With Race being a mammoth success, Race 2 brought on all sorts of expectations and hype with it.
However, did the film live up to all of this?
In contrast to Race – which was based on a conflict between two step brothers – the sequel is aimed at getting revenge. Ranveer Singh, (Saif Ali Khan) wants to ruin the money-minded Armaan Malik (John Abraham) because he killed Ranveer’s pregnant wife, Sonia (Bipasha Basu).
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, let me warn you of some spoilers ahead!
The story starts with Ranveer stealing 5 hotels from Vikram Thappar (Rajesh Khattar), a contractor who killed Sonia, and handing them over to Armaan with the intention of gaining his trust, and later, ruining him.
Thus, the plot unfolds with many interesting twists and turns ahead and keeps the audience rapt with expectation.
Let me add a word of appreciation for the cast here.
Deepika Padukone’s acting was spot on. She amazed people in Cocktail with her acting skills and it looks like she has done it again!
Saif Ali Khan, on the other hand, was better in Race. He did justice to his personality of a wealthy business tycoon in Race, but in the sequel, that spark was missing in his role as Ranveer Singh.
Having said as much, the casting of John Abraham instead of Akshay Khana was undeniably a sensible decision. Akshay Khana lacks the personality needed for the role and I believe he is highly under the influence of his elder brother, Ranvir. However, John Abraham has the appeal that was needed to play strong negative role; he has the perfect personality for the act and of course, one can’t deny that his good looks and muscular body are not a treat to watch!
However, we definitely missed Bips and the touch me-touch me girl, Katrina Kaif.
Yes, I know Katrina is a terrible actress, but the girl has charm and star power – something Race 2 could have used more of!
The highlight of the movie, however, remains its outstanding music which kept the audience glued to their seats till the very end of the last mash-up song.
Hats off to the music director and composer for bringing good music back to Bollywood after a long time!
Bey inteha is a slow romantic song, sung by our very own Atif Aslam; I couldn’t be prouder to be a Pakistani after listing to this beautiful track. No doubt, we have talent!
He also sang the title song – Allah Duhai hai – along with various artists.
The standout for me though was Lat lag gayi which is perhaps the most famous song of the movie and is undoubtedly on everyone’s playlist. The catchy beat and the blockbuster dance performance of Jacquelin are stellar and will be remembered for a long time.
The music is fresh and appealing and it definitely looks as though the directors spent a good deal of the budget on the songs.
Aside from the music, the dialogue too was very enjoyable.
A really famous dialogue of Race was when Saif confronted Katrina and said “and you, touch me touch me, kiss me kiss me….”. This time when he confronted Jacquelin, the dialogue was changed into “Aur tum, mujhey tou teri latt lag gayi…”.
This really cracked the audience up.
I have noticed that most of the movies which came out with sequels have been failures. Consider 1920 part 2 or Raaz 3; they inevitably disappointed their audience. Once the first part is so good, the expectations of the audience automatically increase as they hope for quite a lot more than what the sequel actually provides.
As for Race 2, it didn’t break this pattern.
The story was good enough, yes, but the action that glued one’s eyes to the screen till the very end of Race was somehow missing. There were relatively a few similarities between both the movies and the suspense of the betrayal between the two parties was nearly the same. When I watched Race, the suspense left me open-mouthed and astonished, but whilst watching the sequel, I could easily guess what was to come next!
So to answer my own question, in comparison to Race, Race 2 scores less!
Overall, I would give Race 2 a 4 out of 5.
Though this is not as much as I would give to Race, but coming from a huge Race fan like me, I am satisfied with its sequel and would go and watch it again in the cinema.
Read more by Roshanay here or follow her on Twitter @RoshanaySheikhÂ
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.
The way we are being bashed on every Indian forum i think atleast for some days it is my request to the crowd of Aman ki Aasha that stop reviewing Indian films for a while.
Watch something productive rather than watching circus directed by Abbas Mastan
I am not interested in this review of a movie from our neighboring country given how much venom they are spewing for a couple of days. I just logged in to one of the Indian news channels and i was disgusted at the approved comments for Pakistanis made by fanatical Indian on these websites.
But I really request all Bloggers of Pakistan that to write something for a recently released Hollywood flick “Zero Dark Thirty” where people of Pakistan are shown as Arabic speaking Individuals and even People of KPK and Abbotabad are even speaking fluent Arabic and I can only praise the American Ignorance and their war Propaganda against certain countries. Moreover most of the scenes of this movie were shot at PEC University of Technology in Chandigarh, India and Indian government gave them full support to imitate Pakistani people like these. A recent blogger from Chandigarh even stated that in making of the sets depicting Pakistan and Afghanistan the movie makers and Indian set directors made sure that Pakistanis and Afgans look like as dirty people as possible. So for me I damn care about Race but i do care about the generalizations that are made the world over for our people.
Why are paki s obsessed with india and hindi films if they hate india?
We are definitely a ‘beghairat’ quom. Worse than a dog who is mistreated by its master and yet goes back licking his feet!
