Raees (2017)

Raees is nothing else but a testament to Shah Rukh Khan's insanely good looks and equally insane acting skills. Apart from these very important aspects, I'm afraid to say that it falls rather flat- it tries to be both a proper mass movie and also a slick gangster epic, and doesn't manage to do justice to either. In its attempt to be the former, the grey shades of the protagonist aren't explored as well as one would hope; and in its attempt to be the latter, the massy elements like the romance and the songs only act as an annoyance to the audience that is finally sinking its teeth into the gritty drama. I wish the director had had a more coherent vision of what he wanted his movie to be- or more likely, I wish SRK's larger-than-life persona hadn't acted as a hindrance to this vision. It's incredible how his fame and stature haven't stopped him from constantly improving as an actor, and from always attempting different things. It's a lesson I wish more stars would take; but then, there really can only ever be one SRK.

The last half-hour was riveting in a way I wish the rest of the film was too. I personally believe that no mainstream hero does villain roles like Shah Rukh, and it's a shame that more of that darkness and creepiness was unearthed here too. I loved his dynamics with both Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (those three would be epic in a comedy together), but his romance with Mahira Khan was... lacking. Don't get me wrong, they were both good individually, but their pairing was just not it. If they had cast an age-appropriate actress, maybe then the romance could have seemed a little less superficial and a little more necessary. The songs are also excellent on their own, but somehow just don't fit into the narrative as they should, which makes them a little less appealing overall. Not that that's going to stop me from jamming to Zaalima till the day I die, of course.

In conclusion, the scene where Shah Rukh is cooking dinner while Mahira looks on single-handedly ended traditional notions of gendered division of labour and toxic masculinity. When will people give my man the credit he deserves?!