Gully Boy

Gully Boy centres on Murad, a young Muslim man of 22 living with his family in a crowded Mumbai slum. He studies, drifts into marijuana, and nurtures a secret romance with Safeena, a medical student from a more comfortable background whose family, like his, holds tightly to tradition. What sustains him is rap: he writes verses about the life around him but has no outlet for them. That changes when he encounters a local rapper, Shrikant, known as MC Sher, who pushes him to take his writing seriously and perform it. Stepping forward means defying his father's expectations, and the tension between family duty and his own voice drives the film.

Zoya Akhtar directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Reema Kagti, with Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani and Akhtar producing through Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby. It followed Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do and her segment of Lust Stories, and preceded Ghost Stories and The Archies. Ranveer Singh plays Murad, Alia Bhatt plays Safeena, and Siddhant Chaturvedi plays MC Sher, alongside Vijay Raaz and Vijay Varma in a cast of 36 credited performers.

Released in February 2019 and running 156 minutes, the film cost about 6 million USD and returned roughly 28 million USD worldwide, a strong multiple on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.9/10 from 47,000 votes and on TMDB 7.3/10 from 223 votes, while critics rated it 7.4/10 across 26 reviews, putting professional and audience assessments close together.