#Raid #BollywoodHindiFilmMovieReview #FilmCriticJohnsonThomas #TSeries #SaurabhShukla #AjayDevgn #IleanaDCruz #AmitSial #RajKumarGupta #PanoramaStudios #UniversalCommunications #ParagDesai
Bollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Not quite the excitement the moniker suggests
Film: Raid
Cast: Saurabh Shukla, Ajay Devgn, Ileana D’Cruz, SaanandVerma, Gayathri Iyer, Amit Bimrot, Amit Sial, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Verma, Neelabh Pandey
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
Rating: * * ½
Runtime: 120 mins
Set in the 80’s, ‘Raid’ principally focuses on a particularly extensive search and recover operation spearheaded by Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) of the IT department, Indian Revenue Services, at the palatial home of greasy, wily and extremely dangerous Lucknow politician Rameshwar Singh(Saurabh Shukla)- conducted on the basis of a detailed but anonymous tip-off.
It’s supposedly based on a true story and the IT officer who Devgn essays has a close resemblance to then Income Tax Commissioner of Lucknow, Sharda Prasad Pandey. Unfortunately Bollywood films don’t really have the gumption for telling a tale like it is. This film by Raj Kumar Gupta( of Aamir, No One killed Jessica fame) doesn’t look real even though the story-telling is straight-forward and minus any frills. The format is entirely uninspiring and overly dependent on bombastic face-off dialogues between the idealistic, straight-jacket IT officer and the antagonist-wily politician, played extremely well by Saurabh Shukla. Dialogues basically try to shore up the lacunae in content here and performances look good because of it. But the intended shout-out to idealism misses the mark because the narrative fails to arouse either tension or edge. And frankly watching a bunch of IT officers, departmental staff and cops go rampaging through the eponymous ‘White House’ so-called because of it’s colonialist architecture and humongous size, while the family fires verbal threats and volleys in an effort to dissuade them, doesn’t make for interesting or exciting viewing.
Raj Kumar Gupta should have kept this a small effort, with subtle menace and tricky craft to draw in the interest. Instead we have a background score that gets overwhelmingly excitable even when there’s not much drama to be had and cameo players who more interested in generating profiles rather than make a befitting meal of their presence in the film. Even Ileana’s role as the starchy officer Amay’s supportive wife is just window-dressing. The editing and camerawork are unremarkable and the production value, though befitting doesn’t allow for any great likeability. The narrative is unexcitingly straight-forward and is largely responsible for making the experience listless and pointless. And as it trudges towards the cop-out of a climax, it turns on it’s head- so by the end of it all you even end up questioning the very basis for making such a film. It’s a pity that Ajay Devgn’s sincere intensity and Saurabh Shukla’s exemplary craft have been wasted on such an unproductive script. Wait for it to come on TV, is all I can say!
Johnsont307@gmail.com
Bollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Not quite the excitement the moniker suggests
Film: Raid
Cast: Saurabh Shukla, Ajay Devgn, Ileana D’Cruz, SaanandVerma, Gayathri Iyer, Amit Bimrot, Amit Sial, Mukesh Singh, Akshay Verma, Neelabh Pandey
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
Rating: * * ½
Runtime: 120 mins
Set in the 80’s, ‘Raid’ principally focuses on a particularly extensive search and recover operation spearheaded by Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) of the IT department, Indian Revenue Services, at the palatial home of greasy, wily and extremely dangerous Lucknow politician Rameshwar Singh(Saurabh Shukla)- conducted on the basis of a detailed but anonymous tip-off.
It’s supposedly based on a true story and the IT officer who Devgn essays has a close resemblance to then Income Tax Commissioner of Lucknow, Sharda Prasad Pandey. Unfortunately Bollywood films don’t really have the gumption for telling a tale like it is. This film by Raj Kumar Gupta( of Aamir, No One killed Jessica fame) doesn’t look real even though the story-telling is straight-forward and minus any frills. The format is entirely uninspiring and overly dependent on bombastic face-off dialogues between the idealistic, straight-jacket IT officer and the antagonist-wily politician, played extremely well by Saurabh Shukla. Dialogues basically try to shore up the lacunae in content here and performances look good because of it. But the intended shout-out to idealism misses the mark because the narrative fails to arouse either tension or edge. And frankly watching a bunch of IT officers, departmental staff and cops go rampaging through the eponymous ‘White House’ so-called because of it’s colonialist architecture and humongous size, while the family fires verbal threats and volleys in an effort to dissuade them, doesn’t make for interesting or exciting viewing.
Raj Kumar Gupta should have kept this a small effort, with subtle menace and tricky craft to draw in the interest. Instead we have a background score that gets overwhelmingly excitable even when there’s not much drama to be had and cameo players who more interested in generating profiles rather than make a befitting meal of their presence in the film. Even Ileana’s role as the starchy officer Amay’s supportive wife is just window-dressing. The editing and camerawork are unremarkable and the production value, though befitting doesn’t allow for any great likeability. The narrative is unexcitingly straight-forward and is largely responsible for making the experience listless and pointless. And as it trudges towards the cop-out of a climax, it turns on it’s head- so by the end of it all you even end up questioning the very basis for making such a film. It’s a pity that Ajay Devgn’s sincere intensity and Saurabh Shukla’s exemplary craft have been wasted on such an unproductive script. Wait for it to come on TV, is all I can say!
Johnsont307@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment