The story begins with a narration of the independence of Bangladesh after the 1971 war. Amongst those affected by the partition are two orphans: Bikram Bose (Ranveer Singh) and Bala Bhattacharya (Arjun Kapoor). They meet Lateef (Pankaj Tripathi), who offers them food in exchange for smuggling guns. One of Lateef's customers, an army officer, wants one of the boys as his sex slave; if Lateef refuses, his daughter will be taken. Lateef chooses Bala at first, but Bikram insists that he will go instead. Bala refuses to leave his best friend, and returns to save Bikram from the officer, whom they kill. This makes them partners in crime; when the army chases them, Lateef is killed while trying to protect the duo. Bikram and Bala flee to Calcutta and work at a restaurant. After being mistreated and insulted, they learn that pilfering coal is a way to make easy money.

As adults, Bikram and Bala loot coal trains and sell the pilfered coal; their chief competitor is Dibakar (Deepraj Rana). When Bikram and Bala loot one of Dibakar's trains, his men threaten them. Undeterred, they promise to loot his next train as well. When they arrive to loot Dibakar's train, he calls them "refugees" and a fight ensues. Before they kill Dibakar, Bikram and Bala tell him that they are Indians, not refugees. Now having control of the coal business, they expand into other businesses by laundering money with Kaali Kaka's (Saurabh Shukla) help. They become local heroes by building hospitals, donating to charities and building schools. Although they provide jobs for the poor, their business dealings make them a target of the law. Assistant Commissioner of Police Satyajeet Sarkar (Irrfan Khan) is summoned to arrest Bikram and Bala. Sarkar, knowing that they can cover their tracks with Kaali Kaka, warns them that he will arrest them when he finds evidence against them.

A businessman invites Bikram and Bala to the opening of his new club in Calcutta. He introduces them to Himanshu (Anant Sharma), his assistant. They meet Nandita (Priyanka Chopra), a cabaret dancer. They both fall in love with her, and decide that whoever wins her heart will marry her. Nandita invites them to a theatre to tell them whom she loves. Bala gets into a fight there with a man who insults Nandita and shoots him. Bikram tells Bala to go into hiding, promising not to see Nandita until he returns. Sarkar warns Bikram that if Bala returns to Calcutta, he will be killed. Nandita tells Bikram that she loves him, but if they do not observe Durga Puja together she will never see him again. Bikram agrees to meet her. Later, Bala learns about this through Himanshu, and returns to Calcutta. Enraged when he sees Bikram and Nandita, Bala accuses Bikram of breaking his promise and shoots at him. He hits Nandita instead, who is rushed to hospital and survives.

Bala learns that their businesses are in Bikram's name, and demands his share. Bikram agrees, even sharing the ration card which is proof of their Indian nationality. Bala suggests sharing Nandita; angering Bikram, who fights Bala. Bikram wins but spares Bala as he saved his life. However, he warns Bala that if he bothers Nandita he will kill him. When Bikram proposes to Nandita, she says she cannot marry him unless he leaves his criminal life behind; Bikram agrees. A vengeful Bala blows up Bikram's coal mines and kidnaps Nandita. As Bikram prepares to kill Bala, Sarkar asks Bikram to turn the state's evidence against Bala so he and Nandita can marry. Bala tells Nandita that he will kill her unless she leaves Bikram; Nandita retorts that she loves Bikram. Heartbroken, Bala apologises to Nandita and returns her to Bikram. In reality, Nandita is an undercover police officer helping Sarkar arrest Bikram and Bala. When Bikram prepares to help Sarkar implicate Bala, he encounters the man Bala supposedly killed and learns that he is a police officer. Nandita tries to convince Bikram that he will be treated leniently by the law, he believes the law was responsible for destroying their childhood. Nandita reveals her identity to Bikram, and he realises that she was a trap Sarkar set to separate him from Bala. When she asks him to surrender, he refuses and rejoins Bala.

Himanshu brings Bala into the coal mine to meet Dutta. Himanshu tells him that he is Dibakar's brother, and saw him murdered by Bikram and Bala. He reveals Nandita's identity and tries to kill Bala, but Bikram rescues him and Bala impales Himanshu. While trying to escape, they are then cornered by Sarkar and Nandita, who again tells Bikram that she loves him and he should surrender; Sarkar also tries to convince Bala to surrender. Bikram and Bala see a passing train and run towards it. As Bikram and Bala are inches away from catching the train, Sarkar and Nandita shoot at them. The movie ends with the train passing away without the two implying that they were killed.

