Raees - another step closer to the SRK extinction

Shahrukh Khan can act. Well, this is a cliché. It is obvious in such an obvious way that not enough people say it. Since it hasn’t been said enough people have not heard it. Since he comes on screen on only a couple of periods in a year, some people, perhaps, don’t know this. When he does come he is seen in Dear Zindagi and Raees. Two very contrasting roles. Shahrukh Khan was good in Dear Zindagi. Not superlative but good. Raees is more an SRK movie. It is intense and has scope for him to display his range of emotions which he has characteristically done over so many years with his eyes and staccato voice. Alas, Raees, I am beginning to believe, was one story presented to SRK and a completely different one that came on screen.

Raees has a complex subject and when presented well could even have a soul. What’s seen in the movie is a seamless movement from scene to scene that struggle to tell the story of the character. Raees, the character, is ultimately an antisocial element. He is a smuggler who builds a fortune bringing in alcohol into a prohibited state. The movie painstakingly tries to instill the fact that despite this business the character is noble. The “Robin Hood” character build up never quite happened and it was left to the audience to believe and understand that despite indulging in an illegal activity the protagonist is nobility epitome. Instead of justifying the means, which is his illegal trade here, to an end, which is doing larger good to people, the movie goes on giving reasons after reasons why the protagonist is otherwise good. It ignores his primary business of illegal trade completely. I am sorry Mr. Dholakia, you lost your audience there.

From there on the movie is hotchpotch. The seemingly good guy runs into all sorts of bad problems. The movie is so loose that it portrays the smart guy who found ingenious solutions to smuggle alcohol into prohibited areas is completely blind to the fact that people in political places will betray him. The way this movie gets presented it feels like the story was written by a 5 year old. The director assumes that the reinforcement of a certain philosophy by the protagonist’s mother and a punchline associated with the character is enough for the audience to understand what kind of character the protagonist is. I am going to be polite and say that is ludicrous.

Now, the story had potential. Give the same story to a Vishal Bhardwaj or Anurag Kashyap who are masters at handling dark subjects and grey characters and they might have done wonders with it. But the movie concentrated wholly on the “herogiri” of Shahrukh Khan and totally missed the point. The movie is an insult to the audience. It is literally saying you put one of the best actors, a controversial subject and a couple of songs with women and skimpy clothes and the movie is bound to run. With the choice available currently it wont. I am afraid the movie has done more harm to SRK than anyone else for picking this movie. Deepa Bhatia is the editor of the movie and the editing stinks particularly.

The only watchable part of the movie is Nawazuddin Siddiqui. I have to say he is more original that SRK. I am also afraid this is a trend. Wasn’t Alia Bhat way better than SRK in Dear Zindagi?