Raees Movie Review

Shah Rukh Khan tries his hand at the gangster flick with Raees, and returns to the screen as a full fledged action hero after long. With two box office disappointments in Dilwale and Fan, Raees is an important film for the superstar and it has to work wonders for him. Raees has been plagued in one controversy after another, and its release in itself is a success. Mahira Khan makes her debut in India, and Rahul Dhokalia tries his luck at a commercial flick for the first time. Will Raees end up making the makers even more Raees? Time to find out.

Story: Raees Alam (Shah Rukh Khan) gets into the bootlegging business after being taught by his mother early on in life that there’s no religion bigger than business. He treads the line of law and becomes a big messiah in his area. In between all this, he also falls in love and marries Aasiya (Mahira Khan). But things start going awry when Police officer Jaideep Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) enters the scene and vows to take him down. But Raees always gets the upper hand. He makes things complicated for him when he decides to become a politician. There is a communal angle, there is a riot angle, and there is also a Bombay blasts angle. The makers didn’t avoid those difficult plot points here.

Screenplay and Direction: Rahul Dholakia walks on a narrow edge here and could easily have gone overboard with very sensitive topics. He makes a palatable, almost family friendly version of a gangster film. It isn’t the most refined, and it doesn’t work all the time, but Raees has got a swagger about it which has not been seen in Hindi cinema for quite sometime. It is a throwback to the 70s angry young man movies of Amitabh Bachchan, and quite interestingly plays out like a film from that era. The first half moves at a frantic pace, but the second half slackens when the focus shifts on Robinhood Raees. It suffers from the post interval lull syndrome, but the climax redeems the movie to an extent. Also, credit must go to the makers for daring to make a move on identity politics and masking it in a commercial entertainer avatar.

Raees Movie Review

Raees Movie Review

Raees has been shot at a big scale and for a movie which is rooted in realism, the sets of Raees’ mohalla don’t look artificial or made up at all. The action choreography is good but they might come across as too over-the-top to some. The costume design and production design both work well to create the bygone era of late 80s and early 90s. The music of Raees hits the mark with 3 songs working well. Laila, Zaalima and Udi Udi Jaaye are all ear-worms and the other songs are situational. The background score of Raees is one of the best parts of the movie. It adds an extra layer to this gangster flick.

Acting: What can be said about Shah Rukh Khan that hasn’t already been said? Yes, questions can be asked about the character he is portraying but SRK is in top form in Raees. As the title character, he imbibes the rogue Robinhood Raees and his expressions and characteristics make us feel the inner angst of Raees Alam. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an able supporter and ends up stealing most of his scenes. He has got the best dialogues, and carries them with elan. He elevates the dynamic between Raees and the law to another level. Mahira Khan makes a stunning debut and holds her own against such superb actors. Mohd. Zeeshan Ayub is again dependably good. Atul Kulkarni is a revelation. Narendra Jha and Jaideep Ahlawat provide good support too.

Conclusion: Raees is not a safe film, in fact it is a daring film for the makers to have made and for Shah Rukh Khan to have acted in especially after the brickbats he has received during the last few years. Raees is a flawed film, but it is an entertaining flawed film. There are moments which are bound to make the viewers uneasy but this is where the makers deserve credit for going the extra mile. The second half drags on a bit, the climax doesn’t feel extraordinary and the plot points are nothing that we haven’t seen before, especially in the second half. But if you want to see mass hysteria and crazy star driven cinema then Raees should not be missed. Movies like these will soon go extinct. Raees deserves to be watched once just for that.

Pros:

  • Shah Rukh Khan is in great form, and will remind viewers of his early villainous roles but with a good hearted twist
  • Nawazuddin Siddiqui is stellar and has the best lines
  • The dialogues are ‘whistle podu’
  • The realism angle works
  • The first half is frantic and moves things along very quickly

Cons:

  • The second half drags on a bit, and isn’t very fast paced
  • The plot doesn’t have many unique twists which haven’t already been explored before
  • The action might come across as too over the top to some
  • Families will give it a miss due to the high octane brutal action scenes and the Sunny Leone item number

Rating: ★★★½☆

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180 Comments

  • All srk fans are eagarly waiting to watch raees in torrent haha
    They are so internet active that they broke all record that are related with internet.
    Congrats srk for having so loyal fan
    God bless srk

  • raees and kaabil both films reviews has come out which film will u watch
    like for kaabil and unlike for raees

  • Srk 3 movies in 2016
    Fan 80 crore
    Adhm 110 crore
    Dear zindagi 60 crore
    Total=250 crore
    Sultan and dangal collected more that accumulated srk 3 movies

  • Thank u for not giving 4 stars and jinxing the movie as ur 4 stars have been proven quite panauti lately :D

    On a serious note , just watched fdfs of Raees n this movie is an experience in itself.
    Even the great Amitabh Bacchhan will see himself in Srk when he watches Raees.
    This one should not be missed for the sheer entertainment and whistle worthy dialogues alongwith stellar performances from Shah Rukh and Nawaz , their jugalbandi is the best part of the film and whenever they face it’s fireworks on the screen

    P.S – gonna watch it again tomorrow evening with family

    Haters Tum log bhi Dekho Raees , Salman fans ko pasand aayegi zarur :p

  • first i thought raees will only do 160 crores but now i am 1000% sure it will touch 200 crore just wait and watch

  • Fan collected 80cr with #indicine’s 4* rating. Raees gets 3.5* rating from #indicine. Is it so difficult to imagine Raees’ lifetime collections???

  • @indicine u r improving ur way of reviewing movies. But families won’t come? What the hell?U r trying hard to bring the movie down. Anyways wom is superb it will be superhit.

  • Believe me with these rave reviews Raees if going to go for setting the 400 crore benchmark even with a clash and being a non holiday release.. What Aamir could not accomplish with big Christmas and New year weekend with Dangal.. SRK is gonna do that with Raees.. Current number 1 megastar in bollywood for a reason.. The real box office king.

  • today it will be 20 crore after 5 day it will be 90 crore after two weeks it will touch 200 crores biggest blockbuster for sure

  • Surely it will cross 150cr
    Tbh I feel that Raees will do somewhere between 140-160cr and Kaabil will do around 80-110cr .
    From friday the picture will be clear about which movie is going to rock or which is going to shock or both or going to rock

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