Frolicsome if not wholesome

Nonika Singh

The film begins with a joke, somewhat brazen for the sophisticated, but tingling if you don’t mind
your humour straight and crude. Guddu, one half of the Guddu Rangeela duo (Amit Sadh and Arshad Warsi) keeps cracking jokes intermittently all through the film.

Some cryptic, some heard before and one odd that truly tickles your funny bone. And the same can be said of the film. Set in Haryana hinterland, right now the flavour of Bollywood, the narrative amuses you, at times tires you at another even stretches on predictable lines especially during the climax. However, let’s be honest clocking nearly two hours despite its flaws the film remains eminently watchable.

Subhash Kapoor has very well learnt how to marry serious cinema with delectable humour. Though the film tackles the somber subject of Khap Panchayats and honour killings, he never lets the film hang heavy.  No sermons, no pontification here! Driven by its lead characters, what keeps the movie going is the tale of Guddu and Rangeela who run an orchestra party and double up as informers for thieves. Soon enough, the good-at-heart ruffians are drawn into kidnapping of a young girl Baby (Aditi Rao Hydari), who you presume is a sacrificial goat for honour killing.  Hold it, Baby is no baby but a fiery gal and thus begins the real story as well as tales within a tale.

For a while, all this has a thrilling edge to it and even when the cat comes out of the bag; Kapoor sustains your interest.

What takes away from the film are its several sub-plots, most of which are referenced from real-life incidents. So you have the khap politician nexus by way of Billu pehalwan (Ronit Roy lending the right degree of menace to his character.) Corrupt police, couldn’t-care-less sarkar, dirty CD saga, murder of a politician’s wife…Kapoor’s journalistic career clearly hasn’t gone waste! Only here he doesn’t rise above it as well as he should have and what you get is a story, which, like most journalistic stories doesn’t make your heart beat for it characters. In the end you have the usual filmy tamasaha.  The moment Rangeela (Warsi is top-notch) says, “Now we will sort out the matter out of court,” you know its revenge time Hindi film style.

Only Kapoor makes the final confrontation between good and bad guys interesting too. For in the background of ‘maar kuttai’ lurks this inspector (Rajeev Gupta) mouthing wisecracks that hit home. In fact, he has the funniest lines and one particularly amusing scene in the film.  

Alas, the sobering thoughts of the film unlike Jolly LLB remain at the surface level and don’t quite touch a crescendo as Kapoor managed to with his previous National Award-winning film.

Sure dear, it’s unfair to compare one movie with another. And if you truly want to enjoy the ride, forget that the captain of the ship took you enroute a more gratifying one in Jolly LLB.

 On the comparison meter, Guddu Rangeela might fall short as a stand-alone film it has its fun moments and also allows you to spare a thought, even if fleetingly, for those who have fallen prey to archaic diktats. Check it out for it may not be wholesome, but is frolicsome enough to keep you engaged.