T-Series Films and Panorama Studios’ Raid 2 (UA) is the sequel to Raid.
It is now Income-Tax Officer Amay Patnaik’s (Ajay Devgan) 75th raid. This time, he raids Manohar Dhankar, also known as Dadabhai (Ritesh Deshmukh) who lives in Bhoj. Dadabhai is worshipped like a God by the people of Bhoj because he helps them like a God would. But beneath the aid lies a sinister game plan of Dadabhai to amass wealth and indulge in criminal and immoral activities. Amay Patnaik is convinced that Dadabhai has evaded crores of rupees of tax. Dadabhai is also a powerful minister. All Amay’s leads prove wrong when he and his team raid Dadabhai’s office, house and Foundation office. The Foundation helps the poor and the needy. Since Dadabhai has destroyed all evidence before the raid, Amay Patnaik is suspended for having raided him without evidence. Not the one to give up so easily, Amay goes after Dadabhai once again after collecting more evidence, this time, more fool-proof. He exposes Dadabhai so badly that in a way, the raid spells disaster for the influential politician.
Ritesh Shah, Raj Kumar Gupta, Jaideep Yadav and Karan Vyas have written an interesting story and screenplay. The story has plenty of turns and twists because of which the viewers remain engrossed in the drama. The pace is reasonably fast and, therefore, the audience don’t get time to think. The second half, in which Amay Patnaik proves one-up on Dadabhai, is more entertaining and exciting. Yes, some portion of the post-interval part is a bit too technical and may, therefore, be a bit difficult for the public to understand, but that does not mean that the viewers would be thrown off-track. Even if the intricate details are a bit confusing, the audience would understand the overall proceedings and hence would not miss out on the entertainment value. Dialogues, penned by all the four, are punch-packed and some are even clapworthy.
Ajay Devgan lives the role of Amay Patnaik. His every pore exudes integrity and honesty, the defining features of the character he plays. Vaani Kapoor hardly gets any scope as his wife, Malini Patnaik. Ritesh Deshmukh is fantastic in the role of Dadabhai, not going overboard even once. Amit Sial is outstanding as IT officer Lallan Sudhir. Saurabh Shukla lives the role of Tauji. Govind Namdeo is pretty effective as Raja Kunwar Kuldeep. Supriya Pathak has her moments as Dadabhai’s mother. Brijendra Kala is lovely as Vinay Bakaya. Yashpal Sharma leaves a mark as advocate Devinder Gehlot. Tarun Gehlot is adequate as Dadabhai’s younger brother, Chhote. Rajat Kapur lends dignity to the character of Chief Income-Tax Commissioner Kaul. Shruti Pandey makes her presence amply felt in the role of Geeta Devi. Sanjeev Johri is impactful as Ashok. Sushil Dahiya is good as chief minister first and home minister later. Navneet Ranag makes his mark as Mahant. Tamannaah Bhatia sizzles in the Nasha song-dance number. Jacqueline Fernandez and Yo Yo Honey Singh add star value in the ‘Money money’ song. Pritisha Srivastava (as little Mini Patnaik), Vijay Bajoria (as Tauji’s aide, Bajaj), Madhavendra Jha (as Vishal Mishra), Samayar Singh (as Vikram Gadiyal), Ikram Khan (as Kamal Chauhan), Avijit Dutt (as lawyer Malani), Vipin Kumar Singh (as informer Abdul), Ritika Shrotri (as Jaya), Sanjay Udeshi (as Malini’s father), Gargi Patel (as Malini’s mother), Sandeep Kapoor (as Puneet Sahani), Ayushi Neema (as Anita), Narendra Panjwani (as Justice Jain), Ravi Bhatt (as Justice M.K. Stalin), Vatsal Singh (as the boy at the pool with Tauji), Gopal Sinha (as the high court judge), and the others do as desired.
Raj Kumar Gupta’s direction is both, interesting and engaging. He has made a reasonably entertaining fare. Music (White Noise Collectives for Nasha; Sachet-Parampara for Kamle; Rochak Kohli for Dillagi; Yo Yo Honey Singh for ‘Money Money’; Amit Trivedi for ‘Black black’) is good. The Nasha song is the best while Kamle is very melodious. The Dillagi number is so-so. Lyrics (Jaani for Nasha; Kausar Munir for Kamle; Manoj Muntashir Shukla for Dillagi; Yo Yo Honey Singh for ‘Money money’; Indraneel for ‘Black black’) are appropriate. Song picturisations (by Piyush-Shazia for Nasha; Rajit Dev for ‘Money money’; Ranju Varghese for Kamle and Dillagi) are nice, the best being for Nasha. Amit Trivedi’s background music is impactful. Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary’s cinematography is of a fine standard. R.P. Yadav’s action and stunts choreography is thrilling. Rita Ghosh does a mature job of the production designing. Sandeep Francis’ editing is very sharp.
On the whole, Raid 2 is a worthy successor to Raid and will keep everyone satisfied as it is a good entertainer.
Released on 1-5-’25 at Inox (daily 11 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Panorama Studios. Publicity: good. Opening: impressive (partly because of the popular Raid franchise, and partly due to holiday today for Maharashtra Day and Labour Day). …….Also released all over. Opening was quite good at many places due to the partial holiday for Labour Day.