The best example of this are movies like ArdhSatya where the scenes between Om Puri and Sadashiv Amrapurkar bring a certain sense of anguish, despair and hurt. Especially the non chalance with Amrapurkar is playing cards and tells Om Puri " Kal aana" when he tries to arrest him.
But In Raid - we know 'heroes always dont come in uniform". Now I am making a fundamental assumption that the makers didnt mean to say that Ajay Devgn is not playing Singham 3 .
Ajay Devgn while playing Amay Tripathi gets a role that he has done before but we can watch again. An upright individual with the brooding intensity that only he and his eyes can deliver.
The movie starts with developing the character and career graph of Amay Tripathi - 49 transfers, the guy goes to a businessmans party but drinks his own 'Ghoda chaap' rum , pays the cost of a shoe that is needed to get into the club and proudly says he wears only what he can afford. However the watch on his wrist didnt look very affordable. There is also an intro scene when he takes charge. Yes its subdued but it is definitely templatized.
This brings me to the question that has rankled me throughout the movie - and Ajay Devgn himself has said it in his interview during the publicity cycle "I don't know about the benchmark or perception that this movie might create, but the real struggle with film was that the character is very heroic but real at the same time. We tried to keep it real even with the punchlines. It doesn't feel you're watching a movie. The challenge was to follow the character as realistically as possible."
This line that the makers chose to walk sums up the dilemma throughout the movie.
Its realistic , but what is the point of having punchlines without employing the punch. The character is referred to as the soda out of the bottle, so this is soda without the bubbles. Then why have soda? Similarly when you want to be real in 1981, the shirts you wear seem Van Huesen not stitched. Where are the rats when you search for files in the IT office?
Even though Ileana is definitely 15 years+ younger than Devgun , she plays his wife in somewhat chirpy yet duty bound manner . She likes to have her fun but knows her husband inside out. He finds support in her to take the bold decisions. Mandatorily sweet enough to have 2 songs. Again it is romantic but not realistic since she gets him food and for his officers during a raid.
Where the movie has taken strides is in the portrayal of the antagonist Tauji by Saurabh Shukla. He is battling both his loss of money and reputation but internal family squabbles. His family and the way they live in a haveli built 70 years ago that is creaking. is the most interesting part of the movie. His resistance is passive but resolve amazing. How he cracks slowly by slowly is the crux of the movie.
When the raid is on , the brothers of Tauji and their wives are first dismissive then irritated and then scared. The mother of Tauji gets the best moments where she either reminisces or blurts out. There is an element of rotting in this proceedings that could have been captured more dramatically but it is given a procedural touch. The interludes between Shukla and Devgn form some best moments including phone calls from the finance Minster and prime minister. Taujis mother Ammaji gets the rest of the best moments. Shukla brings the pathos in his character well as he tries to find who is the Vibishan in his family who brings down Ravan. We wish the movie had some more hysterical moments but only we get one when the crowd surrounds the haveli.
Coming back to the director's touch, RajKumar Gupts's earlier 2 movies are also based on real life incidents. Aamir had a definitive anguish , however Amay Tripathi is too unrufflled and has no single point of vulnerability in the movie. Again although heroic a bit unrealistic. Similarly just like in NoOneKilledJessica the plot control meanders to be more of a depiction of a movement. Ritesh Shah's screenplay is fairly straightforward and sticks to the 'starting of Raid based on tip off to completion of Raid' and ' Ram vs Ravan' .
The movie has a dependable cast that gives us watchable engaging fare. But with a great topic and a stellar crew , a 3rd time director could have given us something more remarkable and mouthwatering like a first rate cross of ArdhSatya meets a decaying establishment of the Omkara type gangsters.
Overall we salute the bravery of the IT officers because they would have gone through so much pain in the 80s to conduct raids like this. Wish the directors were as brave in their screenplay and held themselves to a higher benchmark.
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