Guns and Gulaab review: Not really binge-watch material; suffers in its pacing

Dulquer Salman and Rajkummar Rao singlehandedly carry the series 'Guns and Gulaab' on their able shoulders

Hyderabad: Dulquer Salmaan and Rajkummar Rao singlehandedly carry the series ‘Guns and Gulaab’ on their able shoulders. If not for them, the series which seems to be addled by its own opium infused plot sluggishly ploughs through making it ideal fodder for a straight DNF.

The story of Guns and Gulaab is easy to follow. Set in the ’90s in the fictional town of Gulaabganj, the rural area is a hotbed of drug kingpins out to land a major opium deal. Trouble begins when the big goonda Ganchi (late Satish Kaushik) falls through the roof of his house and lands in a coma. The duty of seeing the illicit opium deal with a ‘Calcutta cartel’ goes through lands on his greenhorned son Jugnu (Adarsh Gaurav). His job is to make sure rival gangs and the Narcotics cop Arjun (Dulquer Salmaan) don’t get a whiff of the deal.

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Running parallel to this is Panna Tipu’s arc who is a lovelorn mechanic; he unwittingly kills two people with his spanner earning his sobriquet and soon gets mixed up with the Ganchi gang. Assassin for hire Atmaram (Gulshan Devaiah) sporting a mullet inspired by a ‘90s Sanjay Dutt is hot on Tipu’s trail.

Meanwhile, there are three school kids who are the epitome of childish infatuations and lafating away their time. Gangaram, one of the kids, has a crush on his English teacher Chandralekha who also happens to be Tipu’s squeeze. This track felt forced and could have been done away with.

Raj and DK have done a great job writing the quirky characters and managed to recreate the nostalgic vibe of the nineties. Dulquer’s Arjun is well-etched out in showing his struggle to be faithful to his wife, while getting some side action. Adarsh understood his assignment in proving himself as the dependable heir ready to take over the reins of his father’s drug empire. Gulshan’s Atmaram who is a hired killer could have been a really interesting character; unfortunately, it isn’t explored that well in the series.

Visually speaking, it’s a delight to watch with its production values. The drawback of the seven-episode series is its pacing. Not really binge-watch material.