Raid : Slow, riveting & realistic

*ing: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D’Cruz, Saurabh Shukla

Rated: 8.5/10

Much like the trait of honesty it showcases, Raid too is a firm, standout and rare film which will be sought after and feted by the audience.

Helmed by a brooding Ajay Devgn who has done many stalwart aam official roles in his career before, this one comes with a dash of impressive slowness to thrilling proceedings.

For most part, this film set in the 1980s’ Lucknow around an upright income tax officer who has been on a constant transfer as a penalty to his unbending honesty, is gripping. That it takes up a true-story income tax raid on one of the most influential and corrupt party-funding money-bag politicians UP ever had, makes the going even more impactful. Add to that Devgn concentrating on realism as a mode of communication and you have a thriller at hand which quite uniquely does not draw its flesh and blood from unmitigated pace and yet keeps you hooked on.

Call it human failing of director Raj Kumar Gupta, the film and its purpose get waylaid and stymied whenever Devgn snatches some home and wife moments from the actual plot. But all the song and dance, the much too deliberately constructed romance and the simplicity affected characterisation of Illeana D’Cruz does not save these moments which come across only as an irritating, not-required aside. Cruz as the spouse is put on constant dabba duty not doing much other than making the deliveries inanely.

But the longest raid in the history of UP is the focus of the story and that’s where many interesting lessons are taught by Devgn who plays the upright income tax officer Amay Pattnaik.

The tax departments of India are ridden with corruption and are much lower but most sought after strains of the UPSC because of their money-minting capacity. We all know that. But in its wheel there also some upright and honest officers who come and go once in a while, conducting daunting raids and teaching lower grade officials the real meaning and mirth of being honest. Devgn does that with a flair that is becoming.

Saurabh Shukla, the main antagonist and the powerful man whose house is raided by Patnaik, is brilliant as usual. As an undertone, power-drunk, kunba-oriented MP who lives and breathes his unwarranted fiefdom, scoffs at honesty with an elan of an entirely corrupt man and who is sure he can move hell and high water to get the raid stopped, is the other hero of this film.

Gupta also skillfully creates the visage of the Prime Minister with head shots to suggest it is Indira Gandhi and even shows her two children playing in the garden to jog your memories of that era and those familiar video shots that visited many TV channels later in her life.

Source: The Pioneer, 18 March, 2018