The film in which begins in the underworlds of Mumbai, India following a series of events. When Satya, the main protagonist of the film finds himself caught up in an ugly dispute with local thugs from the underworld community in Mumbai, creating a chain reaction of events of brawls which unfairly result in the lock up in jail of Satya. This is where we meet the character Viku leader of the mafia gang in which the two form a strong bond together. Once released Satya finds himself in the deep world of crime with Viku. With Satya’s intelligence and bravery it creates rapid growth for the groups mafia business.
The character of Satya (performed by JD Chakrabarti) is the main character of the film in which the movie revolve around. He is percieved as non-talkative, intelligent and always willing to fight for his self-esteem which finds himself to form this strong bond with his fellow co-star Viku.
The film was created and set in the non glamorised areas of Mumbai in India. A bollywood created film that made it big across India. Upon the pre-release the film was not expected to carry very far and expected to be underwhelming but prior to the release took the film industry by storm creating huge conversation on how well it was actually created. Exploring the underworld of the not so much seen lively-hood of the Mafia in India. The intended audience for this film are those viewers in India and surrounding areas of Asia. The film engrosses relate-able content of environments of India and culture of Hinduism. When watching this movie a foreign audience to the lifestyle of India will find themselves to have to make sense of the cultural knowledge of India, this being Hinduism as well as the knowledge of the underground world of Mumbai, this being the gang affiliation of the Mafia and what their intended business work is. This will allow the audience to understand how the movie is set and what Satya is involving himself in.
The film relates to this idea of cultural homogenisation/hybridisation: cultural proximity; the global north and south divide through its integration with the Indian society of today. The parts of India that are not always exposed to by everyone but for the audience they can relate to the current issue of the story line and culture surrounding it. The film holds a cultural homogenisation in its way of not creating a “rich” livelihood perception and rather an underworld/slums of Mumbai setting. The film shows cultural proximity across all cultures in its relation to the idea of the gang Mafia which are seen all round the world especially across European countries. It explores the work of such a world renowned gang business to inter-relate all viewers as well as at the same time creating cultural hybridisation, pulling away from the so heavily impacted western influence through its settings environment, a non often seen Mumbai. Moving away from the common western idea of gang businesses such as black gangster groups such as Crips or Bloods gangs and more towards an issue of crime that is actually seen upon in the streets of Mumbai.
I found the film really interesting in its way of exploring this rarely seen underworld of India and intertwining the culture of Hinduism to the viewer. It creates a sense of foreignness but intriguing attitude to a viewer such as myself who is so heavily bombarded with this de-cultural homogenisation of cultures outside of the western world. Branching out in a globalised mindset and watching a bollywood movie was enjoyable and in a way educative.
Carl Querin 