Rajkummar Rao’s character, Tipu, was one of the most entertaining and fascinating characters in the Netflix series Guns & Gulaabs. Rao’s performance obviously elevates the character even more, and you are completely hooked whenever the man comes on screen. Tipu’s quirky dialogues, his hilarious conversations with his partner and friend Bunty, his approach towards life, his quest for love, and everything else together make him a rather memorable character.
Spoiler Alert
Tipu never wanted to become like his father, the dreaded right-hand man of Ganchi, Babu Tiger. People said that had Babu Tiger not been on Ganchi’s side; the opium king would have never been able to create his empire. Babu Tiger, had risked his life many times and saved the life of his master. Ganchi also trusted Babu more than his life, and when the latter was shot to death by Nadeeb’s gang, Ganchi personally went to his house to offer his condolences. It was probably the first time Ganchi had a conversation with Tipu, who stood there casually, unaffected by the tragic demise of his father. Tipu was never really attached to his father, and so his death did not impact him even a bit. Tipu seemed so normal that his friend Suneel actually had to tell him to at least pretend to cry.
Tipu didn’t have a lot of big dreams, but he wanted a simple and hassle-free life for himself, contrary to what his father had. He didn’t want to work for Ganchi, and he was very satisfied with what he did. Tipu loved a girl named Chandralekha, and he dreamed of marrying her one day. Chandralekha also liked Tipu, but she knew that they were two very different people with different sensibilities, which is why she could never adjust to him. One day Tipu decided that he had had enough and that he needed to express his feelings to Chandralekha. His proposal didn’t go as planned, as Gangaram, whom he had told to write the letter in English, wrote something very obscene and vulgar on purpose. Gangaram was Chandralekha’s student, and he, too, had a crush on her for the longest time.
When Gangaram came to know that Tipu was going to propose to Chandralekha, all he wanted was to somehow stop the union from happening. As expected, Chandralekha got angry at Tipu for saying such things, and Tipu, for the longest time, didn’t understand the reason behind her anger as he couldn’t read English and didn’t know what was written in his letter. After putting in a lot of effort, Tipu was able to propose to Chandralekha, but she told him that she could not stay with him as she felt that they weren’t compatible. Tipu was shattered, but he knew that he couldn’t do anything now to change her mind, and if that was what she thought, he would have to accept that they couldn’t be together. Two people from Nadeeb’s gang came to get their vehicle repaired at Tipu’s garage, and once they realized that he was Babu Tiger’s son, they started calling him names and telling him how they had killed his father. Tipu couldn’t control his anger, and he ended up killing them with a wrench.
The news traveled fast, and soon, the entire Gulabganj knew that Babu Tiger’s son had murdered two men. Tipu realized that if he wanted to stay alive, he would have to join Ganchi’s gang. Around that same time, Ganchi Junior, aka Jugnu, had taken charge of things as his father had been hospitalized and was in a coma. Jugnu wanted to give Tipu a chance, maybe because he liked people who had an underdog mentality and were ready to do anything to prove their worth. More than anything, Tipu was not at all greedy like the others in the game, a fact that we came to know when he struck a deal with police officer Arjun Verma at the end of Guns and Gulaabs. Tipu had realized that everybody was playing the game for their own benefit, and there was no point in giving one’s life to somebody for whom his existence was inconsequential. He had asked for just one small favor from Jugnu, and even that request was brutally dismissed.
Jugnu had taken the opium from the farmers, who generally used to sell it to the government, and Chandralekha’s father was one of them. Tipu went to Jugnu and requested that he just give that small amount back, but Jugnu was under a huge amount of pressure, and he asked him not to mix his personal and professional lives. That’s when Tipu went to Arjun Verma and told him that, according to his speculations, Jugnu would attack the warehouse where Arjun was keeping all the opium and try to take it back. Tipu’s speculation came true, and when a gunfight ensued between SP Mishra and Jugnu, Tipu, and Bunty took the truck, which was loaded with all the opium, and escaped from there.
It felt like Tipu was destined to take revenge for his father’s and Suneel’s deaths. Tipu and Bunty got to know that Atmaram had kidnapped Jyotsna, and Chandralekha and Gangaram had gone there to save them. Firstly, Tipu accidentally hit Atmaram with his van and then went on to kill all his men. Tipu believed that Atmaram had died, but it was said he had seven lives, and that day, it proved to be true. Even after being hit by a speeding van, Atmaram was pretty much alive. Tipu and Atmaram came face-to-face in Guns & Gulaabs episode 7, and after getting stabbed multiple times, Tipu put a bullet inside Atmaram’s head and killed him (at least, that’s what we thought at that moment). Tipu had come to know that his father had left a gun and a message for him. Though Gangaram didn’t remember the message, he did give Tipu the gun.
For the first time, Tipu felt something for his father. For the first time, he said that he did not only want to take revenge for Suneel’s death but also for his father’s. Tipu felt like someone had lifted a heavy burden from his shoulders. Tipu could have easily asked Arjun for money as, after knowing his plan, he did have some leverage on him, but that thought never crossed Tipu’s mind even once because he was not only an honest and extremely simple man, but his needs were very less. He was happy with what he had. It was the people whom he treasured and not money. Probably, Tipu felt like an outsider in his own family, and that is why he felt more close to Suneel than his own father. His relationship with his father was such that he always felt that he never understood him.
Tipu was surprised when Gangaram told him that his father had left a gun for him, as he never expected his father to show that kind of gesture. When he held that gun in his hand, it was probably for the first time he felt that he was the son of Babu Tiger. There were a lot of suppressed feelings inside Tipu, and though he had his friends around him, he always craved for that parental bond and guidance that he never got. When he was taking his last breaths, all he could think of was that he had taken revenge for the death of his father, and we realized how much it meant to him. Tipu had that fear that he wouldn’t amount to anything in life, and he often told Bunty that they didn’t have any kind of standing in a society where the rich and powerful always had their way. Tipu succumbed to his injuries and died while Chandralekha and Bunty were taking him to the hospital, but we could tell by looking at him that he was at peace. He knew he had taken revenge for the death of his father, and he was proud of that fact.
