Guns and Gulaabs – Netflix
‘An underwhelming version of Mirzapur’, well that’s how this one felt like. A sleepy North Indian town, two warring gangs, drug mafia, throne thirsty heirs, merciless goons, corrupt cops…Guns and Gulaabs doesn’t offer anything that you haven’t already seen.
It isn’t bad, it’s slow. There’s some dark humor sprinkled here and there, and some action too, but it fails to arouse much excitement as there’s hardly any mystery. The whole fare drags, it could have been crispier, an episode or two shorter.
There’s one aspect largely different from Mirzapur, Guns and Gulaabs is sans profanities and adult content thankfully.
But what makes it worth a one-time watch, is the strong cast. Rajkumar Rao, Dilquer Salman, Adarsh Gaurav, the teenagers, all deliver decent performances. But the one actor who stands apart is Gulshan Deviah. He has shorter screentime unfortunately, but he nails his part. Vicious and hilarious at the same time, he lights up the screen. Would have liked to see more of him in the 8 episodes.
Guns and Gulaabs is okayish. I had hoped for a faster, nail-biting thriller from the makers, perhaps if you don’t pin your expectations too high you might kind of like it. But nothing much to write home about.
