Rangbaaz and Rangbaaz phirse (season 2) are about the only offerings on ZEE5's humongous sub standard show-menu apart from the Siege of 26/11, that has some amount of quality in its writing and a little substance in its making and treatment. Both the seasons are not connected in any way except for the fact that, they are of the same genre. Based on true events and persons, season 1 is about Shri Prakash Shukla, an UP based gangster in the 1990s played decently well by Saqib Saleem. Jimmy Shergill plays the notorious troublesome Rajasthani gangster Anandpal Singh who was killed in 2017.
Both the seasons are very watchable, if one doesn't mind a very little bit of Bollywood-ish melodrama laced into the otherwise decent screenplays. In fact these two seasons along with Siege of 26/11, are, out of a 100 other dubious shows are the on ZEE5 that is anywhere near Netflix and Amazon Prime video's quality offerings.
Rangbaaz strangely has a soapy styled but steady cinematography over the seasons. Music & production design oscillates from good to bad throughout. Costumes though decent in season 1, was terrible in season 2, Jimmy Shergill was wearing some atrocious clothes even when scenes were decent. Makeup are overdone in many places across seasons. Tigmanshu Dhulia and Ravi Kishan in season 1 and Spruha Joshi and Sushant Singh in season2 were the best in supporting roles.
Overall, Rangbaaz is definitely a very watchable web series that is equally entertaining and engaging at the same time. Both the seasons are free of any sex scenes, that is a rarity these days, so that it can be watched prime time along with family around. If one is a fan of crime and gangster movies, Rangbaaz and Rangbaaz Phirse will cater entertainment on a silver platter. 6.9 stars for season1 out of ten and 6.8 stars for season 2 out of 10 for sheer entertainment value, that is way better than what Mirzapur offered.