Gully Boy

Gully Boy is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film is produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby and Excel Entertainment productions, with Nas as an executive producer. It stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, and features Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers Divine and Naezy, the film is a coming-of-age story about an aspiring street rapper from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai.

Principal photography for Gully Boy began in January 2018 and wrapped up in April 2018. It was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2019 and released in 15 February 2019 to positive reviews from critics. With a global gross of over ₹237 crore (US$million) against a production budget of inr 840000000, it is the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2019, and the year's highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas.

Plot
Murad Ahmed (Ranveer Singh), a final year college student, lives in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. His abusive father Aftab (Vijay Raaz) brings home a much younger second wife, much to the chagrin of the family. Murad nurtures a fascination for rap music. His longtime girlfriend Safeena (Alia Bhatt) is training to be a surgeon and routinely meets him in secret. Forced to work part-time as a chauffeur after his father is injured, Murad starts to write, with his lyrics informed by the inequalities he observes while on the job. Making the acquaintance of local rapper Shrikant alias MC Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi), he is drawn into performing his lyrics at underground shows and eventually uploading a video on YouTube.

Berklee College student Sky (Kalki Koechlin) reaches out to Murad and Sher, offering to collaborate on a new song. The accompanying video, which is shot in Dharavi, rapidly becomes popular. Murad shares an intimate moment with Sky, later lying to Safeena about it. When Safeena finds out, she reacts violently towards Sky by smashing a bottle of beer on her head. As a result, she is brought in by the police but is not arrested as Sky doesn't press charges against her. Murad eventually breaks up with Safeena. As Aftab's violence towards him and his mother escalates, Murad decides to leave home with his mother and work full-time for his uncle.

Later, when Sky expresses her romantic feelings for him, he declines her as he still loves Safeena and decides to reconcile with her. Murad and Sher enter a contest to open for Nas at his Mumbai concert, and Murad advances to the finals after a successful rap battle. Murad's confidence grows from interacting with rap fans' appreciation of his performances, and he finally stands up to his father and uncle when they belittle his passion. He later gets back together with Safeena. He goes on to win the contest, and the movie ends with Murad's family and friends watching as Murad, the winner of the contest, begins his opening performance.

Cast

 * Ranveer Singh as Murad Ahmed / Gully Boy
 * Alia Bhatt as Safeena Firdausi
 * Kalki Koechlin as Sky
 * Siddhant Chaturvedi as Shrikant Bhosle / MC Sher
 * Vijay Raaz as Aftab Ahmed
 * Vijay Varma as Moeen Arif
 * Amruta Subhash as Razia Ahmed
 * Ikhlaque Khan as Nasir, Safeena's father
 * Sheeba Chaddha as Hamida, Safeena's mother
 * Ayaan Zubair Rahmani as Safeena's brother
 * Rahul Piske as Chintoo
 * Jyoti Subhash as Dadi
 * Nakul Roshan Sahdev as Salman
 * Shruti Chauhan as Maya
 * Vijay Maurya as Ateeq, Murad's uncle
 * Srishti Shrivastava as Albina Dadarkar
 * Malika Singh as Suhani
 * Tina Bhatia as Parveen
 * Rahil Gilani as Rishi
 * Rahul Shahani as Shah Rule
 * Svar Kamble as Suhail
 * Chaitnya Sharma as MC Checkmate
 * Jasleen Royal as Juhi
 * Michaela Tanwar as Gemma
 * Mohan Kapoor as Mr. Narain
 * Kubra Sait as Scarlett
 * Emiway Bantai as himself
 * Omi Kashyap as Drive
 * Raja Kumari as herself

Production
Akthar has co-opted the story of two Mumbai based MCs, Naezy and Divine, into a musical story portraying a struggle of aspiring rapper and his surroundings that influence his journey. Principal photography of the film began in January 2018 and it was wrapped up by April 2018. American rapper Nas is an executive producer for the film.

Soundtrack
The 18-song soundtrack involves an estimated 54 contributors, which include rappers from across the country, deejays, music producers and beatboxers, such as Divine, Naezy, Sez on the beat, Rishi Rich, Dub Sharma, Jasleen Royal, Ace, Ishq Bector, MC Altaf, MC TodFod, 100 RBH, Maharya, Noxious D, Viveick Rajagopalan, and others. As music supervisor, Ankur Tewari has worked with these diverse group of artists in the studio, aiming to “bring the two worlds of hip hop and Bollywood together”.

