Thank God for I was able to watch Raid after Dil Juunglee since it is served as a faith restorer – faith in sanity, normalcy and in good films. Although the director Raj Kumar Gupta returned to Bollywood after five years, it was a welcome break since his last movie Ghanchakkar was actually that for the audience. In the time away from cinema, he was able to polish his skills and came out as a better director and co-writer. The film may have been set in the past but it takes Bollywood forward with its flawless flow and intelligently penned script (by Ritesh Shah) who gives both the antagonist and the protagonist equal screen time and dialogues.

The movie is based on true events that happened in the Indian city of Lucknow during the early 1980s. Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) a tough officer of the law who has been transferred to the IT department conducts raid irrespective of the person’s power and connections. He meets his match in Tauji (Saurabh Shukla) who doesn’t like being raided at all. On one hand, the IT officers are unable to find anything in the raided home while on the other they are running out of time as Tauji is allowed to leave the home and seek help. In this classic tale of cat and mouse, the one who is on the right wins but not after enduring a bumpy ride.

Ajay Devgn is first-rate in the film and plays his age, unlike some of his fellow actors who continue to play romantic heroes despite their increasing age. He is shown to be an honest and strict officer who trusts his team and his team trusts him back. Ileana D’Cruz reteams with her Baadshaho co-star and plays his wife who gives him the strength he requires to continue the good work. However, it is Saurabh Shukla as Tauji who gives tough time to Ajay as the man who owns the house where the loot is supposed to have been hidden. As desperate men, they both get to show their acting prowess and in the end, the winner is the audience that stays on the edge of their seat from the moment the film starts till the final sequence where everything is revealed.

Raid is one of those movies that shouldn’t be missed if they are being screened in the cinema, near you. Not a single frame in the film is extra and not one actor goes out of character despite there being a presence of many actors who resemble people from the Government Office in the 80s. The character may look different from Ajay’s trademark police roles but deep down, he is still Singham who always gets his man, no matter how high and mighty they might consider themselves. •