Introduction
Director Raj Kumar Gupta is back with Raid 2, the sequel to the Ajay Devgn starrer Raid (2018). Apart from Ajay Devgn, who reprises his character Amay Patnaik, Raid 2 stars Vaani Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh and Amit Sial in the lead roles. Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla and Supriya Pathak appear in supporting roles. In spite of being a 'commercial' successor to a 'realistic' crime drama, the essence is overall intact, and thus, Raid 2 gets the job done!
Basic Plot
Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Amay Patnaik (Devgn), gets his hand on minister Dada Manohar Bhai (Deshmukh) for the 75th raid in his career.
Positives
Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh and Saurabh Shukla
Performances have been really commendable in this film and it's mostly this trio, who manage to keep the 'Raid-ness' intact in an otherwise potboiler film like Raid 2. Ajay Devgn as Amay Patnaik is sharp, strong at heart, and is as stickler as ever, whereas Riteish Deshmukh as Dada Manohar Bhai (Dada-Bhai) is as clean as any prominent politician (get the pun?). Both of them perform equally well and while Ajay Devgn is mostly firm and stone faced (exactly as the character demands), it's Riteish Deshmukh who has layers in his character, that gradually come into prominence as the film progresses. You really get to witness Riteish's character turning into a proper villain with each passing scene, and that gives you the real bang for your buck! You know, you just feel yourself invested in all of that, especially in the scenes where Devgn and Deshmukh face off. You feel the heat, the gravitas and also the enjoyment of watching the tense drama unfold! Very delicious! Saurabh Shukla as Tauji (reprising his role from the previous film) has his character aligned well with the screenplay, and has also been given ample space to do wonders (that he does so effortlessly!) The humor in this film is more than it's prequel and while the theme remains dark overall, it's the subtle use of some of the predecessor's strong references and punchlines (most of them coming from Shukla) that cracks you up when you expect them the least. It's strange how a film with such a serious tone can be so witty (all thanks to the strong callbacks to 'Raid')!
Direction and Screenplay
Director Raj Kumar Gupta makes sure that the soul of the previous film remains intact, which he manages to achieve to a great extent (if not entirely). Interesting 'join-the-dots' screenplay elements, iconic callbacks from the previous film, and a quite upbeat and mainstream BGM makes Raid 2 an engaging watch. The screenplay directly dives into the plot and provides the audience with revelations and breathers in the exact right time. At a rather brief runtime of 2 hours 19 minutes, you won't find Raid 2 to be as 'edge of the seat' as it's predecessor, but there's no denying the fact that this is a pretty solid thriller. The film begins on a note similar to it's prequel and then shifts gears to delve into a rather high-scaled world of crime. The songs are fine, but the highly anticipated song Nasha (although dazzles the big screen) feels more of a last minute addition. It's not like the plot is affected due to the song, but it isn't helped by the song either, with only a Kick (2014)-esque minor revelation scene running in parallel as the song plays. I personally felt that the editing could've been crisper, especially when the prequel had so much fast-paced edit and quick cuts.
Underwhelming Aspects
Treatment
While Raid 2 has managed to tick most of the checkboxes, there have been some aspects which could've surely been better overall. Firstly, Raid (2018) was neither an arthouse film nor a commercial one. It was one of a kind subtly humorous crime-thriller film which Bollywood rarely produces even today. Making a sequel to this film was never going to be easy and while Raid 2 may look like one (easily made sequel), there have been some goofs from the template POV. This film is treated entirely like a political thriller which robs of some of it's 'edge of the seat nature'. Secondly, Ajay Devgn's Amay Patnaik seems to be so high on testosterone and aura, that he's almost unbeatable! After the setback that his character faces during the interval in the form of a suspension, there's just no stopping for Ajay Devgn. His department becomes super active, everything just falls into place correctly, and Riteish Deshmukh's character doesn't find any ground at all, and all of this happens under Amay Patnaik's orders when he's serving his suspension period! Too good to be true! Riteish Deshmukh's character is shown to receive back to back blows when two of his men backstab him just when he required them the most. Although those scenes serve enough enjoyment to the audience (and are executed well too), it's hard to believe (considering his character development in the first half) that Deshmukh's character wouldn't even have an inch of an idea of things going wrong on his part. Amay Patnaik doesn't face any challenge whatsoever, and thus, the entire authority and presence of Dada Bhai that was established in the first half, falls flat. Even the court room scene is so cliched; the judge instantly convicts Dada Bhai after checking on the proofs. Several commonly used tropes like: evidence tampering, physical assault to the judge, illegal attempt or muscle power to overturn the decision; all of which would have been great additions are kept at bay. Opportunity missed severely I must say! Had Riteish Deshmukh not saved the day with his solid performance, things would've been horribly different. Lastly, it's the tension factor that gets affected amidst all of this. Frankly, I would have easily made my peace with two of the above stated shortcomings as those things are somehow redeemed by other positives aspects, but the tension factor was simply not to be compromised with. The prequel showed serious vulnerability of Amay Patnaik which was not just mental, but also highly physical! The character vulnerability has unfortunately vanished completely in this film and even if one such 'tense' scene does arrive towards the end of the film where escaping a hotel seems almost impossible for the Income Tax officers, a Dhoom 3 (2013)-esque scene saves them. Although the scene nakedly shows how the common people forget everything upon receiving money and the song that is used in the background gives enough meta reference to cheer at, you can't deny the fact that the second half of the film was majorly devoid of any tension.
Conclusion
Raid 2 doesn't restrict itself only to the income tax theme. Instead, it goes on to show very relevant political themes of 'robbing the competent off their jobs', 'sex scandals', 'job for sex', etc. You know, it takes real guts to show all this in a mainstream film and I really appreciate director Raj Kumar Gupta for the same, but these themes have somehow received very shallow and surface level treatment. These serious and dark realities have only been reduced to sub-plots which cuts short the impact of those scenes, which would've been highly effective had the ideas been developed and showcased in a better way. I expected more from Yashpal Sharma, but I sadly found his character to be a waste at best. By the way, I liked how Vaani Kapoor's makeup and costume designing were done. The director wanted to keep the character intact even after having Ileana D'Cruz replaced, and his vision is met to the optimum level by the costume and makeup departments. Talking about her, she picks up exactly where Ileana left in 2018, and after being briefly away from the plot in the second half, she storms into the climax with a rather good twist. Although there have been quite a few problems with how the director dealt with the theme of Raid 2, it's undoubtedly a solid entertainer that deserves a watch at the theatres primarily because of the performances and screenplay. Majority of the shortcomings of this film would've gone unnoticed, had there been no prequel and this, a standalone film. Raid 2 focuses on a rather scaled up and mainstream story, which, although different from it's prequel in terms of theme, doesn't affect the film to a major extent, owing to a good execution and commercial sensibility shown by the director. That being said, Raid 2 carries some but utilizes majority of the essence and grammar of the previous film, and that gets the job done! 'Main poori ki poori Mahabharat hoon' says the film as we are hinted at a possible Raid 3!
Watch Out For
- Dark humor
- Screenplay
- Performances
- A 'flying money' scene in the vein of Dhoom 3.
WTF Rating
7.5/10