New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- There are, broadly speaking, two types of Vishal Bhardwaj films. The first kind unfold with control and fixity of purpose: Maqbool, Omkara, Haider. The second, films like Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola, Kaminey, Rangoon, are looser, zanier, Bhardwaj like a witch gleefully tossing arcane ingredients into a cauldron. The first category has all his classics, and would seem the essential one to understand the director. Yet, the latter is where I think we see the full flowering of Bhardwaj's weirdness and breadth of interests.

O'Romeo is decidedly Bhardwaj as mad scientist. Over three chaotic hours, we get gunfights, bullfights, flamenco guitars, item numbers, Kumar Sanu nostalgia, Ganesh Chaturthi, Mumbai gang wars, a masque...