Raid 2 Review | Ajay Devgn On Righteous Auto-pilot In Instantly Disposable Tax Thriller

I don’t know how to say this politely but Raid 2 is an abomination. The sequel to Raid (2018) is so overbearing in its sincere, workman-like attitude, it drains your interest and spirits long before Ajay Devgn’s impeccable IRS DCP Amay Patnaik nabs his rival. It’s so elaborate, over-designed in its central battle of wills a sense of solid character-building takes a backseat. You wonder why Raj Kumar Gupta’s film fusses over flashing the nobility of the antagonist, MLA and philanthropist Dada Bhai (Riteish Deshmukh). It doesn’t take anything but basic intelligence to gauge that Dada Bhai’s empire is rotten. Set in the 1980s, the Raid films are too strapped to the altar of Devgn’s star status, riding high on virtue-worship. He gets the hero’s entry umpteen times with loud bravado of music.

Early in Raid 2, Amay is transferred. In a career noted for spotless credentials, there’s now a stain. Newspapers carry accounts of his having accepted a lumpsum bribe. Nevertheless his wife believes him, “seeing honesty in his eyes”. Having been apprehended with it, he’s been transferred to the town of Bhoj, where MLA Dada Bhai has everyone in fawning adoration. All swear by him. The state’s chief minister himself is de facto under his command. He practically has an empire, employing hundreds of locals. The town keeps up a happy, uncomplaining façade. There are no cases of fraud. Why there are no problems is the issue, Amay asserts to his new team. With an eagle’s eye, he goes scavenging for cracks in the MLA’s too-good-to-be-true reputation. The latter, coolly confident he’s covered all his tracks, obliges all scrutiny, according Amay such respect even he’s taken aback.

Dada Bhai worships his mother (Supriya Pathak), literally. There’s no mention of a father, a great daily performance made out of Dada Bhai praying at his mother’s feet every morning. Either she, and his most trusted aide, are entirely oblivious of his scams or they are in thick of things as well. The former seems implausible but, well, this isn’t the kind of film which subscribes to any sophisticated smarts. Delineations between the good and bad are mostly narrow. The closest Raid 2 comes to any hint of moral complexity is when Amay props up some dishonesty to catch the bigger fish. Of course, everyone, including his most shady associates, jump at whichever proposition he makes. Thankfully, late entries offer much relief. Amit Sial’s delightfully corrupt income tax officer and Yashpal Sharma’s bribe-hungry Delhi lawyer rev up the proceedings, tossing in much-needed levity. Both are so delicious, their presence also works as a curse. In their absence, the film grates worse than it previously did when they hadn’t entered. Raid’s antagonist, Tau (Saurabh Shukla), summarily pops up to comment on Amay’s sparring with Dada Bhai.

Unsurprisingly, women in the Raid franchise—as with any mainstream thriller—are an afterthought, mostly at the disposal of their boss or partners. Vaani Kapoor steps in as Devgn’s wife, Malini (I had to check IMDB to recall her name), whose main job is to look pretty, smile at her husband and be the perfect hostess. The same applies for Amay’s female colleague who’s all doe-eyed reverence. She’s delighted he chose her to carry out secret missions. For such a big team Amay has, none receives any thought or attention except to buttress his razor-sharp intuition. Before you fully accuse Raid 2 of sidelining women, the screenplay—attributed to five writers—ropes in Malini and Dada Bhai’s mother to finish off the battle in the climax. Supriya Pathak summons every shred of sentimental manipulation she can dish out to salvage a sinking ship of a film.

Then there are the songs, as bland, instantly forgettable as plain eye-sores. Ranging from Rajasthan-exotica to Tamannaah cavorting, the songs stall narrative momentum, buying off buffer time in an already overstretched film. In every Bolly outing, the crisis of the Hindi film song continues to rankle. Ultimately, Raid 2 slops into exchanges of intense glowering and scowling between Devgn and Deshmukh. Watching a battle of wills can be thrilling and stimulating when both sides place their best foot forward. Apart from Dada Bhai’s one massive hushing of his ploys, Amay just bulldozes him easily. Even the culminating legal trial whizzes by as if the film is anxious to fold up. You know from the start that Devgn, impassive as ever in his character’s skills, will triumph. This ensures Raid 2 stays tiringly predictable with low stakes, sluggish drama.