Race 3 Review: A Race to Nowhere!

Sethumadhavan

So it’s that time of the year when Bhai aka Salman Khan rules and no wonder then that Race 3 which sees him entering the franchise for the first time, is the major release of the week. You would also get to see Salman in the teasers of Zero as well as Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se, both of which are attached to Race 3. So there’s no escaping Bhai during this festive weekend, fair enough. By now Salman’s special connection with Eid & the track record of his Eid releases (barring last year’s Tubelight) has almost become a legendary folklore of sorts. So obviously the expectations were always going to be of a hopeful box office winner and why not? But then has Race 3 indeed turned out to be the Eid dhamaka that has been promised by Salman? I must confess that I have never been a fan of the Race franchise, but have realized over time that Abbas-Mustan have nurtured a lot of believers in the franchise, with part 1 in particular being well received.

With Remo D’Souza replacing Abbas-Mustan as director for the 3^rd edition and with a new look team on board, the only names that continue their association with the franchise are Anil Kapoor, producer Ramesh S.Taurani and writer Shiraz Ahmed. Race 3 is a tale revolving around a high profile business family headed by Shamsher Singh (Anil Kapoor), who has built his fortune as an international arms dealer. The rest of Shamsher’s family includes Sikander (Salman Khan), the loyal and caring nephew, his twin children, Sanjana (Daisy Shah) and Suraj (Saqib Saleem), his man-friday (Sharat Saxena)  and Yash (Bobby Deol), who’s like an extended family member. Rana (Freddy Daruwala) is their dreaded rival and someone who is always locking horns with them. Everything is not hunky dory as it appears to be within the family (no surprise there) and things get further complicated when Shamsher & co come across a dangerous yet exciting opportunity, one which involves stealing a hard disk and using it to blackmail prominent politicians.

Needless to say that as the story moves forward, there are various twists and turns that get unveiled and then the film finally ends with the prospect of another film in the franchise being screamed aloud (shudder, shudder). First of all Remo D’Souza needs to be asked as to why he chose to focus on style rather than substance for this film. Yes the visuals are appealing (cinematography by Ayananka Bose), the locations are interesting, the stunts are impressive but then all that glitters is not gold. At a run time of 160 minutes the film is way too long for comfort and Shiraz Ahmed’s screenplay is a big let-down. The first half of the film in particular is very dull and leaves you gasping in a way. The dialogues (Shiraz Ahmed and Kiran Kotrial) are unintentionally funny at places, pulling down the film even further. Also the constant usage of Awadhi/Bhojpuri dialogues initiated by Shamsher and later tried by Sikander and a few others looks very forced and irritating.

The songs are nothing much to write about and talking of performances; it looks like everyone treated the film as just one major vacation abroad. Freddy Daruwala is wasted, Saqib Saleem and Daisy Shah don’t look comfortable in their portrayals and Jacqueline is purely functional. After all the brouhaha over Bobby Deol’s presence in the film all that one can say is that he does appear to be extremely fit but that’s about it. Anil Kapoor is effective as he usually is, though he is not made to stretch to deliver anywhere close to his best. This is a routine role for Salman Khan; he does nothing significantly new, but does oblige his director in ensuring that all the check boxes to please his fans are perhaps ticked. Overall Race 3 is an extremely disappointing film by Remo D’Souza and is no patch on the work done by Abbas-Mustan with the franchise in the past.

Bottomline

Race 3 is not the Eid dhamaka that Salman Khan would have ideally wanted to deliver this festive weekend. By far the weakest film in the franchise, it fails to impress on any count.

Rating: 1.5/5