The movie Gunday opens with Irrfan Khan’s baritone adding to the background commentary. Shot in sepia, the scenes have recreated the conflict of Bangladesh without going into details. Anyway you don’t expect inhumanly gory shots from a Yash Raj film.

During the 1971 war which led to the birth of a new nation in the Indian subcontinent, several families were displaced. Most returned to Bangladesh but some, like the young Bala (Arjun Kapoor) and Bikram (Ranveer Singh), unwittingly end up in Kolkatta. Making a living selling smuggled arms from an army man to others, the duo get sucked up in the world of crime until the refugees turn into gunday or gangsters.

In an unmistakable ode to the ’70s films by director Ali Abbas Zafar (the camera focuses on the legs of two running kids slowly merging into grown-ups to convey the passage of time), Gunday recalls the ‘angry young man’ movies of Amitabh Bachchan. You will find shades of Kala Patthar, Sholay (the Jai-Veeru saga to a point), Deewar (suave criminals with attitudes) et al. Incidentally, what Big B could say in one look, Kapoor, however hard he tries, fails to do in the entire film.

Returning to the story, the boys get into coal trading and, thanks to a mixture of guts and a devil-may-care attitude, end up as a coal business mafia. Killing to win, success and survival becomes an art for them. Undisputed masters of their domain, there is no one in Kolkatta to stop them. Bala’s repeated statement: “Agar jigar ki jagah jigar hai aur jigar mein dum hai toh rok le aake” is taken as a warning. Shades from the film Don are also distinct in the dialogues like: “Hum gunday hain … na aaj tak kisi ke haath aaye hain … aur na aayenge!” It brings to mind Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue in the original and the remake, respectively: “Gyara mulkon ki police …” doesn’t it?

This is the point Irrfan, as ACP Satyajeet Sarkar, physically enters the film (earlier we only heard his voice, remember?) and also Priyanka Chopra as Nandita Sen Gupta, the seductress-cum-cabaret dancer. She looks absolutely ravishing while doing a pole dance on the song Asalaam-i-Ishqum. A woman is the best way to break any male bonding and Nandita does exactly that. With an amused look, Sarkar says: “Pistol ki goli aur laundiya ki boli chalti hai … toh jaan dono mein hi khatray main hoti hai!” From this point the story follows more of the ’70s and ’80s story line of friends turning into foes and ending up in a bad way.

The first half, when both Bala and Bikram bond and establish their muscle power, is fun. You enjoy their cheeky escapades no matter how crooked they may be. The only grouse here is that the two protagonists, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, appear to have walked off the sets of Ram-Leela and Ishaqzaade and directly on to the sets of Gunday.

There is another irritant: the in-your-face use of Kolkatta’s iconic structures. Irrfan’s narration states that the story is based in West Bengal. So there is no need to show the Howrah Bridge over the Ganges River in every other scene, nor Durga puja in the leftover scenes. Zafar bhai, we know it’s Bengal!

The third no-no is the make-up. If Zafar (Mere Brother Ki Dulhan) wanted to show the well-tanned, oil-dripping muscular bodies of the two, he should have made sure the dark brown makeup covered the entire body, and not just random patches! While shooting, when the shirt sleeves move a little further up, the asli gora Ranveer minus the tan shows up repeatedly in frames. There are many other oversights such as these throughout the duration of the film.

Once Nandita appears and the male bonding gives way, the film falls apart. Endless and over-long fight scenes and unnecessary songs leave one wondering whatever happened to the film that began so wonderfully.

The music by Sohail Sen is also nothing much to rave about. Of course the Bhappi Lehri song, Tu Ne Maari Entiryaan Aur Dil Main Baji Ghantiyaan … Tung Tung, has become immensely popular. Even the picturisation is great, and in keeping with the foot-tapping mood of the song. In any case, with Ranveer and Priyanka dancing away, the song has to look good. But Arjun needs to polish both his dancing and acting skills.

The cinematography by Aseem Mishra is nothing to rave about either. The coal mines as well as the Kolkatta cityscape could have looked much more impressive. Ranveer and Priyanka are watchable till Irrfan appears (supposed to be a special appearance, but he easily walks away with all accolades).The best things to come out of Gunday are the two boys — Darshan Gurjar as young Bikram and Jayesh Kardak as the young Bala.