A promotional single for the film, "NY Se Mumbai", was released on 12 February 2019 and performed by Divine, Naezy and Ranveer Singh along with American rapper Nas The track was produced by XD Pro Music, Toronto based producer duo, and Ill Wayno.

Marketing and release
Gully Boy was confirmed to be releasing on 14 February 2019 by Alia Bhatt. The first look official poster of the film released on 1 January 2019 and reconfirmed the release date to be 14 February 2019. Two new theatrical posters revealing looks of lead actors of the film unveiled for the public on 2 January 2019. The Trailer Announcement was made on 4 January 2019 with a small teaser in which Ranveer Singh is seen rapping. The official trailer of the film was released on 9 January 2019. The film has been selected in Berlinale Special section of 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was screened on 9 February 2019 for its world premiere at the festival. It was released in India on 14 February 2019 on 3,350 screens and in overseas market on 751 screens, with a worldwide count of 4,101 screens.

Plagiarism controversy
There is a controversy on whether the movie was a remake or not of the Eminem-starer 8 Mile (2002), alleged by many fans and critics alike before and after the release. Writer Aditya Magal in The Quint calling it, though appreciating the move as entertaining, after outlining what he considers the many similarities, "an engineered, Indianized version of 8 Mile", while journalist Rachna Tyagi of The Week, more harshly, as she rates it 2.5/5, terms it "a copycat Indian version." Denying the claims, director Zoya Akhtar responded that "I get it (the comparison). I totally understand it, because that's the reference point and that's what they've seen so, that's the immediate reference point and people here just love to do that."

Home video
The film was made available as VOD on Prime Video in April 2019.

Critical response
Gully Boy received positive reviews from critics with praise directed to Akhtar’s direction, Maurya’s dialogue and Singh, Chaturvedi and Bhatt for their performances. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 100% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10.

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave Gully Boy four stars out of five, writing, "Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt are devastatingly good in Zoya Akhtar's ultimate anthem for the rebel". Raja Sen of Hindustan Times called it "the first great Hindi film of 2019", while Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama went on to call it "Akhtar’s best film to date". Rachit Gupta of The Times of India also gave four stars. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave four stars. Livemint wrote, "It’s a hard-won transformation – bohot hard – and it rings true". Anupama Chopra commented, "By the end, I was wiping tears and cheering furiously not just for Murad, but for each one of these characters to find happiness".

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opined, "Gully Boy can be whole-heartedly commended for its craft, fascinating characters and Ranveer Singh. He absolutely kills the slow-burning rapper act. What's more, he does with a lot of energy to spare." Writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan gave Gully Boy three stars out of five and found it to be "softer than expected, but hugely entertaining and beautifully made". Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today rated it three stars out of five. Mayur Sanap of Deccan Chronicle also gave three stars. The Wire felt the film dealt with Bollywood tropes.

Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News rated the film 4/5 and wrote, "When he breaks down, you break down with him and that’s one of the biggest victories of Gully Boy". Among international reviewers, Lee Marshall of Screen International wrote, "Singh busts rhymes with the best of them in this energetic, entertaining film". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three stars of five. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended Akhtar for her direction. Anita Iyer of Khaleej Times rated the film four stars out of five. Jay Weissberg of Variety wrote, "Zoya Akhtar's most accomplished film to date is a mainstream rap musical about a Muslim guy from working-class Mumbai determined to break free from the strictures of expectation and class, all served up with generous helpings of deftly written hip-hop lyrics and a largely well-woven narrative" starring "Ranveer Singh in all his charms."

Box office
Gully Boy opened with collection of ₹19.4 crore on its first day. In two weeks of release, the film grossed ₹220 crore. The film grossed ₹165.58 crore in India and US$9.6 million (₹71.77 crore) overseas, taking its worldwide gross to ₹237.35 crore (US$million). It is 2019's second highest-grossing Bollywood film worldwide, and the year's highest-grossing Bollywood film overseas.