Gully Boy(2019)

Viva Pictures

2h 34m

Release Date: Feb 14, 2019 | Limited

A coming-of-age story based on the lives of street rappers in Mumbai.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Feb 14, 2019

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$2,045,068
Total US & Canada:
$5,566,534
Total International
$22,732,964
Total Worldwide:
$28,299,498

Current Showtimes

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(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Zoya Akhtar
Director

Ranveer Singh
Murad Ahmed

Alia Bhatt
Actor

Siddhant Chaturvedi
MC Sher

Vijay Raaz
Aftab Shakir Ahmed

Amruta Subhash
Razia Ahmed

Jyoti Subhash

Actor

Vijay Varma

Moeen Arif

Kalki Koechlin

Actor

Iqlaq Khan

Nasir

Sheeba Chaddha

Hamida

Ayaan Zubair Rahmani

Safeena's Brother

Rahul Piske

Chintoo

Nakul Roshan Sahdev

Salman

Vijay Maurya

Salman

Srishti Shrivastava

Albina

Mallika Singh

Suhani

Tina Bhatia

Parveen

Gallery

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: India

Language: Hindi,English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Murad Ahmed (Ranveer Singh), a final year college student, lives in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. His abusive father Aftab Shakir Ahmed (Vijay Raaz) brings home a much younger second wife, much to the chagrin of the family including mother Razia (Amruta Subhash). Murad is involved by his friend Moeen (Vijay Varma) is carjacking, but Murad doesn't like a life of crime.. Murad nurtures a fascination for rap music. His longtime and overtly possessive girlfriend Safeena Firdausi (Alia Bhatt) is training to be a surgeon and routinely meets him in secret. Safeena cant bear Murad speaking to any girl other than herself. She routinely gets into trouble with her dad Nasir (Ikhlaque Khan) and mom Hamida (Sheeba Chaddha), over her relations with Murad (which she hides successfully by lying through her teeth) and her violent behavior.Murad is a big fan of rapping and knows all the intentional chart-busters in this genre. 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 "MC Sher" Bhosle (Siddhant Chaturvedi) whom he saw performing in his college fest, he is drawn into performing his lyrics at underground shows (which he finds from Sher's Facebook page) and rap battles and eventually uploading a video on YouTube.The start is tough.. Murad shares his writings with Sher, but Sher encourages Murad to perform his own stories. Murad is totally out of his depth, but performs "Apna time Aayega" for the first time.. Sher takes Murad under his wings and mentors him. He introduces him to the world of Rap battles. But the first time Murad goes up in a battle, he takes all the comments personally and is unable to respond. He completely freezes up and runs away. Sher encourages Murad not to suppress his anger and let it speak through his rap. Sher tutors Murad on the nuances of tune and rhythm and this culminates in them recording the song in a studio.. Sher's English girlfriend gives Murad the rapper name "Gully Boy"..Aftab's new wife finds the video online and shows it to Aftab, who slaps Murad and asks him to concentrate on his studies. Ateeq (Vijay Maurya) is Razia's brother and promises to get Murad a sales job once he completes his studies. Aftab wants a RoI on his money and wants Murad to take the job. Razia's frustration with Aftab and his new wife grows (her status in the house is reduced to a mere maid-servant). Berklee College student Shweta "Sky" Mehta (Kalki Koechlin), an evolving musician, reaches out to Murad and Sher after seeing the video, 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 (they kiss in her car), later lying to Safeena about it. When Safeena finds out, she reacts violently towards Sky by smashing a bottle of beer on her head. Murad has a fight with Moeen, when he sees that Moeen has been using kids to peddle drugs.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 due to her possessive attitude. As Aftab's violence towards him, his brother and his mother escalates, Murad decides to leave home with his mother and brother and work full-time for his uncle Ateeq Khan. Meanwhile Safeena's parents learn about this and her mother stops her college and plans to get her married. Safeena begs her dad not to stop her college as she is a brilliant student and only 1.5 yrs are left. Later, when Sky expresses her romantic feelings for him, he declines her as he still loves Safeena and decides to reconcile with her. Murad cant make ends meet and ends up jacking more cars with Moeen to make some extra cash. Moeen is arrested by the police, but he doesn't rat Murad out. Murad offers Moeen to testify and take the blame, but Moeen tells him that one person from their group has a chance to make it big.. he forbids Murad from mortgaging his future and tells him to make his own destiny.Murad and Sher enter a contest to open for Nas (a world famous rapper) at his Mumbai concert (plus a Rs 10 Lakh prize money), and Murad advances to the finals after a successful rap battle (Interestingly Sher doesn't make it to the finals). Murad's confidence grows from interacting with rap fans' appreciation of his performances, and he finally stands up to Aftab and Ateeq when they belittle his passion. He later gets back together with Safeena. He goes on to win the contest (Performs Apna time Aayega again) and becomes one of India's top rappers. The film ends with his friends, family and Safeena watching him happily as he begins his triumphant opening performance. Murad bails out Moeen with his prize money.

Storyline

"Gully Boy" is a film about a 22-year-old boy "Murad" from a ghetto in Mumbai, India. The son of a driver, his parents worked hard to get him educated so that he could have a white collar job. Meanwhile, Murad realizes his calling to be a rapper. Authentic Hip Hop in India is a recent phenomenon and like anywhere else in the world, is rising from the streets. Art is a distant dream for the colonized poor of India and this story is about Murad's journey from realizing his love for rap and chasing his dream to inadvertently transcending his class. The film showcases street rap from the crevices of Mumbai's by lanes. The poetry is conscious of the city's socio-economic fabric and highlights the challenges faced by the disenfranchised youth in the minority population. Murad (Singh) is the 22-year-old son of a driver in Mumbai. His parents have worked to get him educated so that he could find a white-collar job. Instead he finds a love for hip-hop and comes of age while using his music to highlight inequalities.