Customer Reviews

Race

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sexy, stylish, sensational--this movie has it all. The location is exotic, the ensemble cast gorgeous, and the fast-paced plot filled with hairpin turns you never see coming. To top it off, the songs rock! The story revolves around two brothers, Ranvir and Rajeev (played by Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna), who own a stud farm for racehorses in South Africa. Ranvir is a ruthless businessman and Rajeev a bitter alcoholic--and their fierce competition with one another turns deadly. Their love interests, Sonia and Sophia (Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif), women with dark pasts and secret agendas, complicate the brothers' rivalry. A sly police inspector (Anil Kapoor) and his dingbat assistant (Sameera Reddy) are charged with solving the delicious murder mystery that develops. All the double-crosses keep you guessing who the villains are--and who's on whose side--right up to the end. While the story is far-fetched at times, Race is one hell of a ride. - The Bollywood Ticket: The American guide to Indian movies (Subscribe: The Bollywood Ticket)

This movie is not to be taken seriously, so it should not be scrutinized or trashed. It should be seen as a parody of a thriller style (just like ''Scary Movie'' is a parody of a horror style). As such, it's an enjoyable and relaxing fun.

If you are looking for a serious movie, with convincing acting and realistic plot, I am sorry, this is not a movie for you (try ''Fashion'' instead).
Overall, not a bad try.

RACE is a captivating Hindi movie of 2008. It certainly puts one at the edge of one's seat from the very beginning; leaves one there, and after the movie is finished, one will be gaping for more...well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad bit! But RACE does a fine work of putting the audience right in the middle of the story in the first 5mins (the first explosion takes place somewhere in there)

So here it is: The movie revolves around 2 brothers Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khana) who seem to have the perfect relationship all siblings in the world should model theirs after. Rajiv being the younger, is an alcoholic and is being "babysat" by older Ranvir "[...who] lives life on the edge" and definitely has no fancy for getting drunk. They own a ranch with lots of horses and are quite well-to-do. Ranvir being the mature and rational one is in charge of the family business. They lost a horse race because their jockey had been bribed by a rival. The ruthless justice mete out to the jockey is absolute fun to watch. It leaves you with the impression one doesn't want to mess around with Ranvir. So Ranvir gets in a car accident after this, but survives by a hair's breath. Even acts as match-maker between his brother and Sonia (Bipasha Basu) a woman he was sorta seeing. In there somewhere is Sophia (Kaitrina Kaif) too; the Personal Assistant with a crush on her boss, Ranvir.

Post wedding, we witness that Rajiv has plans to kill his brother with the help of his new bride. The prize is the $100million insurance money either will get if the other is killed in an accident. Sonia's job is to seduce Ranvir and then blackmail him. She does both to perfection. At some point Ranvir gets a call from Rajiv who is about to commit suicide, because he finds that the guy cheating with his wife is his very own brother! In an attempt to talk Rajiv out of it, Ranvir gets killed (he was pushed from twenty-some floors above the ground by Sonia). Here marks the entrance of Robert D'Costa or simply RD (Anil Kapoor) the detective assigned to the case and his sexy but dumb Assistant Mini (Sameera Reddy). While gathering evidence and interviewing people, RD isn't convinced the insurance money has nothing to do with the so called "accident". Next, he finds that the money will be going to Ranvir's new bride Sophia (remember the PA) whom Ranvir had married in the spur-of-the-moment on the last 2-day business trip he made just before his death. More problems for Rajiv and Sonia who thought they got rid of the only person between them and a $100million! The way they handle this problem is what takes the movie to another level of intensity.

The plot is quite convoluted so much so that when one begins to take a liken between the characters, it becomes difficult to decide who the good guy or the bad guy is. You think you figured out the good guy yet?! Wait until the very end of the movie!

Pros:
Stellar casts plus stellar performances, especially Saif. He did an amazing job being the rational older brother to Akshaye. Having watched Dil Chahta Hai where their roles were switched although in the capacity of friends; it's a little tough to accept Saif as the mature one and Akshaye as the irrational one. I wasn't disappointed at all, both pulled their weight well. There are 2 scenes in my opinion that capture the essence of Saif and Akshaye's characters. The one in which the jockey gets treated to a dose of the Singh brothers' justice (for Saif). The other is when Akshaye watches his brother make love to his wife from images projected by hidden cameras.

