With this film, Zoya Akhtar has for sure cemented her place among the most important mainstream directors in the country. Her staging is sharp. Alia’s entry scene is a brilliant display of her clarity in direction. Whenever her writing gets to an obvious, mushy zone, her cast steps up their game. This happens in scenes like the Gully Boy-naming, where the performances make for something organic out of an otherwise basic moment. That brings me to my grudge with this film. Having a solid platform to make a gritty rags-to-riches tale, Akhtar opts for a rather soft approach. The story is about someone who has battled both inner and societal demons to get to “his time”. Those societal forces are much more than a simple rich-versus-poor/rags-to-riches tale. A lot of deadlier social issues are in the offing, especially for Muraad’s background, but the film doesn’t want to go to deeper waters. The glossing over starts right from the softening of the “Azadi” track (self-censored lyrics), and moves to the narrative as well. This results in the film not giving enough to chew on. More a missed opportunity than an outright flaw. Loosely put, this is sure to work with connoisseurs of boneless chicken – tasty for sure, but there’s not much weight to the experience without the nitty-gritty biting-into-bones.