Raees (2017)

"Engaging Gangster flick with srk's and nawazuddin's good performance but the story is bit old and could have been better but overall it is a watchable flick"

My rating- 3.3/5

Positives-

1.)Direction and screenplay- Direction was good and director succeeded in fusing correct elements required for this movie. Screenplay was equally good but story was little used and old and this brings slightly downfall to this movie.

2.)Srk , Nawazuddin and Mahira - Srk as usual did his role neatly. Mahira as the female lead didn't have any trouble and succeeded in bringing charm to her character. Nawazuddin was also good but not his career best performance. Same for srk as well. These two actors had potential but the screenplay didn't allow them. Srk i can understand but screenplay could have given nawazuddin chance to show his talent. This role looked like as if it wasn't written for him. He didn't do bad and i wont blame him but scriptwriter could have taken little notice on this.

3.)Cinematography and edits

4.)Music and bgscore

5.)Some powerful dialogues

Negatives-

1.) Story- It was bit old and it didn't have any support from director or scriptwriter to make it good. This is one of the major flaw which i found in this movie.

2.)Duration- It was lagging and it will bore audience a lot. Makers could have trimmed it.

3.) Action scenes looked messed up at some areas

Is it a must watch?

I don't recommend it as must movie because this movie may not suit all types of audience.

Overall- Raees may bore some or entertain and it all depends on audience's taste. This movie could have been better but as an final product it was watchable one but not an extraordinary flick.

My rating - 3.3/5

for full more reviews on all language movies go to- Ridin bal movie reviews

Fmovies: 'Raees' Directed by Rahul Dholakia is a well-shot, well-directed film, that sadly, doesn't have a strong enough Screenplay to be called an all-rounder Winner. Despite Potential In Its Setting, The Narrative Isn't Arresting Enough, because then Writing doesn't hold beyond a point.

'Raees' Synopsis: Criticizing the prohibition of alcohol, prostitution and illegal drugs in Gujarat, this film unfolds the story of a cruel and clever bootlegger Raees (Shahrukh Khan), whose business is challenged by a tough cop (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).

'Raees' is an uneven saga of a bad-ass. Raees is a fascinating leading man, who's tryst going against the law, has moments of power. And while the first-hour still works, in which Raees goes from being a nobody to the ultimate King in the world of illegal smuggling of Alcohol, despite being pitted against a tough cop who gets on his trial. The first-hour has a rustic, realistic feel to it & the confrontations between Raees & the Cop, are super.

Unfortunately, in its second-hour, 'Raees' goes haywire. The protagonist turns into a Robin-Hood for his people & his character suddenly comes across more as a Hero, than bad-ass who defies the law. And hence, the film falters. 'Raees' isn't a villain for sure, but to make him a messiah & take away his mean streak for the sake of a heroic end, looks forced & rather unconvincing. Also, the narrative get bloated up & the over-stuffing leads to underwhelming results. In short, 'Raees' has a good first-hour, but a really unconvincing second-hour.

Dholakia, Harit Mehta, Ashish Vashi & Niraj Shukla's Screenplay is half-baked. What starts off as a story of an anti-hero, suddenly turns into a heroic story, with very less feeling or depth. The Writing needed to be stronger, for sure. The Dialogue, however, are excellent. Dholakia's Direction is good. How one wishes if his Writing was as good! Cinematography captures the rustic feel, skillfully. Editing isn't sharp enough. The second-hour is overlong & needed some trimming. Ram Sampath's Score is well-done. Action-Sequences are ordinary. Art & Costume Design are fair.

Performance-Wise: Shahrukh Khan as Raees, looks the part & even gives his best. But he shines only in the first-hour. Post-Interval, just like his character, his performance doesn't arrest your attention. But its Nawazuddin Siddiqui who steals the show. As the tough cop who'd stop at nothing to get Raees behind bars, Nawaz chews on the scenery & delivers a flat-out brilliant performance from start to end. Also, his introduction sequence, where he disguises as the Late/Great Michael Jackson, is simply terrific. The confrontations between Shahrukh & Nawaz, as mentioned before, are the high-point of the enterprise.

On the whole, 'Raees' works in parts, not entirely.

