If there’s one filmmaker who seems to hold a PhD in the gangsters of the heartland, it’s Tigmanshu Dhulia . Paan Singh Tomar and Bullett Raja were directed by him, while Gangs of Wasseypur showcased how effortless he is when enacting such parts. Ghamasaan once again puts him in familiar territory, and, for better or worse, Dhulia knows this world all too well.
The no-nonsense, straightforward nature of Ghamasaan is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness. This is perhaps the most conventional plot one can imagine for a cop-versus-criminal film. The quintessential corrupt politician who has become a staple of such films, the corrupt cop, the determined officer- you get the drift. These are all familiar archetypes that we have seen countless times before. I keep mentioning this in my reviews nowadays, but given how much of a rarity it has unfortunately become, it is worth pointing out that the film has been shot on real locations rather than against green screens. It lends the film a sense of authenticity, transporting you to the hinterlands and establishing the mood immediately. Overall, Ghamasaan is a film that benefits from Tigmanshu’s familiarity with the world it inhabits, even if it doesn’t always find anything particularly new to say about it. There is enough craft and authenticity here to make it a reasonably engaging watch, but not enough freshness to make it memorable.
The beats are so familiar by now that the audience can often predict what is coming next even before the scene has played out.
