Laal Rang takes us into the bloodied badlands of Haryana, where, we are told, a thriving black market exists for blood banking. This idea, on paper itself, is novel intriguing and innovative enough to grab our attention. The storytelling spiced up with dollops of devilish irony, keeps us watching to the famished finish.

This is a story of incomplete souls trying to make sense of their ambitions in an environment prone to corruption and criminality. This is the world of Anurag Kashyap and Tigmanshu Dhulia. But far less dark and moody, far more ebullient and mischievous. Director Syed Ahmad Afzal didn’t tread the tried-and-tested path in his debut film Youngistan. He goes even more down the unconventional road with this one, and why not? When he has at his disposal actors who know the badlands so well they look like they lived on the wild side all their lives.

Randeep Hooda’s Shankar is a blood-bartering mafioso who worships Lord Shiva and money (not in any order). Thanks to Hooda’s performance Shankar is turned into an arresting amalgamation of avarice ambition and compassion. He covets more of everything including humanism and empathy. Wisely director Afzal doesn’t binge on the blood theme. Instead, he concentrates on building a concernedly crafted judiciously grounded relationship between Hooda’s Shankar –the mentor– and his wide-eyed adulatory ambitious-in-his-own-right protégé Rajesh (Akshay Oberoi).

It’s eventually a guy’s thing. The two actors play off against one another with crackling gusto to bring to their individual and combined presence the kind of dark yet blithe camaraderie that made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid such a fabulous pair of guru-shishya friends.

While Oberoi imparts an endearing ingenue’s warmth to his besotted pupil’s role it is Hooda who holds the plot together. The wall of bravado built around his character comes crumbling down in unexpected bouts of sentimentality.

While using the theme of blood-banking to build a compromised spirit, the film also interjects some wry commentary on the way young ambitious small-town women subvert the concept of love to suit their financial purposes.

Laal Rang is a riveting topical tale powered by a Haryanvi heft that is captured mainly through Hooda’s swaggering performance. There are moments when his brotherly affection for Oberoi seems so genuine it almost seems to exist beyond the conflicts portrayed in the plot.

Laal Rang rolls up a swinging slithering mass of livid emotions and throws it in our faces. Though some of it misses its mark, this is undeniably a film worth a dekko.
Bloody good, I’d say.

Akshay Oberoi who played Randeep Hooda’s ‘blood brother’ remembers the film fondly. “Hard to believe it’s been nine years. Working on Laal Rang was a masterclass in every way, especially so early in my career. I had the privilege of collaborating with Randeep Hooda—undoubtedly one of the finest actors of our time—and a passionate filmmaker like Syed Ahmad Afzal. While I always wished the film had received more recognition, I’m grateful that over time it has found its audience. It deserved much more, but I’m immensely thankful it came into my life when it did. It will always remain a film very close to my heart.”