I saw this film with my family in a theater. Typical gangster flick which had been done to death in Bollywood. Used to watch a tv serial with my wife starring Mahira n had been a fan of her since. It is about a poor kid who works for some shady guys, later progresses n starts working for a bigger syndicate. One fine day the grown up boy (Srk) wants to start his own business n splits from the syndicate. Nothing new, except for some good one liners, good performance by Nawaaz as the cop hell bent on taking down all the bootleggers. As a fan of Mahira, i liked the footage she got. She was really looking very attractive in those dresses. One very bad sequence of parkour. Srk running on rooftops was silly coz it wasn't executed well. It looked too fake. Watch District b13, Yamakasi, Tracers, Casino Royale's chase sequence, Chris Brown's parkour sequence from Takers. The shot gun scenes were decent. I still prefer Steve McQueen's The Getaway shot gun scenes. The best gangster film in bollywood is indisputably Devgan's Once upon a time in Mumbai.

Raees fmovies. Every Sharukh Khan release is an event in itself, RAAES is no different. Most of the characters the Khan had been portraying in the recent past have been disappointing to his fansÂ…even the much admired Jahingar Khan of Hello Zindagi was not of much satisfaction due to the limited screen time. And now Raees is something his fans had been waiting and praying that it would tip the balance of fortune towards their much loved star

And yesÂ….from the word go, we know a masterpiece is unfolding on the screen. Though the story is not new..a rise and fall of a righteous don has been done to death in Bollywood from times immemorial, but what sets Raees apart is Sharukh Khan, his performance and the amazing screenplay.

Jaideep Majumdar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) reminiscences his tryst with bootlegger Raees (Sharukh Khan) way back in the 90's. Raees story unfolds right from his childhood where he is touchy about his short sight (has to wear glasses) and people calling him "battery" due to this impairment. His Ammi (Sheeba Chaddha) is his greatest influence and her words "business is bigger than religion as long as it does not harm anyone" remains in his mind and starts working for a local don (Atul Kulkarni).

Raees once when he is old enough decides to start his own business and miffs the don and joins hands with a Mumbai don Moosa who funds Raees's bootlegging business.

Raees falls in love and gets married to Aasiya (Mahira Khan) and soon becomes a father. His rise disturbs the local don who tries killing Raees and fails and ends up getting killed by him.

Jaideep Majumdar, a honest police officer is hot on the trail of Raees and uses every method at his disposal to bring Raees down, but he is unsuccessful as Raees has the support of both the ruling and the opposition party.

But soon, Raees's ego makes him a commit one fatal error which turns things in favor of MajumdarÂ…..

Sharukh is back to doing what he does best, hogging the screen time and also giving one of his career's best performances, his ire when called Battery, or when he is weeping away to glory in his wife's arms after a major setback or his astounding performance in the climax undoubtedly proves the crown is still his.

Mahira Khan performs well in what little screen time she has, as the only person who gets away after making fun of Raees's short sight. Wish she had more screen time.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is wow as Jaideep Majumdar, the scenes involving him intimidating his superiors, or the several faceoffs with Raees showcase his talent.

Sunny Leone brings the house down with the peppy item LAILA and her tumka's are well synchronized to the beats

K U Mohanan's Cinematography captures rustic Gujrat at its best, the filters highlighting the era in which the film is based

Deepa Bhatia's editing ensures the movie does not drag and uses the scissors the right way in making the film crispy and entertaining.

Rahul Dholakia's direction is top notch and it is not a mean task handling two live wires Sharukh and Nawazuddin together, but he has managed to extract the best possible scenes involving both of them. He has also managed to recreate the 70-90's era with just the right touches

Watch it if you are a hardcore Sharukh khan and also if you have a major crush on Sunny Leone and also if you have been missing the wonderful action sequences of the 80's.

Raees is a protagonist that isn't villainous enough to despise, isn't large-hearted enough to root for, and isn't misguided enough to feel sorry for. His aura, too, is kohl- lined like his eyes – everything is presented in broad aggressive strokes, including his robotic swagger, finely trimmed wisps of lion-beard, token Gujarati phrases and signature spectacles. Each of them screams out: this is 'badass' Shah Rukh Khan, the cool and stylish gangster, the natural descendant of Darr and Anjaam, and this is different because he isn't the good guy. Unfortunately, though, he is still the 'hero'. And in Hindi films, this is often more self-aggrandizing than being the good guy.  So you have a director wanting dramatize the legend of a murderous bootlegger (Abdul Latif), and you have producers yearning to humanize this chap to accommodate the effeminate strengths of their in-house superstar. And this is precisely how inconsistent, how painfully functional, Raees is. On one hand, you see Khan doing his snarling Josh-meets-Don impression, and on the other you see a middle-aged Rahul aching to open his arms and show you the omnipresent glycerin in his eyes.

