role is Anuja but
then she does not have a substantial role to play in the movie. The condition of the
women shown here might not exactly reflect what is happening in the Indian society.
There have been developments in the status of women over the years in India but
predominantly even today a number of women are associated with household work
and being an object of desire rather than playing more proactive roles in the family as
well as the society.
5. Conscience: The movie has tried to portray a sense of conscience that interplays with
the main character as such questioning him/her on what he/she is doing. For Dukey,
Prithvi and the Ardh-Nar act as the conscience. Prithvi keeps questioning Dukey in
many of his actions and at the same time the Ardh-Nar appears on the screen
whenever somebodys masculinity is in question. Indirectly, Prithvi through his
poems and dialogues acts as Dukeys conscience and keeps questioning him whereas
the Ardh-Nar questions the masculinity of Dukey and thus the Rajput masculinity.
Prithvi infact wears a locket of John Lennon and like John Lennon is of a rebellious
nature. Once towards the end Dukey himself kills the Ardh-Nar, Prithvi pulls off his
John Lennon locket indicating the end of his rebellion against Dukey. Infact after that
particular scene he is not shown confronting Dukey again. At the same time what Dukey
has also done is killed his conscience after which he goes berserk. He falls prey to
Kiran and looks like he has lost his ability to take the right decision. Parallel to this runs
the story of Dileep and here his conscience is the girl Anuja. Both of them first meet
in the room where they are ragged, in a similar plight. After this while Anuja throws
all values to the air, same happens with Dileep. Towards the end of the movie Dileep
accuses Anuja of driving Kiran away because of which Anuja leaves the home. At
this point Dileep has actually driven away his conscience and after this goes berserk
and goes on a shooting spree. Once he realises from Kiran that he has been cheated his
conscience returns back to him which is again depicted by Anuja coming back to the
house where he finally dies. Both the protagonists tried to shun their conscience away
when they realise they were doing something wrong. Now this

is something that is not true just in Indias case but nevertheless the presence of a
conscience that counters whatever you do and a sense of moral hypocrisy prevails
here. This is the land of Kamasutra yet there is a taboo and discomfort prevailing over
talking about sex. Khajuraho is a major tourist spot, yet we ban a painter if he shows
nudity. We call ourselves a peace loving country yet everybody knows the amount of
riots and feuds that happen inside. Hindu mythology takes Goddess Saraswati to be
the abode of knowledge yet there are many families that restrict or cut short the
education of a girl child. On the same lines, Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth yet
women do not inherit property as such which goes to the son. We dont believe in racism
but we believe in castes. Attacks keep happening against the minorities every now and
then, women are treated derogatorily, certain political parties indulge in regionalism but
every morning children is school begin their day by reciting All Indians are my
brothers and sisters. This is the moral hypocrisy that is prevalent here, on one hand
is a sense of good that keeps questioning us and on another hand are our actions that
go against the conscience further shunning it away. This is applicable to Dukey
Bana and Dileep but can be extended to a number of Indians and the country as a whole.
We might be bang on in many things, at the same time we exhibit a sense of moral
hypocrisy in a lot of other things.
6. Politics: The movie shows a blend between college level micro politics and politics
on a larger scale. How politics is not a macro level phenomenon but starts right from the
college level or even before that is depicted in the movie. The process of rigging the
elections, presence of bigger parties behind the success of candidates, widespread
corruption during elections, killings; everything is shown in the movie. All these are
things that happen even during the general elections that happen in India and the
elections shown in the movie is a realistic portrayal. The movie also shows how the
lives of three people had changed as they get into politics. Dukey is a politician who
wants a separate state of Rajputana and gets killed in the end ultimately. Ransa gets into
politics in order to bring in some change in the society but again gets killed. Dileep,
who has no intentions of getting into politics, gets pushed into it and ultimately
even he gets killed. Though mostly in a negative sense the movie talks about how
politics alters the lives of people irrespective of the cause or intention of the concerned
person in joining politics.
7. The movie also shows that Dileep, Dukey, Ransa are upper castes (in one of the
scenes). Karan and Kiran are also upper castes. The movie in a way shows how the

upper castes dominate the lower castes (the people who are smeared with the Gulaal
in the Rajputana speech) and how the laws and behaviour of the society is decided by
the whims and fancies of a few upper castes.
8. The movie also talks about what has changed over a period of time and what remains
constant. The movie starts off by one of the characters showing Dileep the way to his
house. This character says Angrez chaley gaye, bar chod gaye yahan pe. This probably
refers to the fact that the British have physically probably left India but their practises
and customs are still present here. Have we really got independence is the question to
be asked. In one of the scenes later Dileeps brother consoles Dileep by telling him that
during his times ragging was far worse. This I believe is again an indication of the
status quo that has been maintained. If ragging is considered as a form of
manifestation of power then this quest for power still remains. The modified form of
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna song that Prithvi Bana sings talks about how people as such
have changed. Similarly if we take the character of Karan into account and contrast it
with the Karan in Mahabharata, both of them are illegitimate sons. Both needed some
sort of affiliation to gain some legitimacy in their lives. Yet the Karan in Mahabharata
was honest, benevolent and used the right ways to achieve things even though his loyalty
was with the wrong side. On the other hand, this Karan uses illegal, illicit ways to
achieve his ends and even manipulates his sister in his quest for power. So, the
conclusions that can be drawn from this are that though the context and environment
has not changed much, it is probably the people and their attitude that have changed.
And this leads to the context and situation getting exploited to satisfy their own desires.
These were the various aspects through which I believe the movie Gulaal portrayed the story
of India. Though the exact meaning of the plot, the various symbolisms etc. cannot be
irrefutably stated unless and until it is out from Anurag Kashyaps mouth, this essay dealt
with my understanding and interpretation of the movie. Right or wrong is a different matter
altogether, but the exercise was worth the time spent on it and the learning aplenty.