Gumraah Review: Aditya Roy Kapur-Mrunal Thakur's film is a decent entertainer that drags due to its lazy writing

3/5

An man named Aakash Sardana is killed on a rainy night. Arjun Saigal (Aditya Roy Kapur), a civil engineer, is the main suspect in this murder, according to Inspector Shivani Mathur (Mrunal Thakur), who is tasked with investigating the incident. 

When Shivani and her crew continue their search for additional evidence regarding the murder, a lookalike of Arjun by the name of Sooraj Rana alias Ronnie is arrested the same night for assaulting a police officer. This puts the police force in a difficult situation. Due to his past hostility with Arjun, ACP Dhiren Yadav (Ronit Roy) wants to ensure that Arjun is found guilty of this murder; however, Shivani goes to great lengths to gather evidence against Ronnie since she despises his behavior towards her.

But who committed the murder in reality, and what was their primary motive? Well, we will keep that for you to watch on the big screen.

Gumraah is a way too simple murder story done even more simply, with a script by Aseem Arora and a story by Magizh Thirumeni, that becomes pseudo-complex at the very end. 

When making a remake, the negative aspects of the original were carried over into the new version just as the positive aspects did. With simply a prompt, the narrative can travel back and forth, transporting us from six months earlier to three months earlier. The movement is erratic, and at times, you'll actually wonder what's happening. The entire romantic track suddenly seems to disappear midway through the movie, only to make a comeback towards the very end, after making the movie agonisingly slow in the first half. The second part cranks up the pace, but there is so much jargon that you can lose interest but try not to as the end keeps getting interesting as the film picks up its pace. 

Aditya Roy Kapur delivers a sincere act and convincingly portrays both roles when it comes to star performances. While Vedika Pinto as Janhvi's endearing presence brightens the screen, Mrunal Thakur as inspector Shivani is decent. Once more demonstrating his versatility, Ronit Roy plays the part of ACP Yadav with grace and elegance.

Although the plot appears to have some interesting twists and turns, Gumraah does not have the compelling and fast-paced screenplay that would have elevated it to a higher plane. The songs (even if there are just a few) also don't seem to further the story in any way. 

Verdict:

Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur starrer Gumraah is a decent entertainer with some thrilling sequences despite its shortcomings.