Today India's Viacom18 launched the first trailer and poster for Anurag Kashyap's latest film Gangs of Wasseypur. Kashyap is at the leading age of gaining respectability and visibility for Indian independent films. While his work has strayed significantly from the subject matter of your typical Bollywood blockbuster, there is something in his work that is, nonetheless, distinctly Indian and that distinguishes it from many of the works of independent filmmakers working today. His films borrow from the great Indian film traditions and use much of the structure and conventions of Bollywood to tell stories that are outside the mainstream, and in some cases too hot to handle. For example, his film Paanch was declared to be too violent for audiences and has yet to see commercial release. Thankfully, Gangs of Wasseypur will not have that problem.

His last film, That Girl in Yellow Boots, was a big hit on the festival circuit, and was picked up by IndiePix in the US. Unfortunately, I don't think it was handled in the best possible way and it disappeared from theaters here without much fanfare, in spite of our own site hosting advertising for the film. For example, the film was playing in my home city of Dallas, but only in theaters that primarily show Indian films anyway, which did nothing to expand the film's visibility, as no very few non-Indians even know about the theater's existence. I'm hoping that Gangs of Wasseypur doesn't meet the same fate.

To that end, I was very excited to hear that the film was selected to play in Cannes during the Director's Fortnight section, and very shortly afterward it will be the closing night film at the New York Indian Film Festival. I am hoping for the opportunity to review the film as a part of that festival, though I'm not sure what the odds are on that. In any case, the trailer looks superb, and give the audience a decent idea of what to expect. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles, however, the language of violence is universal.