Raees Movie Review by Afsal TouchRiver
One Line Review - "Its All About SRK"
Rating - 3/5
Boxoffice Prediction- Hit
Detailed Analysis
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National Award Winning director Rahul Dholakia directing a gangster drama with Shahrukh Khan in the lead! The news of this bizarre combination by itself made Raees a highly anticipated affair to come out from Bollywood in quiet a long time.The big question that popped out was what to expect from a director whose known for his hard-hitting dramas like Parzania and Lamhaa in his first big-budget action thriller with King Khan in the lead.The answer is a movie that traverse a middle path between Dholakia's trademark realistic narration and typical gangster stuff that one expects from SRK.
Set in the 80s with a quintessential tone of Bollywood gangster dramas of that era,Raees is a normal rags to riches gangster story that falters between being utterly realistic in one sequence to a make-believe affair in the next.It is this inconsistency in narration that restricts Raees from being a memorable affair like Once Upon A Time In Mubai,Company,Satya or even the directors own Shootout At Wadala which were realistic to the core.
Written by Rahul Dholakia,Harit Mehta,Ashish Vashi and Niraj Shukla,the screenplay of Raees is a pretty ordinary one and lacks proper detailing to make it a emotionally stunning gangster drama which will take you along with the central character as he passes through different stages in the storyline.The local Gujarati flavor to dialogues and overall narrative too played its part in hampering the movies connect with atleast a small section of the audience.Further,the characterization of SRK as a gangster with a heart of gold is compromised atleast twice or thrice as Raees turns an uncontrollable killing machine in no time.
The first half,especially the introduction and flash-back sequences were brilliant and gave good build-up for the progress of the storyline which was maintained satisfactorily until the onset of intermission.The one-liners like "Koi Dhanda Chota Nahi Hota Aur Dhande Se Bada Koi Dharam Nahi Hota" and "Baniye Ka Dimaag .. Miyabhai Ki Daring" were utilized well and thoroughly impactful.
After a mediocre,over drawn and easil -predictable second hour,it was the neatly conceived climax that revived the narration upto a satisfactory extent if not to the fullest.There were abundance of misplaced songs and lengthy pauses in the latter half that seriously harmed the pace of the narrative which could have been taken care of.
The movie belongs to SRK and the ease with which he emotes was a delight to watch for a fan of the actor like me.The actor inside SRK we all love is projected impressively and he pulls off a stunning act as Raees.Mahira Khan didn't have much to perform in the movie but portrayed the character invested on her well.Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a desperate cop trying his best to put an end to Raees's illegal trades was adequate even though the cat and mouse chase between SRK and Nawazudeen Siddiqui wasnt' projected with required intensity to call it a 'clash of the titans' as such.Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub played the part of Raees's soulmate in a pretty decent manner.Atul Kulkarni,Narendra Jha etc enacted the antagonist part convincingly.
The songs by Ram Sampath were good but looked forced in the movie except for the well-picturized item song 'Laila O Laila' featuring Sunny Leone.Frames captured by K.U.Mohanan were adequate.Edits by Deepa Bhtia were fine.The fight sequences were choreographed well.
Overall,Raees is a passable gangster drama worth a watch for Shahrukh's portrayal of the title character.