#Raees

As always, ShahRukh Khan took me to the cinemas. I saw Raees on Saturday despite my marathon training earlier in the day as well as me getting to the theater late, there was no way I would miss my date with SRK.

Truth be told, if Silverbird cinemas had shown both Raees and Kaabil, I would have seen Kaabil; I prefer its storyline...

SYNOPSIS (I missed about 20 minutes):

I walk in on a young Raees and his friend Sadiq getting a job with a bootlegger named Jairaj. Jairaj is impressed with the way Raees dealt with an older guy who had called him 'Battery' (apparently battery is an abusive word for those who wear glasses); and also how he was able to get his bottles of alcohol past security. 

Raees works with Jairaj till he is full grown (now becomes SRK) and decides it was time to set up his own business with his friend. This of course does not go down well with Jairaj and he creates a stumbling block for Raees who doesn't have the money to start the business. A determined Raees hatches a plan and goes to Mumbai to get money, there he meets Musa who ends up giving him the money (long story - go and see the movie to find out how 😏)

Raees becomes a full blown bootlegger and builds an empire. We also see his personal life, his marriage with Aasiya (Mahira Khan), and how they plan to build what they referred to as 'Our World'. 

We further meet a very resolute and unwavering cop, ACP Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), despite being transferred all over the country courtesy of corrupt politicians, is hell bent on putting an end to Raees' criminal ways. 

What was not surprising to me, is how Raees' is both evil and good at the same time; a villain that is a do-gooder (and why not, it is SRK afterall). His criminality is given a human face and he garners popularity, fame and love amongst the people by being their messiah who always came to their aid.

As the film went on, I played it out to the end in my head. Raees would win, he would become a good person and live happily ever after with Aasiya and their son; Majmudar would become his friend and help him somehow. Alas! I imagined too soon... Raees is betrayed by Musa who use him to import bomb explosives causing chaos and deaths; Raees is held responsible and Majmudar becomes more determined to end it all. He secures an unofficial approval to deal with Raees since he always got away everytime he was arrested. 

Majmudar and the police force raid Raees' neighbourhood and tortures everybody to get to him. Raees sends Aasiya and Faizan (their son) with Sadiq out of town and goes to Mumbai to seek revenge on Musa. He gives himself up afterwards to a bitter Majmudar who had given a shoot on sight instruction to his team. A brilliant Raees evades that by surrounding himself with reporters. He is arrested, taken away, and shot dead by Majmudar on the land where he was building 'Our World'.

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The first thing I said to myself after the movie was, 'If I knew that SRK would die, I wouldn't have seen the movie'. I was left with the haunting image of SRK's (no - Raees') lifeless body at the end, I almost teared up. 

SRK, as always, gives us a feisty performance. His shadowy eyes and 'batteries' (I hope Raees does not come and give me the beating of my life for calling him that 😃 - oh wait, he's dead! lol!) give him the perfect bad boy look. He delivers the action scenes superbly. And why not, he is King!

I love Sadiq (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), he was funny and good looking too 😊

Fierce Majmudar and his constant request for illegal orders to be given to him in writing; he was excellent! 

If you love goons, guns, and blood... especially where the villain is ShahRukh Khan, you do not want to miss this one!

The movie also shows the 'culture' of Islam in Gujarat. We see a traditional marriage ceremony, the celebration of Muharam, the first Islamic month by 'mourning', and the Shia muslims celebrate Maulud (the birth of the prophet). 

All the songs were nice (although I thought they were too much - about 6/7 songs in all); I especially like the rhythm of 'Dhingana' but my favorite is 'Zaalima'...