RAID- PLOT DOESN'T REMAIN UNIFORM

Image Source - IMDb

In the morning, I stepped into the car and didn’t even bother stifling that yawn. It was one of those harsh, sunny days when you feel like you have cotton balls stuffed in your head and your eyelids feel droopy and heavy and you are too bored to even check WhatsApp. That’s when I got a call from Archie, “are you free today? Check WhatsApp yo!”

I love such days J

And that’s how Shugu, Archie and I ended up going for Raid.

Raid is the story of an IRS (Indian Revenue Service) officer, Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) who conducts a raid at the local MP, Rameshwar Singh a.k.a Tauji’s (Saurabh Shukla) house. This movie is set in 1981 and is inspired from real-life raids that were conducted by the IRS in the 80s.

The movie begins by showcasing Amay to be an upright officer, who is currently posted in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh after a series of transfers, which, as per Hindi Cinema norms, is a clear sign of the Officer’s honesty. Amay receives an anonymous tip about Rameshwar Singh’s disproportionate assets and about black money being hoarded in his palatial ‘White House’. Rameshwar Singh, respectfully known to all as Tauji, is the local MP who is influential and powerful. Upon receiving this tip, Amay prepares for a clandestine raid and despite initial resistance from his team, proceeds to take upon Tauji and his family comprising of Tauji’s mother, his four brothers and their wives.

Tauji and his family are stunned that a “lowly Government Officer” dare enter their house to conduct a raid and taint their family’s name with such an allegation. Tauji challenges him to find even one extra note that is unaccounted for. Amay and his team conduct an exhaustive search but find nothing and almost give up until Amay’s smart thinking (with a little help from Tauji’s loose lipped mother and a map given by the anonymous tipper) reveals all that is hidden in the house.

Amay lets Tauji step out of the house confident that no amount of influence will stop him from continuing with his search. While Tauji is running from pillar to post (he even manages a meeting with the then PM who bears a stark resemblance to Indira Gandhi), unable to get any of his highly placed friends to stop the raid, Amay continues digging information and wealth from the house.

A dejected Tauji returns home only to learn that the anonymous tipper is someone from the house. In the meantime, Tauji garners the support of the localities to rid himself of these IRS officers and the Officers are trapped inside the house. Will Tauji learn the identity of the traitor? Will Amay and his team escape the clutches of Tauji ?

Ajay Devgn seems very comfortable in these roles as he has often portrayed similar roles of the no-nonsense, sincere officer. Saurabh Shukla, as usual is brilliant and always a pleasure to watch. I wish I could say something about Ileana but she has hardly any role in the movie. A few songs are randomly thrown in the movie, I suppose for the benefit of Ileana. The other actors in the movie have also performed their bit, well. The set up in the 80s is created well, with minute attention to detail such as the actors’ clothes as well as recreating the houses in the 80’s set up.

Here is why I didn’t like the movie: The movie started well with some scenes that got the audience to laugh out loud and also cheer in support of the hero and instead of maintaining that pace, things just went downhill and then just like that there was a glimmer of hope with a scene that created a sense of expectancy and then that fizzled out just as quickly.  The movie was a roller coaster ride that sadly left me with a headache (or it could just be the heat).

The whole movie is just one very, very long scene – of Amay and his team rummaging about Tauji’s house in search of black money. The writer seems to have lost interest in the second half of the movie and the dialogues in the second half are lacklustre.

There is a scene where the Indira Gandhi lookalike tries to help out Tauji by asking Amay to back off and then again she’s shown praising Amay saying India is in need of such Officers. Good way to please all political parties.

The movie starts with a bang and ends with a whimper.