After Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Again, Ajay Devgn is all set to take on corruption with Raid, which will hit the cinemas this Friday. Touted as the first Bollywood project to be based on an Income Tax raid, Raid is helmed by Raj Kumar Gupta. Set in the 80s, the film explores how one of the country’s most high-profile raids was executed by a fearless IT Officer called Amay Patnaik, played by Ajay Devgn.
Here are five reasons that could make the movie worth a watch.
Powerful direction
Helmed by Raj Kumar Gupta, who is known for making content-driven films with a bit of realism to it such as Aamir and No One Killed Jessica, Raid seems to follow the same kind of genre. The trailer grabbed a lot of eyeballs when it was out and needless to say, fans are awaiting the release of the film with bated breath.
Story by Ritesh Shah
The story of the film has been written by Ritesh Shah, the man who churned out content-driven movies like Pink, Airlift and Kahaani. The writer won the Filmfare award, Star Screen Award and Zee Cine Award in the Best Dialogue category for Pink.
Stellar star-cast
Raid has a stellar star cast that looks amazing all the way. Ajay Devgn is portraying the role of Amay Patnaik, an income tax officer in Lucknow, who takes on the ‘powerful corrupt’ in an effort to help the poor. The national award-winning actor is back in the genre of movies where he is loved the most. Looking razor sharp in context of delivering hard-hitting dialogues, intense acting chops, and strong screen presence, Devgn really has something special in store for all his fans.
Besides Ajay Devgn, the drama has masterful Saurabh Shukla in the role of a wealthy goon, who goes by the name of Tauji. Raid also stars Ileana D’Cruz in the role of Ajay’s wife who supports her husband through thick and thin. Ajay and Ileana have teamed up together for the second time after Baadshaho.
Real life story
Based on one of the most high-profile IT raids of the country, Raid explores the struggle of an honest officer against the corrupt goons. And the trailer somewhere reminded us of Akshay Kumar's Special 26, but in Raid, the events are based on a real story.
It was real-life IT raids that were conducted by the IRS or Indian Revenue Service back in the 80s. As per reports, the film has been loosely based on the raids carried the then Income Tax Commissioner of Lucknow, Sharda Prasad Pandey. He was said to have carried out the longest raid in the history that lasted for more than 18 hours. In fact, there were around 90 officers who were present to carry it out and almost 45 people to count the notes.
Soul-soothing music
In Raid, Tanishk Bagchi lends an air of fresh appeal to Nusrat's hummable ghazal 'Sanu Ik Pal' with the aid of improved music technology that streamlines the melody, Rahat's heartfelt vocals and interesting tweak in lyrics by Manoj Muntashir. The lyricist sticks to old world charm that is redolent of the original melody's rawness. The other melody that Bagchi attempts to rejig is 'Nit Khair Manga' with the same set of helping hands.
