IRS officer Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) is the most honest and punctual person on this planet. How honest and punctual? On the first day of his job at the income tax office in Bhoj, he arrives before his colleagues. If you somehow - I don't know, but SOMEHOW - manage to miss this point, fret not; Raid 2 has your back. It's not enough that you get to see a shocked janitor. Amay's coworkers arrive at the office one by one, notice their new boss, and immediately look at the time. Amay's wife, Malini (Vaani Kapoor), mentions that she sees honesty in her husband's eyes (I took a closer look, but I could only detect fatigue in Amay's eyes - Devgn can be a sleepwalker in a bad, mediocre film). Even the bad guy, a politician named Dada Bhai (Riteish Deshmukh), praises Amay for his honesty before becoming all passive-aggressive. If all this evidence is still insufficient, don't worry. Amay calls himself honest minutes before the movie cuts to the end credits ("Imaandaar hun, muft ki chai bhi nahi peeta," he says to somebody). Do you still not believe me? Well, when someone accuses Amay of taking a bribe, his boss (Rajat Kapoor) scoffs at the accuser and refuses to believe him. What do you know, Amay is so innocent, so "white," that this accusation turns out to be a sly misdirection to catch Dada Bhai! The full title of the film could be Raid 2: Amay Patnaik Is Always Right.
Usually, when a character turns out to be very good and thus very boring, we start hanging out with the bad guy. But Dada Bhai is also terribly uninteresting. Based on a flashback, one can conclude that Dada Bhai used to be a good man before he entered the field of politics. The devil might have been born after a humiliating incident where he's forced to carry his slippers on his head. Writers Ritesh Shah, Raj Kumar Gupta (he's also the director), Jaideep Yadav, and Karan Vyas, alas, don't paint Dada Bhai with such complex shades. They reduce him to a unidimensional mama's boy who, post-interval, merely looks sullen and irritated. Mother Sentiment can be a potent tool in a masala film. Raid 2, however, is neither potent nor a decent masala film. Dada Bhai's relationship with his mother (Supriya Pathak) just fulfills the plot's requirement. It's too on-the-nose and devoid of actual emotions (the mother-son bond is present for wrapping up the climax). What's more, the "masala flavors" of Raid 2 are bland. The actors just don't have the zeal, the gravitas of, say, a young Amitabh Bachchan. Hence, lines like "Maine kab kaha mai Pandav hun? Mai toh puri Mahabharat hun," fall flat.
There are many twists in Raid 2; what it lacks is intelligence. There is so much rug-pulling here that scenes become monotonous. For instance, you will see a character doing something or going somewhere, and a few minutes later, the details regarding what he did or where he went will be presented as a SHOCKING REVELATION. There are so many shocks in the film that we develop immunity to them. After a point, the surprises feel devoid of surprises. There comes a moment in Raid 2 when Dada Bhai warns Amay that his followers might get too emotional (bhavuk), and in that emotional state, they can harm anyone anywhere. You can make a point about the India of today that has prioritized its sentiments over its brain to such an extent that even a small pinch ends up hurting our...sentiments. Who does logical discussions nowadays? Everybody is busy defending their stupid emotions. If a politician wants to win the support of the majority of the Indians, he only needs to act all sentimental. And once you start worshiping a politician, facts simply go to hell. I don't think Kumar Gupta is aware of these implications, which is why he continues hero-worshipping Amay even when the real pleasure lies in the company of the supporting actors.
Saurabh Shukla is reliably funny and great. But it's Amit Sial and Shruti Pandey who capture your attention. Whenever Sial comes on the screen, the audience gets ready to laugh and clap. The actor charges the audience, and his clownish behavior infuses life into the frames. Pandey, as Geeta Devi (a diehard fan of Amay), displays fantastic comic skills in a wall-breaking scene that alone should be more than sufficient to secure her more roles in comedy films. Even Yashpal Sharma steals the spotlight with a simple gesture (he licks the money and says, "Lo, chaat liya aapka namak"). What all this means is that you have fun with all the other actors, except those who are supposed to be the leads. And since Bollywood movies are still busy producing awful music, you can close your ears during the song sequences and leave the theater as soon as the end credits start rolling. Even Honey Singh fans - if they exist - will want to head towards the exit.
Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times