The bloggers of ET live in their own world of DHA and Clifton and they dont have any idea what is going on outside of that world. Vibrant bloggers with diverse srange of topics are necessary for a developimg world but here we have seen our so called bloggers are more concerned with films, Shisha and burger outlets and they are least concerned for the general uplift for our people. ET atleast on weekends we foreign Pakistanis are more interested in blogs concerned with the problems we are facing and how to overcome them and we are least interested in some movie review
@Sami Awan:
If you spent less time thinking about India (including visiting their news sites and reading comments written by some guy in Chandigarh which suddenly becomes gospel truth for you because it confirms your pre-set notions) you would be happier – instead you take time out to visit a harmless blog reviewing some commercial film just to rant about another movie. Indian news sites like ToI are not filtered and reading comments there is an incredible waste of time, but again, because you find like-minded comments over there, it helps justify your own biases. And as far as I know, there were protests against the filming in Chandigarh as Indians did not want their country to be used to depict Pakistan; there are no ‘Indian set directors’ who had freedom to change the appearance of the actors; Zero Dark Thirty is a professional film, shot by an Oscar winning director – at least show some respect for her.
@ Author: Good review .. Folks please let be, this is just a movie review
@Sami Awan:
I am not interested in this review of a movie from our neighboring country given how much venom they are spewing for a couple of days.
Ohh!! Sorry we forgot you are spewing honey at us Indians since 1947…
@Sami Awam
Agreed..
@Somesh
How many negative news have you read about India in Dawn or Tribune.
@Black Jack
sami is right. It is not just comments of TOI or other Indian news paper, the editorial line is what based on hatred and venom..
@ Author, Kindly note that Akshay Khana died in Race so your argument regarding choosing John Abraham over Akshay khana in Race 2 is invalid since you cannot recast a guy who died in the first movie which also depicts your lack of knowledge regarding the Race franchise.
Deepika looks pretty hot here
Good review. However just a couple of facts: Akshaye Khanna’s brother is Rahul Khanna, not Ranvir. Raaz 3 was a critical disappointment but a commercial success.
What to say the whole nation is so obsessed with the Indian films and this song seems quite relevant “Mujhe to teri Latt lag gayi lag gayi”
@abdul Rehman: Nobody is talking about casting Akshay Khana again. Their acting skills as actors are being compared.
@shobz: This sentence is reffering to Akshay Khana’s brother in the “movie”, not in reality.
agreed to the dot
huhh !! search for a decent topic.
The movie was fun to watch well made movie
To the Editor,
Please as a Pakistani I request you to stop reviewing Indian movies or anything related to them. Not because they are our enemy or what has happened recently BUT because their media are showcasing their culture (not their fault) and it is giving our younger generation a cultural shock.
We as Muslims should at least be careful that we do not become too occupied with the stuff which our religion has prohibited. Go to the top of page and the picture of film is enough to deny that we are only Muslims by name…
At least stop promoting it. Watch if you want but don’t brag about it!
Peace out 🙂
@Sami Awan:
I thought Pakistanis spoke Arabic. No?
@Sami Awan: “Hollywood flick “Zero Dark Thirty” where people of Pakistan are shown as Arabic speaking Individuals and even People of KPK and Abbotabad are even speaking fluent Arabic”……..Now I am confused. Till date I have been fed by Pakistanis that they are descends of Arabs. Now you have a problem when Pakistanis are speaking their mother tongue ( Arabic ) in this film. Get a life my Arabic neighbour.
I want to draw your attention towards an important issue.. You watched this movie and enjoyed it..and thought of writing up its review..all your choice! but at least on this public forum you should have not chosen this vulgar picture.its offensive to those people who do not watch such movies.
Wonder why nobody wrote something on superbly brilliant “Inkaar”
@Don:
I am NOT!!!
@Some guy,
Dont see Indian movies – they kill our soldiers and alien culture. Dont see US hollywood as they are worse in modesty and they also kill our soldiers and people with Blackwater and CIA , Dont see Turkish soaps as they are not Pak culture. Take a look at some of our gems like Maula Jutt , Billu da kharak , Son of Pakistan and Pashto films ? Would you call these movies Made in Pak our culture?
Stop linking everything in entertainment and art with religion and political games.
Pakistanis need entertainment and let them watch what they want and like.
@working woman: O really?
@Don:
Same reason Indians are obsessed with anything going on in Pakistan. shrugs
@BlackJack:
Agree with most of what you wrote in response to someone else, except the part about showing Kathryn Bigelow some respect simply as a director. She’s a great director no doubt, but to be so inaccurate and ignorant about a language spoken in a country is not respect worthy. A little bit of research goes a long way and it’s a laughably rookie mistake for bigwigs to not give that importance. I mean they could’ve Googled it in 2 seconds. Kills the authenticity more than the Hollywood frou frou already does.
Oye Koi Author ko Kuch na Boley…
Why cursing the author dudes… U guyz wanna read the review? yallah enjoy…
If not then go watch POGO…
Well about the movie the review is genuine but you gave it way too much points…
The action was aweful…. Jacquelin was eye candy 🙂