Rajkumar
Gupta’s
hammy
treatment
and
bombastic
score
strips
the
realism
to
turn
Raid
2
into
another
hail
the
hero
exercise,
observes
Sukanya
Verma.
Whether
or
not
a
film
is
crying
for
a
sequel
is
decided
by
its
box
office
success
or
an
actor’s
desire
to
return
in
a
role
promising
sure
shot
glory.
Audiences
rarely
have
a
say
in
these
matters.
When
Raid,
Rajkumar
Gupta’s
moderately
budgeted
tribute
to
the
income
tax
department’s
unsung
heroes
came
out
in
2018,
it
offered
a
welcome
change
of
pace
from
Ajay
Devgn’s
brooding,
bashing
heroes.
Watching
him
peacefully
pursue
the
path
of
justice
in
a
tax-defaulting
MP’s
home
along
with
a
battery
of
officers,
while
the
mood
continually
shifted
between
humour
and
hostility,
rendered
Raid
an
unshowy
strength.
A
muted
Devgn
is
back
on
the
fore
as
the
1980s’
IT
star
Amay
Patnaik
in
Raid
2
with
bigger
targets
in
mind.
Though
he
is
as
nonviolent
as
ever,
there’s
little
originality
by
way
of
script,
which
is
a
classic
case
of
more
of
the
same.
Giving
original
writer
Ritesh
Shah
company
are
four
other
writers
—
Jaideep
Yadav,
Karan
Vyas,
Akshat
Tiwari
and
director
Gupta
—
but
Raid
2‘s
bag
of
foreseeable
tricks
are
no
match
for
its
predecessor’s
focused
onslaught.
Smarts
make
way
for
scale
as
little
thought
is
put
in
to
explore
new
facets
of
ransacking
a
big
shot’s
premises.
Instead,
we
have
a
chappal
maker-turned-minister
called
Dada
Manohar
Bhai
(Riteish
Deshmukh
exudes
the
threat
of
a
plastic
knife)
wielding
his
hold
on
the
common
man
to
launder
wealth
as
and
where
he
pleases.
Even
his
washing
the
mother’s
(Supriya
Pathak)
feet
in
rose
petal
water
while
reciting
mantras
every
morning
to
demonstrate
his
devoted
son
act
while
a
#MeToo
controversy
lurks
in
the
corner
is,
ultimately,
just
a
ploy
for
the
scattered
screenplay
to
wrap
up.
For
all
its
pretence
of
diplomacy,
Amay’s
courtesy
and
Dada
Bhai’s
grovelling
tone
are
dead
giveaways
of
the
game
of
outsmarting
they
are
about
to
get
in.
Much
of
Raid
2
is
squandered
on
these
silly,
predictable
games
of
wolf
in
sheep’s
clothing
when
not
slipping
in
one
needless
song
after
another
to
justify
Vaani
Kapoor’s
presence
as
Ileana
D’Cruz’s
replacement.
The
significance
of
Amay’s
personal
life
is
further
diminished
in
the
sequel.
Even
if
only
for
a
fleeting
seconds,
the
wife
was
an
intelligent,
vulnerable
figure.
But
in
Raid
2,
Vaani’s
role
is
limited
to
offering
rotis
on
the
dinner
table.
At
the
receiving
end
of
Patnaik’s
wrath
in
the
first
Raid,
Tauji
(Saurabh
Shukla
showing
off
his
wry
wit)
volunteers
to
pitch
in
as
some
sort
of
sutradhar
to
the
sequel
that
takes
place
seven
years
after
his
sentence.
His
commentary
of
ridicule
and
the
boisterous
insincerity
of
Amit
Sial
and
Yashpal
Sharma
as
the
Lokis
of
Amay’s
Avengers
army
are
the
only
time
Raid
2
exhibits
some
life
in
its
monotonous
war
on
corruption.
One
felt
unexplainable
glee
as
worlds
of
wrongfully
accumulated
wealth
came
crashing
down
amidst
righteous
schadenfreude.
But
Gupta’s
hammy
treatment
and
bombastic
score
strips
the
realism
to
turn
Raid
2
into
another
hail
the
hero
exercise.
Raid
2
Review
Rediff
Rating:
