May 14, 2015 09:59 PM
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When I heard that two decade old rivals-Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla-are eventually coming together for a movie, I was waiting with bated breath to see the end product. Frankly speaking, I was thoroughly disappointed with the outcome. Gulaab Gang seems like an exercise in futility where the talent of these two iconic actresses has been wasted. I don't know who to blame-the first-time director or these two actresses for choosing a movie with such a messy script. I clearly doubt the intentions of the director-Soumik Sen-who thought he could put a generous dose of unnecessary songs and dance and come up with a hurried, illogical ending trying to do justice to the talents of both Madhuri and Juhi.
The story revolves around Rajjo(Madhuri Dixit) and her mission to educate the village in which she lives in and fight all the social injustices, forming a gang called Gulaab Gang with her pink sari-clad comrades. When a minor gets raped in her village and the case is brought to her notice, she decides to meet a local upcoming woman politician, Sumitra Devi(Juhi Chawla) and bring the case to her attention to do the needful against the culprit. To her shock, Rajjo realizes that Sumitra is corrupt and manipulative to the hilt and she offers Rajjo some compensation for the rape victim. This causes Rajjo to lock horns with Sumitra, with Rajjo initially coming out victorious. However, during the post-interval portions, it is Sumitra who is shown to be coming out as a winner with her machinations, finishing off Rajjo's comrades one by one. Eventually, Rajjo decides to take a final stand against Sumitra and then we have a predictable-as-hell climax which is too much to tell.
Soumik Sen apparently got confused while he was making this film as he had to co-write, direct and compose music for the film at the same time. That might be the reason he lost his vision and created such a mess of a film where he didn't know how to proceed. Some scenes might be able to leave an impact on you though, i.e. Sumitra Devi callously calculating the remuneration of the rape of a minor and offering compensation to Rajjo for the same and the other where Sumitra orders her associate to crawl between the legs of her female subordinate for raising his voice before her.
As the protagonist, Madhuri Dixit does leave her impact. But she was totally undone by a lame script which requires her to sing and dance even in drastic circumstances. However, Madhuri excels in the high-octane action scenes and proves that she's still got it. Juhi Chawla is good as the villain though her character reminds you of typical villains of the 70s-80s only this time it's a villain clad in a sari and sardonically biting her lips to show that she's getting angry. The supporting cast led by Divya Jagdale, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Priyanka Bose is terrific and they raise the bar with their mind blowing performances, giving able support to Madhuri.
Watch Gulaab Gang if you are a die-hard fan of Madhuri and Juhi. I wish the director invested some intelligence in the script rather than in the meaningless songs and dances.
