Expectations

Right since his first released film 'Deewana', Shahrukh Khan had an anti-hero flair inside him. He explored it further in films like 'Baazigar', 'Darr', 'Anjaam', 'Ram Jaane', 'Don' and 'Fan'. The audience loved some of his anti-hero image based characters and had hunger to see more of it.

Thus, right from the first announcement of 'Raees', Shahrukh's fans have been waiting for its release. Sadly, the movie kept dragging its release date, but the hype and expectation level kept increasing. The promos look super promising, raising the expectation level to its top level.

Story

'Raees' is a story of a small time bootlegger Raees (Shahrukh Khan) who believes in expanding his business of illegal liquor in the liquor prohibited state of Gujarat. Raees and his associate Sadiq (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) are supported by Mumbai based don Moosa (Narendra Jha).

Raees keep expanding his business with the help of local police and politicians. His dream run gets a big halt with the entire of Police inspector Jaideep Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who wants to end the whole syndicate of illegal liquor in the state.

Raees with the help of his political connections gets Jaideep Majumudar transferred to another district. Jaideep Majumudar, despite of being away from Raees keeps his watch on Raees and waits for the right time to arrest Raees with proper evidence. This leads to a cat and mouse chase between Raees and Majumudar.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The movie starts on an interesting note with enjoyable childhood track followed by the larger than life type of introduction of Shahrukh and Nawazzudin. The introduction conversation between the both actors is highly entertaining. The tension and rivalry between Shahrukh and Nawazuddin is the best track in the entire film.

The dialogues are enjoyable, especially in the initial phase of the film. The cinematography is of top notch and the movie has many textures attached to it. The movie is rich in its looks and backdrop, giving the best support to the average screenplay.The music of 'Raees' has a couple of entertaining songs like 'Zaalima' and 'Udi Udi Jaye'.

Director Rahul Dholakia is known for his realistic films and has received flaks for his commercial films. Interestingly, 'Raees' is his best commercial work till date with a good amount of detailing related to the production of this film.

Shahrukh Khan looks fantastic in his avatar of the crime lord. Right from his screen mannerisms to his stylish dialogs and dramatic looks, he steals the show from all others. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chadda, Narendra Jhan, Jaideep Ahlawat and few more lend good support.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

After the initial phase the movie goes on a dragging and bland screenplay where a lot of things are happening and yet there is nothing concrete change in the graph of the film.

The second half also keeps going on and on with some bland and dragging scenes with some enjoyable part related to the rivalry of Shahrukh and Nawazuddin. The finale seemed forced, but still had its own merit to cherish.

There are some superb action sequences which gets diluted due to badly executed south Indian film type of action scenes. There was no conviction factor in these action scenes which at times looked super trashy.

'Laila Main Laila' featuring Sunny Leone lacks the magic of its original. Rest songs are average or unwanted.

Director Rahul Dholakiain order to get the style and looks of the film, Rahul misses out on the content basis and ends up delivering a good performance oriented dragging and bland film.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is fantastic in some scenes and highly repetitive in others. He adds a good balance to Shahrukh Khan's character and shines out in some of them. Mahira Khan looks adorable in some scenes, but fails to impress with her acting skills. The Sunny Leone's item song failed to create the expected wonders.

Final 'Glitz'

'Raees' had all the potential to become a wealthy king, instead settles down to becoming a pauper prince.