Raees Movie Review: Old Wine In A New Bottle

Remember those films from the 70s, which often had the protagonist playing an anti-establishment gangster with a heart of gold, who finally falls prey to a righteous cop's bullets? Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees, which releases this weekend, is more or less the same plot all over again.

Raees (SRK) grows up in 70s Gujarat believing that crime does pay and starts working for a bootlegger, who nurtures him. However, Raees and his sidekick Sadiq (Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub) grow too big for their boots and this brings them in conflict with upright cop Jaideep Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who makes it his life's mission to bring down Khan's illegal empire. Who wins the battle between the two? Watch the film to find out…

Shah Rukh Khan, who has been playing romantic characters since ages, wears spectacles, kohl-rimmed eyes and a pathani to play a tough gangster and it is indeed refreshing to see that the Baadshah has lost none of his swagger despite crossing 50. When it comes to fierce intensity, no one can beat SRK and the King Khan proves this yet again with Raees.

On his part, Nawazuddin Siddiqui holds his own despite not having a meaty role and is amusing and intimidating in equal measures. The fact that Majmudar wants to destroy Raees despite having a grudging respect for him, makes his character seem more disturbing. Mahira Khan, who plays SRK's wife Aasiya doesn't get to do much and neither does Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, who I believe is one of the finest actors we have today.

As for the film itself, it has a very predictable storyline, a stale plot and stock characters- a gangster with a heart of gold, his supportive ladylove, a loyal sidekick, an upright cop, wily politicians, an ostensibly benevolent mentor et al.

However, the background score somewhat makes up for it, but merely that is not enough, eh?

Not that I have anything against commercial masala films, but for someone who grew up watching films like Deewaar and Scarface, Raees offers nothing new as such. If that was not all, the action scenes are quite unexciting and the 'Moharram' action sequence is so badly executed that you may end up wondering what were the makers thinking of while filming those scenes.

Last but not the least, the makers also make their lead character mouth dialogues against communalism and 'bhed bhaav' on grounds of 'dharm'. If the trailer of the film promised a gritty crime thriller, be prepared to be disappointed for the film offers nothing much apart from the fiery intensity of the inimitable Shah Rukh Khan, who carries the entire film on his able shoulders.

However, having said that, Raees may appeal to die-hard fans of Shah Rukh Khan, who don't mind their idol serving up some 70s style nostalgia…