Guddu Rangeela, through its title, cast, poster, songs and marketing, has been promising a fun ride even if that assurance is overcast by the 2013 outing of director Subhash Kapoor and Arshad Warsi, Jolly LLB. But, thankfully, Guddu Rangeela begins well - with a boisterous jugalbandi between Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi). It's the sort we've enjoyed since and before Prakash Mehra's 1976 Hera Pheri. G & R are conmen who stage cultural-religious evenings. The one we land into is in Mirpur, Haryana, their area of operation, where a stage show is underway to celebrate a village boy getting Kenya's visa. It's a funny scene, even if it has been done before and better (Fukrey, etc.).

Guddu Rangeela is a film that can't make up its mind. Does it want to be a comedy about two bumbling wannabe gangsters? Or does it want to be a social critique on honour killings? Or does it strive to be a revenge saga of lovers against their oppressor? It tries to be all that and more. Not succeeding in being true to any aspect of its storyline. This is Subhash Kapoor's weakest film yet. Kapoor's previous offerings - Say Salaam India, Phas Gaye Re Obama and Jolly LLB were genuinely fresh stories. Each movie had an intriguingly new premise and the settings of North India and the distinct local culture added to these stories. Guddu Rangeela though set in the same milieu, doesn't have the backing of a never before scene concept.

It was touted to be a film which takes on the Khap Panchayat as it is inspired by the real life tragic love story of Manoj and Babli who were killed in the name of honour. So 'Guddu Rangeela' had all the potential of becoming a powerful, deeply disturbing film which shows the mirror to the archaic, barbaric ways that a particular panchayat functions in. But, alas, it is not. The scriptwriter and director (Subhash Kapoor) seemed to have gotten so carried away with the idea that he didn't bother to scratch the surface before starting out to make a movie on it.

Take the Khap and the 'paap' it engenders. Stir in a couple of golden-hearted crooks. Season with rage and revenge. And you get 'Guddu Rangeela', which is actually two people: young hot-head Guddu (Amit Sadh), and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi), older and the more seasoned of the two, both partners-in-crime. The film is fashioned as a jaunty ride through Jatland, a theme currently all the rage in Bollywood. Guddu and Rangeela are forced into petty criminality by circumstance and the menacing Billu Pehelwaan (Ronit Roy), the thunderous voice of the Khap panchayat.

Guddu was a stupid Shah Rukh Khan film, Rangeela was a terrific Aamir Khan film. Subhash Kapoor's Guddu Rangeela might have nothing to do with the Khans or their 1990s films, and yet it falls, fittingly enough, halfway between a really fun ride and a film that goes nowhere. It has an intricate, interesting plot and a set of fine actors visibly having a good time, but it lacks finesse and consistency. Still, thanks to the actors and the brisk narrative, it's certainly worth a watch.

The film, that's set in Haryana, starts off with the 'musical introduction' of the cousin brothers Gulshan Ram aka Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Radheshyam aka Rangeela (Arshad Warsi), alongwith the terror spilling villainous local political leader Billo (Ronit Roy). At the outset, while Guddu and Rangeela are the members of a local village orchestra party, they also moonlight as khabris (informers) for the local gangs. In one such case, the duo gets embroiled into a controversy that lands them at the police station. The corrupt inspector strikes a deal with them stating either they can pay Rs. 10 lakhs to him and go scot free or be a party to many pending cases, thus landing in jail.

Imagine a political goon from the heart of Jatland, who doesn't blink an eye before slaughtering people in broad daylight and threatening and slapping cops in public. Now, can such a person be blackmailed into coughing out crores of rupees for a video CD that just shows him having consensual sex? If your answer is yes, then Guddu Rangeela (with its warped logic) is probably the film for you... Starring Arshad Warsi and Amit Sadh, the film revolves around two minor criminals, who tip off dacoits about wealthy households after performing at orchestra events.

After making two back to back hits, Phans Gaye Obama and Jolly LLB, films that earned both critical and commercial acclaim, Subhash Kapoor is back with his latest offering Guddu Rangeela. Set in the backdrop of rural Haryana, the story of the film is about two small time thugs Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela( Arshad Warsi) who are lured into kidnapping a girl, Baby ( Aditi Rao Hydari) but as it turns out it was the girl who got herself kidnapped.

"Crime mein jab personal touch aa jaata hai na, crime passionate ho jaata hai." This dialogue ranks among the takeaway ones from Subhash Kapoor's tragicomedy Guddu Rangeela. Profession meets the personal, and passion overrides all else here. In a village in Haryana, two small-time crooks Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Earsi) double up as orchestra frontmen. A visa to Kenya here is celebrated with a 'Visa Celebration Party'. Guddu goes about collecting donations from people, while Rangeela engages crowds with his 'modern-day' Mata-ka song.

Guddu aka Gulshan Ram (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela aka Radheshyam (Arshad Wari) are the orchestra duo in Haryana. Apart from performing at the local events, the duo work as 'Khabris' (informers) for the town's goons. Whilst they try hard not to mess with the law, one incident lands them up in the police station. After fleeing from there, Guddu-Rangeela are offered a special job by Bengali, who calls himself the PR of mafia. They are offered a job of kidnapping Baby (Aditi Rao Hydari) a deaf and mute girl. The kidnapping is expected to fetch them ten lakhs and hence they take it up. Meanwhile, they learn that Baby has some other plans and in fact she is not even deaf or mute.

It's a timeworn formula. Take a pair of unflappable goofballs with a penchant for trouble, throw them into a series of life-threatening situations, and then watch them wriggle their way in and out of danger. Despite the done-to-death feel inherent in that construct, it can yield an engaging tale when informed with the right dashes of humour, and when pressed to the service of a higher cause. On both counts, Guddu Rangeela gets it bang-on. But the element of outright fun is somewhat subdued in this cops-khaps-and-crime action-comedy written and directed by Subhash Kapoor.

If revenge motivates you, go for it! But the main thing is to set your game in order - Viswanathan Anand. Journalist-turned-filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, auteur of films such as Phas Gaye Re Obama and Jolly LLB, is back with Guddu Rangeela, a film that tries hard to present Haryana as the perfect premise for a 'desi' western. He refers to Sholay, uses the basic essence of femme fatale and mixes them with a heavy dose of fist-fighting to guarantee a high octane 'macho' film.

In Guddu Rangeela, Roy plays the Khap leader, Billu Pehalwan who makes parents shoot their adult children for daring to love someone outside their caste. If the families err, he kills young lovers himself with great relish. But when he is after one Rangeela (Arshad Warsi) who looks as old as Billu himself, it cuts no ice with the backdrop if you consider the inspiration - a real incident of honor killing involving the case of Manoj and Babli.

Writer-filmmaker Subhash Kapoor is one of the soundest story-tellers in Bollywood. He won notices for Phas Gaya Re Obama and Jolly LLB. Guddu Rangeela, a Haryana-based crime drama with a Sholay-like twist, helps establish his credentials further. Kapoor's Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi), both actors in fine fettle, are wanting a quick buck. But they're chicken-hearted and won't get their hands soiled in anything grimy. They're happy working as tip-off agents, giving banditry clues to local gangstas. Pray, what do they want the ill-earned money for? Well. Rangeela has a back story.