To give you a little background, I have been waiting for this film since I heard that Mahira Khan is going to be working opposite Shahrukh Khan!!

By now, you all probably know my inexplicable ,unexplainable, incomprehensible, indescribable, unfathomable and inexplainable LOVE for SRK. It dates back to my teenage and something that even I can’t comprehend or justify logically, so please don’t argue or tell me that he is monotonous, overrated blah blah blah…. I KNOW!! I KNOW !! (and logically I do understand that he is not the best actor in Bollywood, BUT he’s got the swag that again, I can’t explain..)

Having said that, the reason why I was so looking forward to Raees, was not just SRK, but also as much (if not more) Mahira Khan! I LOVE HER! She is such a stunning and talented actress with so much humility! Everything that you want to see in a Movie star! And I totally agree with Sarmad Khoosat who said that Mahira Khan reminds him of Madhuri Dixit and Madhubala…She is that undeniable beauty! And I can bet she can give all the Bollywood actresses, a run for their money! (so unfortunate, that creative arts is also divided by the borders these days for political gains.. anyways.. )

So Raees for me, is my two FAVORITE people in the entertainment industry, sharing screen space for the first time and I was super excited about it. Lately SRK, movies have disappointed (even a crazy fan like) me with the exception of Dear Zindagi (read my review here), but that was not an SRK movie.. it was all in all, an Alia Bhatt movie.

So I was a little unsure and yet hoping that Raees would be ‘the’ SRK movie that I can love!

Last week my husband came back from work and told me that he has to travel for work.. Me: Acha, when do you return back?

Him: On January 25th..

Me: Hmmmmm… (trying to figure out why 25th Jan sounded too familiar…errrmmm what was on the 25th…and then a sudden panic struck me!!) Raees releases that day!!!! What time is your flight???

Him: 7 pm. Book the 9 pm tickets (and he smiles..)

Me: Noooo, nooooo… you will be too tired from the flight and all.. (and I am torn between – should I wait for him and watch it with him the next day OR go alone by myself! LOL! I can’t delay it, even for him).

But he insisted that he will come along as he will be sleeping the whole flight. (He is the BEST!) I think he said that either because he loves me very much and understands that I HAVE to watch the movie and write the review OR he is as much looking forward to the Mahira-SRK film as me but won’t admit it! (lol – to be fair, I think he could have waited a day to watch it.. it was ONLY for me! 🙂 )

Wednesday, 25 Jan 2017:

So we finally watched the movie on a weekday night with a HOUSE FULL! (Yep, thats the SRK  factor we are talking about!). Though I am a HUGE SRK fan, I will try to keep it as unbiased as I possibly can.

SRK‘s swag is BACK! (YASSSS!!!!) So for all the SRK fans, this movie will make you all fall back in love with him. He looks absolutely amazing in the character… wonderful acting.. a very serious role yet has a romantic side. But the romance is not the usual SRK type over the top, opening arms and singing in Switzerland type romance at all. The romance is very real.. the muhallay wala pyaar.. with the cricket ki ball lenay janay ke bahany, milney wala romance.

Mahira Khan, plays the girl next door and SRK’s wife and is rocking it! I was so sad reading the Indian media thrashing her in all the reviews (its really sad that even this sort of journalism can be so biased under political influence!). But Mahira Khan looks absolutely stunning! She looks gorgeous on screen with SRK and her acting is super natural.. no over the top drama! She looks prettier than MOST of the indian heroines! And looks drop dead gorgeous in Zalima! 

Nawaz Uddin Siddiqui plays the cop and is BRILLIANT as usual. His acting is so effortless and his one liners steal the show many a times. The scenes in which SRK and Nawazuddin are together.. it gets intense! Super intense dialogues and brilliant subtle facial expressions.. Super acting! 

Now The Movie. The movie is based in Gujarat and is the story of a liquor dealer Raees, who does the the illegal trade of liquor but is a man of his principles and abides with them religiously. SRK plays a very self made, don type yet good hearted(a little Robin Hood type character) business man with a cop after him. So basically there is nothing new!

The movie is an action packed drama with the 70’s-80’s feel to it. At times, I felt I was transported to the Amitabh Bachchan’s era of smuggling movies. Its basically a glamorized version of a crime based movie showing the failure of the country’s political systems and law and order situation, with the all the Bollywood ‘masala’ in it (Action, Drama, Romance, Item Song etc.) . The story however has a strong underlying message in the script. And all this would probably make it do good business at the box office.

Verdict:

If you are a SRK fan, then you MUST watch it.. you will love seeing him in the character.. from his look to his acting in the movie.

If you are indifferent towards SRK, then you might the film very ordinary and will wonder what the whole fuss is about 🙂 You might be better off watching it on the DVD.