A sun-kissed cast and its well-styled fashion, luxurious locales, private jets and yachts, the latest line of Audis, champagne and casinos where millions of Euros are dropped at the blink of an eyelash. When a film throws all this at you as its pitch, it would be wrong to expect depth and acting as its central line. It would be unreasonable to walk into the cinema expecting anything intellectually or emotionally stimulating. It’s Race and it’s supposed to stimulate the senses not the grey matter. And it does that successfully. Let’s take a look…
Casting: Saif Ali Khan returns as Ranvir Singh and he hasn’t aged much in five years. Back to avenge Sonia’s (Bipasha Basu) death he sets off to hunt down Armaan Mallik (John Abraham), India’s well-oiled Mafiosi in Turkey. They both look the part convincingly as does Armaan Mallik’s half sister and business partner, Elena (Deepika Padukone). She doesn’t have the cunning flair of Bipasha Basu but it’s eye candy we’re after and her florescent wardrobe more than fuels our fashion fever. The surprisingly pleasant addition to the racers is Jacqueline Fernandez who steps in as Omisha, Armaan’s love interest. Where Elena is bright, Omisha is dark and seductive. Barring the bad wigs and clichéd fencing sequence (Zorro, anyone?), her presence does place her as the next Bipasha Basu of Bollywood.
Plot: The thing about sequels is that you need a new, and just as strong story in every individual film. You can’t just take the first, original film, rehash it with trivial differences and expect a successful franchise. The plot of Race 2 (like Dabangg 2) fails to strengthen the core and offers nothing new. You learn to expect the unexpected and stay two steps ahead of the plot. Even when it twists, you know it’s going to convolute further. And the twist, in becoming predictable, gets monotonous. It nosedives after the interval.
Action: It’s no Skyfall, but Race 2 does justice to its genre by punctuating the plot with enough action, whether in the rippling biceps, the scintillating waistlines, the scorching cars and of course, their races. A winning sequence is when Ranvir Singh is chasing the hit man through the streets, waters, walls and hills of Cyprus. The fight between Armaan Mallik and Typhoon is convincing too.
Soundtrack: Pritam polishes this soundtrack, with ebbs and flows in comparison to the original film. Like the rest of the story, which is set in the same mold, the songs are positioned likewise. In ballads, Pehli Nazar Mein is replaced by Be Inteha, which lacks the depth or melody of the former. But Atif Aslam’s vocals serve a better purpose in pinning down the main track. The racy Allah Duhai Hai is a much more powerful number than Race Saanson Ki. The strongest single, however, is Mujhe to Teri Lut Lag Gaye, performed by Saif and Jaqueline. It has the same seductive undertones as Zara Zara Kiss Me with a quicker and much more racy beat.
All in all, the soundtrack is much like the film: a sugary concoction that has very little value once you’ve given in to your craving. That said, you get what you buy a ticket for. — Aamna Haider Isani