Guns and Gulaabs review: This mid 90s'-style crime drama entertains in parts but is far from Raj & DK's best

Directors: Raj & DK

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan, Gulshan Devaiah, Adarsh Gourav, TJ Bhanu, Satish Kaushik, Pooja Gor, Vipin Sharma, Shreya Dhanwanthary

Where to watch: Netflix

Rating: 2.5 stars

Guns & Gulaabs wears its heart on its sleeve. The show is unabashed, like much of Raj & DK’s work on streaming so far. It does not shy away in being as 90s (or mayble late-80s) as possible, peppers copious amounts of pop culture references, and is funny in the most over-the-top way out there. All this is, no doubt entertaining but offers nothing new. The hallmark of Raj & DK has been the ability to bring something fresh in every offering. That is the one big thing Guns & Gulaabs misses.

Set in the small town of Gulaabganj somewhere in north India, sometime in the early ‘90s, Guns & Gulaabs is the story of the town’s criminals and cops. Tipu (Rajkummar Rao) has lost his father – a hitman to the local drug lord Ganchi (Satish Kaushik in one of his final performances), and finds himself torn between his love for Chandralekha (TJ Bhanu) and joining the gang. Ganchi’s son Chhotu (Adarsh Gourav) is desperate to prove himself to his disapproving father and wants to win this gang war even as a mysterious assassin Chaar Cut Atmaram (Gulshan Devaiah) is eliminating his men. And then there is the new cop in town – the righteous narcotics officer Arjun (Dulquer Salmaan), who has secrets of his own.

The setting, the characters, and the tone are all very desi pulp fiction and that works for Guns & Gulaabs. It is easy to get into the setting of Gulaabganj and feel for the characters. The eccentric, yet likable characters are straight from a Tarantino film, it does feel sometimes. But Guns & Gulaabs lacks the finesse of Tarantino, or even a Robert Rodriguez for that matter. What is clearly intentioned as a lighter take on the 90s’ action films tends to take itself a little too seriously to pull that off.

The slightly self-condescending approach, balanced with the seriousness of high stakes, has worked for Raj & DK in the past in The Family Man and Farzi. But in Guns & Gulaabs, they choose to take a looser, more liberal approach with humour where the characters are more eccentric and the setting more unreal. That means that when the show does get serious, it juts out. This is more Go, Goa, Gone than The Family Man and I did feel the director duo did not get that balance right this time.

The one place where the show does go wrong is that it underserves its talented cast. Gulshan Devaiah has the most interesting character and steals the scenes mostly. The actor shows his range after a more sedate outing in Dahaad and is truly the star. But Rajkummar Rao ends up playing a variant of some of his most popular roles – a simple with flaws caught in some unfortunate circumstances. He has done that with panache in Stree, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Newton, and does it here too. I just wish he was given more here.

The biggest disservice the show does is to Dulquer Salmaan, whose Arjun comes across as very unidimensional with the actor having very little to do in his scenes. His arc and character fall flat in front of other more masaaledar entries out there. Satish Kaushik, Adrash Gourav, and Vipin Sharma form a commendable trio and some of the most interesting scenes in the show are the ones involving just dialogue between the three of them. That is why Kaushik’s relatively shorter screen time pinches. Special mention to Krish Rao and Tanishq Chaudhary, two child artistes, whose characters offer more to the show than some of the grownups and they do bring their A-game to make the show more interesting.

Guns & Gulaabs, to me, is a great premise but with faulty execution. The show really comes into its own and becomes fun in the last episode, but by then your patience has already been tested. If you are a fan of the pulp fiction, you may just end up enjoying the ride but it does leave you with an aftertaste of wishing there was a bit more kick in it.