An honest, soft-spoken income tax officer Amey Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) raids powerful and feared politician Rameshwar Singh aka Tauji’s (Saurabh Shukla) “White House” with his huge team and police personnel in tow, on an anonymous tip, sometime in 1981. That is the straight-forward plot of the film.
Inspired by true events, Raid has a solid, focused premise for gritty, razor-sharp drama with a huge, largely underutilized ensemble cast. Director Raj Kumar Gupta (No One Killed Jessica, Aamir) creates many great moments, hero-villain face-offs and decent suspense, and we get a fairly engaging film from start to finish.
This story is inspired from the income tax raid that took place in the eighties in Uttar Pradesh. Ajay Devgn does a nice understated turn as the income tax officer. If menace needed another word, then Saurabh Shukla uses all his experience to give a strong performance as the powerful politician.
The strength of the movie is how it focuses on a single tax raid, and the writers do enough, add believable twists and turns to keep the proceedings real.
India and honesty:Â The honest government officer as an underdog is not a mere Hindi movie stereotype. It is the story of India. It is largely believed that a government job brings with it a license to be corrupt and mint money through bribes. That is why the honest hero fighting the system never goes out of date, unfortunately.
Before we proceed with the review, here are couple of movie recommendations on movies made on similar honest government officer themes. Newton (2017) starring Rajkummar Rao is among the recent notable movies made on this theme. Early in Newton, the protagonist is told what his folly is, by another senior goverment officer – That many people consider honesty in a government job to be something extraordinary. But in fact, it is a matter of fact thing to be devoted to one’s job.  The other fascinating movie I would recommend is Ardh Satya (1983), starring the great Om Puri.
Wanted: Trimmed Song Sequences, Better Characterisation, and Editing
If Raid doesn’t rise to be a potential classic, the pacing, editing, rhythm and a couple of redundant song interruptions are to blame. Sharper editing, especially in the second half, would have given us a far more superior film.
Also, key plot twists are brushed over, and not explained in detail. The raid scenes, the income tax team dynamics, the politician’s family, the main plot reveal required greater inventiveness and command in direction and writing.
A couple of plot liberties rankle. Especially the part when Amey allows Tauji to leave the house is so against logic and character, and merely a contrived build-up to the mob climax. The mob attack, the car ambush, the final escape required more bubbling tension.
Solid Lead Performances, Some Hazily Written RolesÂ
But there is much to admire here. Ajay Devgn is subtle and effectively toned down as Amey, a performance of assured, honed craft. Saurabh Shukla is superb as the arrogant Tauji. But it is Pushpa Joshi as Tauji’s undeterred mother who is a surprise, hilarious standout. The talented Amit Sial (of Titli fame) gets little subtext to build on his negative role, his Lallan is played up for laughs. Writing gaps also show up in Ileana D’Cruz’s portrayal of Amey’s ‘angelic’, seemingly unaffected, and supportive wife Malini.
At a little over 2 hours, Raid arrives at its main premise too early, doesn’t tie the loose ends well, but never loses steam either. It is a decent drama and as an audience, it is surely worth a watch for the sincere, mildly inspired attempt.
