Introducing Race

Race directed by director duo Abbas – Mustan is a fast paced action thriller. Abbas and Mastan are known for films like Khiladi (Akshay Kumar), Baazigar (Shahrukh Khan), Humraaz and many more. Their forte is the thriller genre. After duds like 36 China Town and Naqaab, they are back with a powerful starcast consisting of Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy. The hype over the past few weeks has been immense. Does it live upto the expectations?

Race Story

Race is a story of two brothers Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajeev Singh (Akshay Khanna) – one of them plays to win, while the other one plays to defeat. Set against the high-flying social fabric of modern South Africa, it is also about betrayal and greed, intrigue and revenge.

Ranvir and Rajeev are biggest bookies in the horse racing circuit. Ranvir is ignorant of the fact that his personal secretary Sophia (Katrina Kaif) is head-over-heals in love with him and falls for Sophia (Bipasha Basu), an Indian Model. Ranvir and Shaina share a good rapport but fate unites her with Rajeev, a chronic alcoholic.

Being high all the time, Rajeev fails to connect well with his wife Shaina. And in a moment of truth Ranvir and Shaina come close to each other and an affair begins. All hell is broken loose when Rajeev suspects his wife of double crossing.

A Murder is committed.

Robert. D. Costa (R.D) (Anil Kapoor), a detective is assigned to find the truth behind this murder and arrest the culprit. The clever R.D is assisted by Mini (Sameera Reddy), a sexy but dumb girl.

Who is the culprit? What is the motive? The story unfolds itself slowly in a series of unexpected twists and turns and a nail-biting climax.

Race Review

What works for Race is that you can never predict exactly whats gonna happen next. Just when you think, this could be the last twist in the tale, it surprises you with another twist. There is almost a twist in every reel!

Directors Abbas – Mastan deserve credit for their execution, they succeed in holding your attention throughout the movie. The direction is complimented by the screenplay although the impact would have been much better had the story been more convincing. With so many twists and turns, the viewer after a certain point could get confused as to whose with who. Also it gets a little tedious to sit through.

As far as the editing is concerned two songs can be easily chopped off for better impact. The music is brilliant, Pehli Nazar Mein stands out. Dialogues are superb. Cinematography brilliant!

Race Performances

Saif Ali Khan delivers a powerful performance. His expressions, intensity are top notch. Saif has come a long way in the last few years, undoubtedly one of the most under-rated actors in Bollywood today.

Akshaye Khanna always manages to stand out in Abbas-Mastan movies, no different in Race. He is superb.

Anil Kapoor provides some much needed comic relief in the second half. As RD, who keeps eating a different fruit each time, he rocks. Some of his dialogues are hilarious. Some of his dialogues are hilarious.

Amongst the girls, Sameera Reddy stands out in a short but sweet role. As a dumb girl, her chemistry with Anil Kapoor is great.

Bipasha Basu is HOT especially in the song Allah Duhai Hai. Performance-wise Bipasha is good. Katrina Kaif looks gorgeous, but in the acting department strictly average. She needs to work on her dialogue delivery.

Race Verdict

Overall, Race is a well made thriller and delivers what it promises. Great music, good performances, high on style, lots of action, twist and turns every 20 mins. What more could you ask for?

At the box-office, Race has loads of things in its favour. It’s also the first major release since Jodha Akbar, which released more than a month back. With a wide release (700+ prints in India), the movie should easily recover its investment in two weeks.

Rating: Three and half stars (Worth a watch)