'Laal Rang' review: Randeep Hooda shines in an otherwise average film

Film: Laal Rang
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Akshay Oberoi, Rajneesh Duggal, Piaa Bajpai and Meenakshi Dixit
Director: Syed Ahmad Afzal

What it's about

Set in Karnal, Haryana, the story revolves around the blood trade business. Rajesh Dhiman (Akshay Oberoi), a lab science student, meets Poonam (Piaa Bajpai) and Shankar (Randeep Hooda) on the first day of his diploma course. He is influenced by Shankar, a charismatic racketeer who runs an illegal blood bank from a college campus. Rajesh joins the business to make money and lead a lavish lifestyle like Shankar. But then greed sets in and things go haywire. Amidst all this is the SP Gajraj Singh (Rajneesh Duggal), who wants to end this business.

What's good

Randeep as the lovelorn head of the illegal business is absolutely effortless. He has a brilliant sense of timing while delivering his lines. And while his character has the swagger and style, it also has many human qualities to it. Randeep is in good form here. Akshay is competent as the guy who wants to make a quick buck. The bromance between the two actors is likeable. The idea is novel, unfortunately, the execution doesn't do it justice. 

What's bad

Piaa overdoes the bad English bit. Her accent seems fake and annoying. Too much time is spent on developing the bromance between Randeep and Akshay. Rajneesh and Meenakshi don't have much to do. The songs don't help the movie at all. The biggest problem, however, is that when it comes to the final conflict, it resolves itself too easily. The director doesn't really go deep into the world of blood mafia and hence this is not a gritty tale. The issued gets neglected between bromance, romance and a Yamaha RX 100, which gets way too much screen time.  

What to do

Watch it if you can't do without your weekly dose of popcorn and cola, else wait for its television telecast.

Rating: **