Therefore, Raees ends up as a film that is just about mediocre enough to pass off as "mainstream" – a euphemistic term used to justify dated plots, simplistic caricatures, incessant hamming, pulpy 70s hangovers (I blame Sriram Raghavan and Balaji Telefilms), unauthentic dialects, venomous background scores, redundant heroines and underutilized talent.  Within the first few minutes, we are made infinitely aware of the character that plays Khan. Or, wait, is that the other way around? Maybe not. A proud Muslim mother tells her weirdly driven kid that 'no work is too big or small' – a proverb that he misinterprets as 'be a criminal in prohibition-laden Gujarat, as long as you don't hurt people'.  Soon, the Chinese whispers in his adult brain turn the phrase into 'kill anyone you don't like, as long as you believe in secularism and Hindi-Muslim bhai-bhai Aman ki Asha.' To display his anger management issues and killer instincts, we see him slay a few goons here and there. But to reinforce his inherent nobility, we see him walk away dazed and confused from these bloody battles. It's all 'dhandha,' we're repeatedly told, and made to wonder why the rousing 'Gurubhai Gurubhai Aavya Chhe' chants have evolved into the quasi-techno idiocy of 'Enu Naam Chhe Raees'. One is also somewhat disappointed that the writers didn't grab the opportunity to slip in a cheeky 'drinking is injurious to wealth' disclaimer.    On one hand, you see Khan doing his snarling Josh-meets-Don impression, and on the other you see a middle-aged Rahul aching to open his arms and show you the omnipresent glycerin in his eyes. The Robin Hood of Fatehpura breaks away from his greedy mentor (Atul Kulkarni), monopolizes the illegal-alcohol market in a rather Chopra-Sharma (Baazigar fans only) manner, before starting a cat-and-mouse game with super-cop Jaideep Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui; a Godsend) – an equation that the writers will have you believe is far cleverer than it looks. Block the bridges, and we'll take the boat; block the highways and we'll do something ridiculous enough to distract you with a romantic song showcasing a pretty woman who only exists for these interludes.  At some point, she is declared pregnant, and only a full year later, a post-interval scene acknowledges

"BEST PERFORMANCE EVER" These were my exact words after watching SRK in Raees.How come one beats himself over and over again.When My Name Is Khan came these were exact words of everyone than he did some commercial movies than came Jab Tak Hai Jaan same goes for it "BEST PERFORMANCE EVER" a few more commercial movies than comes FAN and man o man what a performance was that then DEAR ZINDAGI and now RAEES which highlights his best performance till date. Three back to back critically acclaimed performances by Shah Rukh Khan.Just when everyone thought that "HIS TIME IS ENDED-HE CAN'T ACT ANYMORE"That very moment he says "APNA TIME SHURU".I have watched Kaabil too which has Hrithik Roshan who also gives a career best performance but its nothing compared to what Shah Rukh has done.Now back to movie....... Story:Its a story about the rise of a small boy from slums of Gujarat to its elite personalities.As his power grows he comes into sight of Police that's when comes Majmudar(Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who challenges his business and tries to bring him down

Story looks as simple as any other gangster flick but there's more to it than just that.Its a multidimensional story and has many layers attached to it.It doesn't have a single genre.It has high octane action(which will make classic Bollywood fans happy),Romance(For typical SRK fans),Drama(For Nawazzudin fans).Overall it will appeal to everyone. Direction:Director Rahul Dholakia does a great job on this one.His previous works were good but this one will be his career highlight. Acting:I have said already much about SRK's performance and now I will just say he is a scene stealer in this one. Nawazzudin as always does a great job.He has done equally good work if not more than SRK.He is a highlight of the movie. Mahira Khan does a great work on her character as Raees's love interest.This Pakistani actress muted her every hater in India and told everyone with her acting that she is no less than anyone else. Music:Raees has a great album with Laila,Zaalima and Dhingana with Udi Udi Jaye being the chart busters and others are good too.Its theme soundtrack is way more popular in audience than any other movie's.Its really great and energizing. Final Verdict:A movie not to be missed for any reason.You will hate yourself if you missed this one.A great package for everyone.A 10/10 for me and surely you will like it too.