In one of the lesser melodramatic scenes from this film, we see SRK as the eponymous Raees, breaking down. His cheeks swell up like a puri and his head shakes like he’s having a seizure and even though not a single tear rolls out of his eyes, from the odd groan, we’re assured that he’s crying. His performance in the scene seems like a reaction to being forced to watch this film twice.
’Gritty’ and ’edgy’— how some have described this film — are the most loosely tossed around words in the film industry. Writers describe their stories as such, filmmakers feel it best conveys their ambitious vision and actors use them to describe their onscreen avatars. But not many of them will be able to summarise what these words mean or translate into. But as long as the wheels are in motion, who cares? Set in the ’70s-’80s Gujarat, we meet Raees when he’s a teen, being inducted into the spurious alcohol industry. Soon he’s alcohol kingpin Jairaj Seth’s ( Atul Kulkarni) right hand. Given that he possesses baniye ka dimaag and miyaanbhai ki daring— the two traits that cumulatively spell success in bootlegging booze — he’s soon the boss of his own empire. Along with friend and accomplice Sadiq ( Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) , Raees greases cops, politicians and everybody in the middle to become a messiah of the lesser privileged and a dushmanon ka dushman. Evidently, this story is set in the ’80s.
The man who stalks Raees and hopes to trounce his booming business is super cop Jaideep Majmudar ( Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who is close on his heels through the film. But his earnest efforts are nullified by Raees, who manages to get him transferred each time he’s about to close in on him. The film takes a turn for the worse in the second half and when things go south for Raees, the story nosedives into hell.