Please note, none of the mafia dons instill fear, nor do they endear. They just talk, shoot and then talk some more, lulling you into sleep. For an action thriller, the narrative pace is so languid, you can take your popcorn and pee break between the times when two bullets are fired.

Clearly, makers like Kaushik, who had a formidable box office record in the ’90s remaking South Indian films, need to borrow modern-day technique and storytelling tactics to keep the ever-evolving viewer engaged. In the case of GOG, the only ones who seem to have had a blast are the actors – Mahie, Anupam, Saurabh and Jackie, all of who ham.

The film is full of cliches of mainstream cinema. And the characters, like the parents of the boy, the quiet suffering mother of the girl, the villain who owns a meat factory, his spoilt son, the son’s sidekick, are caricatures that have been a part of Bollywood potboilers for eons. It’s time to bury these fast and furiously, rather than attempt to glorify them like KPK does.

Forget laughter, the frequent use of in-house jokes and one-liners that are staples with actors like Arshad Warsi and Jaaved Jafferi, who have built their personalities around comic repartee, fall flat in the film because they are so amateurish.

Preity Zinta’s maiden production has its aesthetics in place. Paris is enchanting. The actress is good but there ends the show.