Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Neha Dhupia, Jasvinder Bhalla, Binu Dhillon, Rana Ranbir, Pankesh Mann, Shivender Mahal, Tej Sapru.

Director: Navniat Singh

Story: Dheeraj Rattan

Music: Jaidev Kumar

Action Ram Laxman

Rating: * *

After flying high with glory in his previous Punjabi cine stint "Dharti" and then mesmerizing Bollywood buff with his unconventional performance in, "Special 26". Now "Saaheb" of Bollywood, Jimmy Shergill has once again returned to his home turf in a Bieber-istic avatar along with "Delhi Heights" co-star, Neha Dhupia, in recently released cine flick, Rangeelay. This much awaited cine flick directed by Punjwood's ace director, Navaniat Singh and scripted by, Dheeraj Rattan, fetched an approximate footfall of 15% at its opening in the multiplexes of the region.

Rangeelay, marks its onset at location resembling a knacker's shop from where runs the office of "Rangeelay Fynance (Finance) Company", which has three freakish recovery agents, Sunny (Jimmy Shergill), Titli ( Binnu Dhillon) and Shortgun (Rana Ranbir). With onscreen proceedings of "Rangeelay" moving ahead, steps in the retired DSP Baldev Singh ( Jasvinder Bhalla) and Retd Major Sukhdev Singh (Shivender Mahal), both of whom are otherwise brothers, but don't share a very harmonious relationship amongst themselves but have a common point of affection and i.e. their niece, Simmi (Neha Dhupia).

As the frames roll ahead they showcase the gifting of a scooty by Baldev Singh to Simmi on her birthday which was subsequently taken away by Sunny and party as they mistake it to be the scooty which is financed with their, "Rangeelay Fynance Company" and for which EMI's are not paid. Soon after realizing his mistake, Sunny returns the same to Simmi but ends up falling in love with her. On the other hand Simmi is a Gen-X girl who doesn't believe in love and all, hence it compelling our Desi Bieber to try his various antics to woo this pretty girl. And from there takes over a journey of romance and fun.


Well, as I never forget to mention that in last couple of years Punjwood has touched the new heights through some of the marvelous cine creation, but unfortunately, "Rangeelay" fails miserably in taking ahead this successful spree of Punjabi movie industry.

So far we have seen that most of the Punjabi movies, which have charmed us in the recent past had been the rib tearing humor rides, but at the same time they had never compromised on the content front. Besides oozing dose of laughter all of them had a somewhat sinewy script to keep audience attention glued to celluloid, but in "Rangeelay's case script had been the major let down for the movie.

If we go by the past experiences then we have seen that, whenever Dheeraj Rattan has penned down any story, be it "Mel Kara De Rabba" or "Saadi Love Story", every time he has succeeded in adding a "Midas touch" to the appeal of the cine tale. But this time the script which this otherwise talented writer has jotted down looked more of a whimsical sophomoric representation in which he has not put even an iota of of his creativity.

As soon as the movie takes off, it somewhere down the line arouses your expectations for a great entertainment ahead, and that too, not because of any spellbinding start. Rather because of our previous rendezvous with Rattan's earlier written cine delights, but soon after its start, Rangeelay, nosedives and gets drowned in the reservoir of boredom.

Unlike his previous cine sagas, this time Rattan has completely failed in keeping predictability and monotony at bay and has somewhere ended up denting his repute. If we keep aside a few jovial moments then with a somewhat stodgy idea at its core, entire premise of, Rangeelay, looks absolutely worn-out and fails miserably in seizing fans attention.

If we go by the screenplay, then even on that front, "Rangeelay" disappoints you. Throughout the run time of the movie the screenplay of, "Rangeelay" looks like a vehicle crawling on a craggy terrain. As soon as the movie takes off, for a moment it gives you an impression that a joy ride is about to begin, but that notion remain with you for a moment only.


And that's because soon after that what awaits for you is a monotonous unnecessarily stretched saga which seems to be meant for testing the patience of the audience. Besides this it's the volley of some of the unwanted and uncorrelated cine sequences which leaves you scratching your head for the explanation of some of the unexplained onscreen proceedings.

Besides this even choice of the shooting locations somewhere down the line diminishes the over all appeal of the movie. As stated earlier, that soon after its onset the movie falls flat on ground, but what further adds to the plight of the audience is, those "unnecessarily stretched on screen proceedings."

So in nutshell screenplay of, "Rangeelay", is again a great let down for the movie.

Undoubtedly Navniat is one of the finest directors of Punjabi movie industry and enjoys a good repute in Punjwood, but this time this otherwise talented cine sorcerer seemed to be fumbling with his latest cine delight. Although in "Rangeelay", Navniat has tried to keep everything under tabs, but ultimately ends up controlling nothing.

Be it choice of the script or deployment of required cinematographic skills, on every front Navniat seems to be lacking the control that he needed to have. Besides this it's the under utilization of the potential of some of the ace performers like, Binnu Dhillon, which further catalysis the disaster.


Even in music department, "Rangeelay" don't enthrall you much. If we leave a few tracks like "Boliyaan" and "Yaara Tu" then rest of them look more of like obtruded aural delights, Incorporated in flow of the narration merely for heck of doing so. Frankly speaking this time Jaidev Kumar has failed in creating the magic that he could have.

As far as performance stage is concerned then, center stage of, "Rangeelay" is crowded with some of the best performances of "Punjwood".

It's almost a decade since Jimmy has been into showbiz, but so far he has not emerged as a conventional actor of tinsel town, but at the same time he has thoroughly proved his mettle as a character actor. And here at his home turf while being at the central stage, Jimmy has succeeded in doing justice to his character in every possible manner.

After scorching the glamour aisles of tinsel town, now sizzling Neha knocks the door of Punjwood. And believe me in her maiden Punjabi cine stint, Neha up till great extent has succeeded in doing justice to Punjabi lingo and mannerism. Although putting her in the league of, Neeru Bajwa and party will be too early, but in spite of that this sizzling diva have done an OK job.

Well, coming to Punjab's humor "Icon" Jaswinder Bhalla, all I can say is, "Long live Bhalla and his rib tickling one-liners", just like his previous cine stints, Bhalla has looked at his rhetoric best and every appearance of his leaves you in splits and his cinematic camaraderie with co-star Shivender Mahal gives you some genuine moments to smile.

Besides, Bhalla another "Maestro" of humor whose mere onscreen presence makes you merry is, Binnu Dhillon, although potential of Binnu's character looked quite under utilized, but in spite of that this ace performer succeeds in leaving his mark.

This time Rana Ranbir has thoroughly disappointed with his performance and it's not because of any of his faults, rather it's the script which gives him very less room to unveil his performance potential. Rana Jang Bahadur looked unwanted, Tej Sapru was just OK.

Well possibly it could be our subjective bias that after seeing some stupendous Punjabi cine flicks we have become so habitual to quality entertainment that any thing falling short of that remarkable benchmark of excellence, "that Punjwood movies have achieved in the recent time", looks imperfect to us.


Whatever, on the whole with a whimsical script and excessively dragging screenplay, "Rangeelay", looks more of an overstretched cine saga which completely fails in making any impact. So to sum up all that could be said is watching, "Rangeelay", is as good as "Chewing a Gum" which flavors your mouth initially but thereafter you are left with no other choice then to keep chewing it for hours.