Divyanshu Soni

RAID (2018) Director- Raj Kumar Gupta This gripping thriller is inspired by the true events of income tax raids conducted by the Indian revenue service in the 1980’s which created a sensation in the political and public scenario at that time. Set in 1981 in Uttar Pradesh, an earnestly honest IT officer Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgun) gets leads of black money being stocked at the residence of an influential minister Rameshwar Singh aka Tauji (Saurabh Shukla), he raids the big palatial mansion along with his team and fights all odds including political, violent and even emotional barriers in order to extract the ‘hidden treasure’. Ajay Devgun is sincere in his act and looks like he’s carrying forward his Singham & Gangaajal avatar. He looks mature and fits the part convincingly and thankfully does not go over the top. Saurabh Shukla complements Devgun’s Ram with his fantastic portrayal of the Kalyug Ka Ravan. His archetypal killer look and menacing dialogues delivery lends able support in building his villainous image. Full credit to the director for developing these two primary characters very well specially Shukla’s as Devgun’s has some drawbacks. In this Ram v/s Ravan Raid the Supporting cast( mostly Devgun’s IT team and Shukla’s huge joint family) do get sidelined yet some make their presence felt. Amit Sial as the IT officer who undergoes a transformation during the raid acts well. Saanand Verma, Amit Bimrot, Devas Dixit, Sheeba Chadda, Akshay Verma & Gayathri Iyer are passable. It is 86 year old Pushpa Singh who makes her presence felt as Shukla’s Mom whose sharp sarcastic dialogues and inimitable energy makes the leading lady Ileana Dcruz fade in comparison. Poor Dcruz is nothing more than a decorative show piece in this film. The director manages to capture the stereotypical mentality of upper class families in India as depicted during the raid where the women are concerned about their jewellery being seized and the children are overjoyed that they can bunk school during this emergency in the family. Another irritating factor is the repeated stress on giving Devgun an earnest and honest image by portraying him as a true patriot who is an Atheist but worships “Bharat Mata”, who smokes throughout the movie even during the raid but doesn’t get detered by the powerful influence of the minister whose house he’s raiding. Agreed that realistically there may have been an IT officer so righteous and the movie is set in 1981 but it’s hard to digest someone being deliberately infused with such a squeaky clean image in a movie releasing in today’s times. So Devgun as the torch bearer of Orthodox principles is shown strong enough to reject Shukla’s bribes, the violent uproar of Shukla’s brothers and blind followers and even the sexual advances by Shukla’s daughter in law(Sulagna Panigrahi trying hard to look seductive). The director Raj Kumar Gupta has done a good job by trimming the running time and focusing on the main plot which makes the film gripping and engaging. The only distractions are the unnecessary songs ( though well composed) as this could’ve easily been a songless thriller. It’s unfortunate that the director is a victim of Bollywood mandate by adding unnecessary romance & songs. Definitely a one- time watch for viewers looking out for something different from the regular Bollywood fare. ⭐️⭐️