The cast is listed below:

• Ranveer Singh as Bikram Bose
  • Darshan Gurjar as young Bikram Bose
• Arjun Kapoor as Bala Bhattacharya
  • Jayesh Vijay Kardak as young Bala Bhattacharya
• Priyanka Chopra as Nandita Sengupta
• Irrfan Khan as ACP Satyajeet Sarkar
• Karan Aanand as Dutta
• Saurabh Shukla as Kaali Kaka
• Pankaj Tripathi as Lateef
• Victor Banerjee as SP of Calcutta
• Anant Vidhaat Sharma as Himanshu
• Deepraj Rana as Dibakar

Development

Gunday was announced in August 2012 by Yash Raj Films, with Ali Abbas Zafar directing a film about two 1970s criminals in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). In a Reuters interview, Zafar said that the film was conceived because of his fascination with history. His father, a 1971 war veteran, told him stories about the war, its immigration and the coal mafia. His father told stories about the illegal coal trade in Calcutta, where trains carrying coal were robbed by unemployed youths. Since coal was a black-market commodity during the 1970s and 1980s, he used it as a plot device. The stories inspired him to create the film's backdrop around which he based his characters. Zafar decided to set the film in Calcutta, since he felt the story suited the city's political climate.

Zafar said that films of that era, such as Deewaar (1975) and Kaala Patthar (1979), influenced his storyline. He believed that the films' portrayal of the conflict between right and wrong gave him an understanding of life as a child, which he used in the script. In an interview, Zafar said that the film depicted the consequences of the outlaws' struggle against the system: "If someone is deprived of basic rights, there will certain youth who will be disillusioned and go over to the dark side. In a way, the system creates its own enemy." Gunday was the last film narrated to Yash Chopra.

Since most 1970s and 1980s films emphasized bromance, Zafar wanted to showcase friendship and said that he wanted to "catch that spirit" of friendship of "Jai-Veeru" from Sholay (1975); he called the film a "definite reference point", with Yaraana (1985), for portraying bromance. Zafar made the friendship between his characters integral to the plot, where the characters would do anything for each other: "The whole idea while making Gunday was to bring the right feel of friendship. The idea about friendship which used to be in the earlier times, especially in the heartland of India was something else."

Casting and characters

In August 2012, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor were cast as the protagonists Bikram and Bala respectively. Zafar gave a joint pitch to both the actors where Kapoor would play Bikram and Singh would play Bala. After hearing the description, both the actors felt that they could play their respective characters as they identified similarities between the characters and their own personalities. However, the director switched the roles as a surprise, giving the part of Bikram to Singh and Bala to Kapoor. Although they initially wanted to play their originally proposed roles, feeling that their respective characters were within their comfort zone, they later agreed to play the opposite roles. Priyanka Chopra joined the cast as the lead actress in October 2012. The following month, Irrfan Khan was cast for the role of a police officer in the film.

Chopra described her character Nandita, the cabaret dancer, as a girl next door who acts as the main catalyst for driving the story further and igniting the conflict between Bikram and Bala when they both fall in love with her. She admired the qualities of her character, saying, "She's very righteous and believes in black and white, which is very like me. She is a no-nonsense person and has this superior air about her, even though she is a very normal girl. I think women should carry themselves like her." Khan described his character of the intelligence police officer as "larger than life". For Khan, who had mostly performed in niche dramatic films, Zafar made his character a lot more flamboyant and mainstream. His character was highly stylised to suit the mainstream popcorn genre of the film.

Singh described his and Kapoor's characters as "two outlaws with a bold attitude". They described the friendship between the inseparable characters as like "two sides of the same coin". Kapoor further explained that Singh's character Bikram brings equilibrium to his character Bala, saying, "He (Bikram) is more in control and aware of his surroundings. Bala, on the other hand, is temperamental and acts in the heat of the moment."

Filming

Rajat Poddar handled the production design while Aseem Mishra did the cinematography. Subarna Ray Chaudhuri designed the costumes while Rameshwar S Bhagat edited the film. Principal photography began on 14 December 2012 in Mumbai. It was shot at the Chandivali Studio, where the scenes between Singh, Kapoor and Chopra were filmed. The first schedule ended by December 2012. While filming a song sequence, Singh injured himself after falling from a height; he suffered a gash