‘Raees’ justifies its tag-line word by word.
There’s one moment in the film where in the background you can hear the old Vividh-Bharti slogan on the radio. The are moments related to a cup of tea. Then a moment where we see a scene from Amitabh’s Kala Pathar and the same scene being replicated by Shah-Rukh. Moments that seem too small but are surprisingly effective. It’s where we can see the director’s finesse.
To most of us who feared that Rahul Dholakia’s movie will glorify a criminal, it fell wrong today. The movie shows us the underworld, the politics, the ever-continuing battle for power but more than that Raees is a story of one-man who stood for the people who, actually, made him Raees.
The screenplay is pretty crisp. Dialogues are hard-hitting. The confrontations between Nawazuddin and SRK are gloriously portrayed. You could feel the tension. Making it difficult to choose sides. Similar to what you would have seen between Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh in Salim-Javed’s classic Deewar.
There is one man who is still underrated in Bollywood, Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He’s one gem of an actor. Playing the solid copy who justifies it when he says ‘Raees ko nai chodunga mai’, his face never losses the cool but showers the intensity as it should. He’s simply perfect!
‘Baniye ka dimak, miyanbhai ki daring’ No one could have done justice to this role except the Badshah himself. He’s flawless, he’s brave, he’s audacious in the attempts he make and above all a man with a lion’s heart.
The style of film-making used by Rahul Dholakia is very similar to many Bollywood pot-boilers which keep us on the edge of our seat and we keep guessing what will happen next. Yes, the second half could have been a bit shorter but that said, Raees is SRK’s return to the type of cinema for which he is most appreciated.
There are many Gujarati dialogues as well as places which, me being from gujarat, made me feel really nice. Watch out for Nawazuddin’s entry, the Laila song (esp. towards the end), the rally scene and of course the trickery used by SRK in the climax.
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