Gangs of Wasseypur

Gangs of Wasseypur (GoW) is a brilliant movie directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring talented actors like Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui this is one of my favourites. If title makes you think that this movie will portray classy gang wars with characters using brilliant tactics and fancy weapons, then you are clearly mistaken. Gangs of Wasseypur portrays human emotions in a very raw form. May it be Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat) killing Ramadhir’s (Tigmanshu Dhulia) muscle man or Nagma (Richa Chadda) searching for Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) in a brothel or ‘permission’ scene between Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) and Faizal (Nawazzudin), all actors have done a wonderful job displaying their emotions.

Movie starts with a team of armed men converging on their archenemy’s house from different directions. Leader of this pack is Sultan (Pankaj Tripathy). He’s shown toting a AK-series weapon. Considering easy availability of such weapons in illegal arms market, chances are that it was AK-47 and not Type 56 (erroneously referred to as AK-56) since it did not sport telltale folding bayonet. Of course like most props in Bollywood movies it is out of proportion and looks little different than the real thing.

Other members of his team are shown carrying similar weapons. Few of them were shown carrying FN FAL (aka SLR or 1A1) and Sterling SMGs. Although SLR may be easily available in black market, Sterling might be tough to get and is not very well-known for its performance in open spaces as well as CQB (Close-Quarter Battle). It fires 9 mm Parabellum rounds and hence shorter lethal range. Moreover it is fed by a magazine installed perpendicular to rest of the weapon. This decreases its utility in CQB roles like room clearing. Interesting weapon out of all this was what looked like a cross between INSAS and SLR. Although in terms of size it looks more like a SLR, gas mechanism is that of INSAS. Moreover fore-grip and magazines also looked different than standard INSAS rifle. For reference you may compare images below to get an idea about how different both weapons are.

FN FAL

INSAS Assault Rifle. Standard and folding stock variant.

As movie goes into a flashback, we get to see other weapons which Hollywood movies are deprived of. Primary one is country gun. Now there is a very specific term for country pistols in Northern India. It is called a ‘Katta’. Quality of Katta varies drastically. While some Kattas may have good quality and are fairly reliable, others do more harm to the person wielding/firing it. From what I know, Kattas are single-shot break-barrel pistols firing 12-gauge shotgun or rifle rounds.

Kattas are portrayed very accurately in this movie where a gunsmith says that he would need tubes from steering columns of trucks. His reason was that tubes from cycle frame are weak and would burst and create a ‘flower’ out of a barrel. In spite of using such tubes from trucks, Kattas turned to a flower on multiple occasions in the movie. Movie showed massive recoil from such Kattas during firefights.

Her name isn't Katta. She's Arianna and in addition to other wares, she's flaunting SA 58 (based on FN FAL).

Apart from firearms mentioned below, there were scenes where characters are shown using country-made bombs, double barreled shotguns and a favourite of Bollywood – Beretta 92. It is shown in various scenes spanning timeline. Yadavji used one to kill Shahid Khan. After few decades Shahid Khan’s grandson Faizal purchases Beretta 92 from Yadavji and ultimately kills Yadavji with same weapon ticking off one character off “Family Revenge List”. This also proved the adage “Live by the gun, die by the gun”, how apt.

Since there were few more characters to be killed, Director and actors did not want to finish movie so early, they kept on shooting ending with a 5-hour megathon. Wiser minds prevailed and decided to break it into two parts. My take on sequel to Gangs of Wasseypur – very thoughtfully titled Gangs of Wasseypur 2 – will come soon with its interesting set of weapons. As soon as I get time to watch it and writing bug bites me. Till then, happy shooting. Here’s a related song from GoW to keep you happy.