There will be blood. In a film about blood banks, donors and stealers, and greedy smugglers, of course there are rivers of the good red stuff : you can't get away from it. You also can't get over the feeling of abject waste when a good subject is bled so much that lifelessness results. Rajesh ( Oberoi) hooks up with Shankar ( Hooda) to become part of a 'khooni' cartel : when there is more demand, and the supply is short, ready cash becomes the lubricant to stealthily shift packets of life-saving blood from point A to point B.

When he had made his acting debut with Monsoon Wedding and followed it up with his role as the stoic and intense Deshu in Ram Gopal Varma's production venture D, Randeep Hooda impressed the hell out of everyone, but it took years before people admitted that the Haryanvi hunk has indeed arrived when he starred in Imtiaz Ali's Highway. However, if you have somehow missed that, you just need to watch Laal Rang to realize that the actor is indeed an asset to the film industry.

Let's get this out of the way first. Randeep Hooda is hot. It is worth the price of a ticket just to see him wandering around in sleeveless vests throughout this film. He also takes off his shirt at one point, letting the camera linger on a really really admirable yet not obviously gym-sculpted, over-muscled back. That is a second ticket taken care of. As it happens, this man - who we first saw in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding in 2001 - is one of contemporary Indian cinema's most talented, most under-rated actors. It is a mystery why he is not a bigger star.

Set in Karnal, Haryana in the early 2000s Laal Rang is a crime thriller revolving around the illegal blood trade business. It is also a story of brotherly love; materialistic pursuits and how the subject of money changes inters personal relationships. Shankar (Randeep Hooda) is a local goon and a Messiah for the poor. He is also the kingpin of an illegal blood trade business running in the city. Enamoured by Shankar's swag and a Yamaha RX100 motorcycle, pathology student Rajesh Dhiman (Akshay Oberoi) enters the business and enjoys all its benefits. Shankar is like an elder bro and grooms him in everything be it booze, babes or blood business. Life is hunky dory till the police gets behind their back. What happens thereafter forms the crux of the story

Set in Karnal, Haryana, the story revolves around the blood trade business. At its core, the film is about friendship, love and greed. The narrator of the story is Rajesh Dhiman, a young man who likes to dream big. He is admitted in college for the Diploma in medical laboratory science and soon meets two important people of his life. Poonam (Pia Bajpai) who forms the love of his life and Shankar (Randeep Hooda) who he is utterly influenced by.

Randeep Hooda is one of the most underrated actors working in Hindi cinema today. But give him a role - any role - and he digs his teeth deep into it and turns in an absolutely riveting performance. Laal Rang, director Syed Ahmad Afzal's sophomore venture, is one more feather in his cap. Given how surprisingly good the film is, Hooda's spellbinding star turn isn't a wasted effort.

The best thing about Laal Rang is its novel idea. It is dark, murky and lays the perfect plinth for an enchanting film. The bad news here is that it is an opportunity lost. Director Syed Ahmad Afzal fails to lap up the chance to deliver something memorable. His approach lacks clarity. The convoluted screenplay is unsure about where it is headed. Despite having all the makings of a macabre thriller, Syed goes for drama. There is romance, bromance, tears, heartbreak and enough material to make 'fifty shades of sappy'.