Guns & Gulaabs

Well, I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It starts well, the first two or three episode are quite good, engaging, and put together with a certain amount of panache. The trouble, for me, was that the later episodes don't build on that, rather they just kept adding plot. And more plot. And then still more. There's just so much plot.... Overall, it's a story set in a small, rural, and centrally located town in India, where government-licensed opium farmers sell their excess to various rival gangs. In this world, we follow a mechanic (who is the non-gangster heir of one gang), his friends, a local teacher who is the object of his affection, a group of her young students, a different gang leader and his disaffected son, another gangster and the big-city heavy hitter he's hired to get ahead, that guy's entourage, the new policeman brought to town to clean it up (or at least maintain a corrupt status quo), his family (including a daughter attending the same school as referenced above), and an assortment of additional hangers-on, bystanders, people who drift in and out of the story, and several others who have interacted with one or more of the above before this story even begins, and are looking for various kinds of payback or resolution. It's a lot. As I say, at first this is all pretty entertaining--there is comedy, romance, some thrills, action, and some highly distinctive, anime-like animated overlays. The trouble is that there are so many moving parts that you don't really get a chance to sink into any before the next one (or a new one) is introduced. I guess what I'm saying is that, had this been four or five much more tightly written episodes focusing on, say, only five of the plot threads, it could have truly been amazing. Sadly, though it just bogs down to the point where I nearly gave up watching halfway through, which would have been a shame as the last episode is rather fun (though it's twice as long as each of the previous six).