Review: Raid: A One-time watch! **½

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Who does not wait for an intense movie starring Ajay Devgan? Raid is his latest release and I was excited for the movie since its trailer itself. Watching Ajay Devgan in his last release, Golmaal 4, he needed a movie defining what he is best known for- Serious characters. Raid is a story based in the year 1981 about an Income Tax Officer who does not shy away from raiding big politicians and MLA if he finds their asset not in sync with their paid tax. The movie focuses on one such raid that the character of Devgan does at an MLA’s white house in Lucknow without fearing the consequences or the results of the same.

The movie very well shows how the politicians are fearless in spite of knowing that they are guilty. Ajay’s character is shown quite perfect and moralistic when it comes to taking or giving bribes in the first 15 minutes which becomes too much to digest but it is brought down on an acceptable bandwidth just after that. The interactions between Devgan and Saurabh Shukla, the actor playing the villain MLA, are wonderful and that’s the only thing in the movie that holds you. The movie is very slow paced and takes very much time in shifting from one scene/segment to another which makes it boring at times. The songs in the movie are only the interruptions which the audience will only dislike in spite of having the charming Ileana on the screen.

As the movie is based in a confined area with limited set of characters, it is a big challenge for the script writer and the director to hold the movie for as long as 2 hours but they are able to do that with RAID. I was expecting incredible non-stop dialoguebaazis which aren’t much in the quantity as I had expected them to be. The film also becomes repetitive after a time when the IT officer keeps finding the hidden cash and valuables after every 10 minutes. The climax is also very jumbled showing the villagers out in protection of their baahubali leader while Devgan is waiting for his death watching his wife’s photograph in his wallet with sad background song playing to confuse the whole scene for the audience. The film has its flaws but it is a good one time watch as it showcases the fact of our netas and efforts of Income tax officers who have to go through tortures when they raise their movement against powerful bullies. Overall, I give this movie 2.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!