GangaaJal
Saw GangaaJal on the first day of its release. A trite screenplay which reminds you so much of the other angry cop in Bihar movie (Shool).

Synopsis
Gangaajal is the story of an honest IPS officer Amit Kumar (Ajay Devgan in another one of his intense performances. Lighten up lad, you seem to be bogged down with the singlehanded responsibility of attaining world peace) who gets posted as a Superintendent of Police in Tejpur, a district in Bihar. He meets all kinds of debauched people like Sadhu Yadav (Mohan Joshi acting like in many of his Mithun films) and his son Sundar (Yashpal Sharma, he seems to have perfected the act of the spoilt brat/thakur/goon). His superior DIG Verma (Dr. Mohan Agashe) is a corrupt cop currying favours from politicians. His subordinates DSP Bhurelal (Akhilendra Mishra in a mirth evoking role with his walking style), Inspector Bachcha Yadav (Mukesh Tiwari in a fine performance), Inspector Shaheed Khan (Ayub Khan), ASI Bholenath Pandey (Chetan Pandit) have become impervious to the goings on. They turn a blind eye to the antics of Mohan Joshi's goons.
Due to his diligence and integrity, Ajay manages to woo over Mukesh Tiwari. He makes an honest cop out of him to help him in his fight against corruption and goondaism. This inspires the other cops (except Akhilendra Mishra, who is a Mohan Agashe loyalist).
This leads to a number of encounters between them and Mohan Joshi and Yashpal Sharma, where more often than not, the cops lose.
This leads to a demoralisation for the cops, and then comes the gruesome turning point of the movie pre-interval, where the cops take matters into their own hands instead of resorting to the law. They take their revenge in a devilish manner on some goons of Sadhu whom they have detained. A revolution is brought about in the district of Tejpur, and people start taking similar steps to stop injustice. This weapon, whose metaphor is GangaaJal (the holy water) sweeps across the district as a means of purification of society.
At such a point, Ajay's wife (Gracy Singh in a small role where she fails to impress) acts as his conscience, and makes him realise his duty towards the society, and how he is setting a wrong example for the people.
This makes him take corrective steps to enlighten his colleagues and the populace of Tejpur.

Analysis
Ajay Devgan and Mukesh Tiwari impress with their performances. An ensemble cast of National School of Drama graduates as police officers and important characters in the film give it an authentic look. Ajay seems to be settling in for an intense actor image. This might prove to be his undoing, as he has turned in lousy performances in comic roles, and he might get slotted as a serious actor. Gracy Singh has a miniscule role, and mainly serves an act which anyone could have done. Yashpal Sharma deserves special mention for his act, but even in his case, its a role which he has done an umpteen number of times.
But, the "Been There Done That" award undoubtedly goes to Mohan Joshi. He has done zillions of roles of the corrupt politician/don/thakur to make him forget which film he is in.

Technique
Prakash Jha seems to impress in films which have rural backdrops. He has delivered duds such as "Dil Kya Kare" and "Rahul", where the story was based in an urban milieu. But, when it comes to depicting stories in the rural section of our country, he has given award-winning movies like "Damul", "Parinati" and "Mrutyudand". He seems to be in his element in this movie. Deftly dealing with the story line, and giving a tight screenplay with no room to breathe, which just falters a little towards the end.
Jha has handled the scripting, editing and direction of the movie. Background music by Wayne Sharpe is good.
The movie has no songs (except an item number composed by Sandesh Shandilya), and this is a relief for many. Cinematography by Arvind K. is fine.


Sidelights
This is a new section that I would like to introduce, where I will put in bits of trivia about the concerned movie.
This movie has had its fair share of controversies.
Prakash Jha was the chairman of the board for the national awards, which presented the best actor award to Ajay Devgan for "The Legend of Bhagat Singh". Though Prakash Jha did not vote in the Best Actor category, filmmaker Guru Adoor Gopalkrishnan was not impressed. He thought it was unprofessional of Jha to be on the panel, and cited the exmaple of Amol Palekar, who had bowed out of the panel last year as his film was being screened for the awards.
The movie has been inspired by an incident which became known as the Bhagalpur blindings (1979/80), where 30 men and boys were blinded while being tortured by the police. This incident got the support of the local populace as well as many outsiders who considered that the move was warranted due to the criminal acts of the victims. This also made many consider the moral dilemma of who will police the policemen, and who should judge the validity of such treatment. Similar incidents later occured in Rajkot in Gujarat, where 7 detainees were given an analogous treatment with a balm.
The film, though set in Bihar, has been entirely shot in Maharashtra's Satara and Wai districts, and all the crowd scenes of the movie have authentic villagers acting in them with some basic training they received.
The movie has had disrupted screenings in many parts of Bihar as Mohan Joshi's character shares his name Sadhu Yadav with Rabri Devi's brother, who is a politician in his own right (i.e. Goonda in his own right for Bihar).
Manmohan Shetty, who also produced Ardh Satya (a much acclaimed cop frustrated with the system movie of the 1980's directed by the then uncorrupted Mahesh Bhatt) is also a co-producer of this movie.

Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Some parts of the movie are gruesome. For those weak of heart, forget it, go watch a "Dil to Pagal Hai" rerun somewhere.
For people who loved "Shool", and thought how it would have been better with a protagonist who had more powers; here is the answer to your prayers.
For lovers of serious cinema, this is a good choice. Some scenes do not pass muster, but the overall effect of the movie is good.