Jeevi Rating: 2.25/5
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Gracy Singh, Mohan Joshi, Yshpal Sharma, Akhilendra Mishra, Mukesh Tiwari, Ayub Khan, Chetan Pandit, Anoop Soni, Mohan Agashe, Master Yash Pathak, Prateeksha Khanwelkar, Kranthi Dinanath Redkar, Anita Kanwal, Paritosh Sand, Mahesh Gupta, Sameep Singh, Ajay Rohilla, Brij Gopal, Rakesh Vidua, Payal Srivastava, Deepak Chand, Padam Singh, Mukul Nag, Vishnu Sharma, Maanyata, Ajay Srivastava, Dayashankar Pandey & Sanjay Swaraj
Banner: Entertainment One & Prakash Jha productions
Director of Photography: Arvind K
Music Composer: Sandesh Shandilya (song), Wayne Sharpe (background score)
Writer - Editor - Producer - Director: Prakash Jha
Theatrical release date: 29th August 2003

Story

SP Amit Kumar (Ajay Devgan) is transferred to Tejpur district in Bihar state. Sadhu Yadav (Mohan Joshi) along with his ruffian son Sundar Yadav (Yashpal Sharma) controls the entire district with their mafia-politics. Being an honest cop he is, SP Amit Kumar begins cleaning up the system. In the process he meets up with stiff resistance from Yadavs. They apply all sorts of pressures on Amit Kumar, but in vain. Meanwhile, the cops working under Amit Kumar get inspired by him and try to clean up the system by illegal means. In one such incident, the colleagues of Amit Kumar throw acid (gangaajal) on hardcore criminals who were put up in the cell of police station.

This particular incident sparks off inspiration among the citizens in Tejpur. They start rebelling against atrocities committed by Yadavs. This upsets SP Amit Kumar as his colleagues and crowds are using unlawful means to eradicate evil elements. The rest of the film is all about how Amit Kumar ends up erasing the Yadavs out of the space.

Artists Performance
Ajay Devgan underplayed his character to the perfection. His body language, walking style and taut gestures magnified his portrayal of the character. He is simply amazing in that role of a strict cop. Gracy Singh - who played the role of wife and conscience keeper of Ajay Devgan - did not have much role to play. Mukesh Tiwari as a hyper cop did an extraordinary job. Mohan Joshi and Yashpal Sharma - as Yadavs - did their part well. The body language of Akhilendra Mishra is cartoonish and it evokes some laughter.

Technical deprtments

Story: The basic storyline of this film closely resembles cop films like Pratibhand and Shool. The following are the weaklings in the film

1. The title Gangajal symbolically represents the acid. But that acid is used only two times in the entire film. The story and narration of the film did not highlight the usage of gangajal (acid) effectively.

2. Though hero Ajay Devgan is given a underplayed role, he is shown as the guy who controls everything unilaterally. He recruits cops and dismisses them at his will. The hero has so much power in the hierarchy that even his superiors fear him.

3. The villains harass everybody in the town including the colleagues of the hero, but they can't do a thing to hero. They don't touch/attack hero or any of his relatives.

4. The characters of villains are not established well.

Screenplay - direction: The screenplay of the film is good in the beginning of the film. But it's clichéd later on. Direction of the film is good in parts. Director Prakash Jha who was known for making impact-making films in the past could not deliver the goods this time. Narration of the film is interesting in a few scenes, but boring most of the times. Director failed to get his message across to the audiences.

Music: There is one typical nautanki song in this film, which was composed by Sandesh Shandilya and was canned in an uninteresting mode. Wayne Sharpe, a composer from New York, has done the background music. The background score is average.

Other departments: Few of the dialogues in the film are hard hitting. A few expletives were liberally used throughout the film. Camera work by Arvind is OK. The film is produced on a relatively low budget.

Analysis: Here is the graph of the film. It opens with interesting narration and all the characters come in to play one by one. The first 20 minutes of the film is interesting. But after that the excitement dries up as the story falls on predictable line. The scene before interval is good. But the director let the script loose in the second half and made it a boring and clichéd fare by the time it reaches the climax. This film offers no entertainment value in terms of songs and comedy. There is lot of blood and gore in 'Gangaajal'. It's a serious film. It might do reasonably well in B and C centers. But it's a strict no for the people who look for value for money in form of entertainment.