FILM · 2009 · INDIA
Gulaal
28 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
According to director Anurag Kashyap, the film is dedicated to the song "Yeh mehalon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya. Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai" from Guru Dutt's Thirst (1957) and to its lyricist, Sahir Ludhianvi.
- #002
The censor board censored two dialogues in the film; one referred to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the other was a discussion about the origin of the Indian National Anthem.
- #003
Because of its shoestring budget, which helped the producers save money on lighting and extras, the film was shot mostly at festivals.
- #004
In the party scene that takes place after Dilip Singh's victory, Dilip Singh is seen shaking hands with Dukki Banna.
- #005
The film was initially produced by Jhamu Sughand, but after 20 days of shooting, production halted because of some personal problems Sughand was having. Gulaal was left unfinished along with two other Jhamu films, Johnny Gaddaar (2007) and Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008). The first was picked up by Adlabs and the second by Aamir Khan. Gulaal stalled for another 2 years, and then Zee Motion Pictures came in and backed the film. That is how Gulaal was finally completed.
- #006
Most of the actors are also part of the creative team. Raj Singh Chaudhary served as screenwriter, Piyush Mishra handled the music, and Ayesha Mohan worked as assistant director.
- #007
Drinks named Democracy and Republic Beer are shown, in keeping with the film's political theme.
- #008
The song Kiran (Ayesha Mohan) plays on the guitar in the meeting room is "Goodbye Blue Sky" from Pink Floyd's album "The Wall".
- #009
Prithvi Bana (Piyush Mishra) wears a John Lennon medallion.
- #010
When Anurag Kashyap learned that Ayesha Mohan could play the guitar and sing, he had her character Kiran sing and play the guitar in Gulaal.
- #011
The film includes a rendition, performed by Piyush Mishra, of Dinkar's poem "Ye dekh gagan mujh mein lay hai" from the 3rd chapter of Rashmirathi.
- #012
The film contains a scene in which the character played by Mahie Gill asks Deepak Dobriyal's character whether she looks like Tabu, a reference to the actress Tabu. This is because many people in the industry complimented Mahie Gill at first glance for looking a lot like Tabu, and even the actress Tabu herself commented on it. Anurag Kashyap wanted to put this idea into the film.
- #013
From the script stage to completion, the film took 7 years for various reasons. At one point it was almost shelved.
- #014
In the black-and-white frame of the film showing Prithvi Bana's (Piyush Mishra) childhood, a poster of Jim Morrison is visible, carrying a picture of John Lennon in his medallion.
- #015
When Anuja enters the classroom to teach, someone throws a paper ball at her. The word 'nihilism' is written on the board. This was probably inspired by 'The Big Lebowski'.
- #016
Duki Banna's (K. K. Menon) hesitant and semi-emotional portrayal invites curiosity about its resemblance to and the background of Frank (Ed Harris) in State of Grace.
- #017
Nawazuddin signed a contract for the film, but it was cancelled due to a misunderstanding about his fee. Deepak Dobiyal took on the role.
- #018
At the start of the bar scene, the poster of the French film Nefessiz (1960) hangs on the wall covered with film posters.
- #019
Anurag was shooting a high-intensity scene and asked Abhimanyu Singh to have one or two drinks. Abhimanyu thought Anurag said this because the weather was very cold and he was not wearing a shirt in the scene. But even after he went a few steps down, Anurag kept encouraging him to drink more. That was when the actor realized the director wanted to get a perfect shot. He was so caught up in the action he was performing that he did not notice his back pressing against the neon lights that were burning his back. Yet despite his injury, the scene in question turned out to be one of the best scenes that could have been canned.
- #020
Antara Mali shot for 20 days before the film was postponed and she was dropped from the shoot.
- #021
Anurag Kashyap said: "After completing two films that never saw the light of day - Paanch and Black Friday - I began working on a film with Anil Kapoor called Allwyn Kalicharan. Six days before the shoot, Mr. Kapoor pulled out of the film and it was shelved. When I started working on Gulaal in 2005, I was in my right mind and wondered whether I could make a film that would actually be released. The film is adapted from this song: Pyaasa - 'yeh mahalon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya.' By 2006, when producer Jhamu Sughand fell ill, I had finished 70-80 percent of the film. At that time he had three projects in the field: Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gaddar and Gulaal; the other two were saved because Aamir Khan's nephew and another star son, Neil Nitin Mukesh, were in one of the films. There were no buyers. I was now officially the 'unlucky filmmaker,' but I was saved after the release of Black Friday and No Smoking."
- #022
Mahie Gill's video in the TV parlour scene is from the Punjabi film 'Chak De Phhatte.'.
- #023
In the bar where Dilip lives with Ransa, every liquor bottle carried the label of a socio-political ideology.
- #024
Anurag Kashyap stated that Gulaal was inspired by Sahir's song 'Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye Toh.' The entire film is based on that song. The film ends with the song, along with the dialogue featured in the film, 'Yeh Duniya Jaisi Hai Waise Ki Waise Hi Bacha Lo.'.
- #025
Anurag Kashyap stated that Gulaal is the strongest film he has made. Although he had previously written films based on student politics without ever directing a film, this film has a fictional story set in Rajasthan and a love story in its background. He said he did not experiment too much with this film, and that when he wrote 'Gulaal' he always felt he was making something far ahead of its time, so now that it has been released he is quite confident about it. The issues he researched back then are now plaguing the country, and his film is a cry for democracy that shows the corruption in the system that is still prevalent today.
- #026
Anurag Kashyap said: "Michael Arrakal, who used to work at USL, was trying to produce the film. He couldn't, because Paanch had not been released and I had been labelled untouchable. We made a small programme and afterwards the film was shelved. After that I had to make Black Friday. Jhamu Sughand was a partner on Black Friday. After the court halted that film's premiere I fell into an even deeper depression. At that point Jhamu read the script of Gulaal and, based on his confidence in BF, said he wanted to make Gulaal. We began pre-production, and 20 days after we started shooting, new problems arose for Jhamu Sugandh. Gulaal was halted halfway along with Johnny Gaddaar and Jaane Tu. I made No Smoking, Return Of Hanuman and Dev D. Now we have finally decided to buy the project, complete it and release it. Now we have finally finished the shoot and we are hopeful. Now I have finally completed the shoot of my dream project. Seven years have passed since I wrote it, looking for people to take it on, and I hope we will release it with the same cast and as it was intended."
- #027
The film was not given a theatrical release in British Columbia, Canada.
- #028
With this film, Jhamu Sugandh took on Johnny Gaddar (2007). To arrange financing for these two films, he had to give up producing Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008).
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