I wouldn't know the extent of the originality of the plot. All I know is there's nothing new about brothers in the race for their lives as one tries to outdo the other for some prize e.g. insurance money. But, RACE has its own substance and much entertainment to offer.

I absolutely love the background score. It captures every single moment and every emotion in every sense of the word without being over the top. For the score, I'd watch the movie over and over again.

The songs are quite forgettable but not bad to listen to.

Cons:
I'm yet to get used to props (characters that add no value to a plot, but take up screen space) in Hindi cinema. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Mini character is. No offence Sameera Reddy fans. Her character can be taken out altogether and the overall mood of the movie will not be altered one bit.

I think the title could have been a little more creative but it's just a minor bother for me.

This is about 2 stepbrothers who, growing up in Durbin South Africa, have always turned everything into a race. Older brother (Saif Ali Khan) has always been the winner against younger one (Akshaye Khanna). Older one loves the younger one but younger one has a chip on his shoulder and wants to get rid of older one. Older has a girlfriend (Bipasha Basu) and a secretary (Katrina Kaif) who also figure in the plot. Then there is fruit obsessed police inspector (Anil Kapoor) and his assistant (Sameera Reddy) who come to solve an alleged suicide.., and a racing rival (Dalip Tahil) who plays dirty. This is all set around the race tracks and a South African glamor world of beautiful models and wealth.

Now if you took this as a straight movie you'd have to mark it down as stereotyped and corny. However the whole thing is so outrageous (in a Dhoom sort of way) and almost no character is what they appear. Just about everyone has agendas, double crosses etc. If you just go with it as almost a send-up played straight, it ended up being quite a lot of fun. It is a thriller-action movie that really has little violence in it nor fight sequences. There are some chases for those that like that. There is no real connection between romantic couples yet the whole thing is almost cartoon in quality . So, in that context it isn't a problem as you don't expect depth.

The music is contemporary and the dance scenes high-octane sexy ones yet none of the music remained with me as it did with Dhoom 2 for instance.
So if you are art-house forget it. If you like serious drama and serious thrillers you may have your doubts. It isn't played as comedy but nonetheless can be quite entertaining as you wade through the plot twists and the eventually predictable double dealings.

Elsewhere on the Net it tends to get a little above average. However quite a few really hated it and just as many rated it a high winner. I think it's expectations and how you approach it that explains that difference. It's no Dhoom 2 but I had fun with it and its one of those odd ones that's a keeper. A sequel has been announced using other top Bollywood stars so enough people probably liked it.

If you read the title of the movie and watch the first few minutes, you might think this is a movie about horse racing and making bets. But it really refers to the metaphorical race between two stepbrothers that compete to earn their father's inheritance money.

Everything you have seen in English-language thriller movies is apparent in Race. There are dramatic (but sensible) plot twists, characters with questionable motives, and fast-paced music in the background. After some point, the plot twists might actually become a little too excessive for some viewers. For others, it will just make the movie more entertaining. My friends and I were all at the edge of our seats so we can keep up with the rapidly shifting alliances among the characters. Eventually my friends gave up trying to figure out what's true and what's false in the story, and just had a good laugh out of it.

This film is also entertaining because it can be hilarious at times, although some of those moments aren't intentionally supposed to be funny. Watch out for the characters saying something in English and then saying the exact same thing again in Hindi, Indian actors trying way too hard to appear Westernized, a marriage official who loves complaining about nagging wives, and my favorite: detective Anil Kapoor and his obsession for eating fruits!!! If you can't take the script seriously, at the very least you will get a laugh out of this movie!

The songs are okay. My favorite one is Atif Aslam's "Pehli Nazar Mein", which was what drew me to the movie in the first place.

The title, "Race", is a metaphor for everything that happens - it might as well be the movie's modus operandi, too. Super-fast and super-furious is the name of the game in this Bollywood crime thriller that pits two brothers (Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna) against one another. The movie, set in South Africa, breathlessly jockeys from character to character, betrayal to betrayal, and unleashes more "what-the?!!?" surprises than "The Usual Suspects." There isn't a single boring moment, save for the shockingly lame songs and over-edited picturizations. I couldn't remember or, for that matter, hum a single one. What happens when - and how fast - is more important than whom it happens to. After a while, the betrayals not so much advance the plot as become it. The co-directors, Abbas and Mustan Burmawall, never hold back, and at the end of "Race", you'll know that restraint is not in their cinematic vocabulary. Theirs is a particular kind of Cuisinart filmmaking, with the characters (and the actors who play them) secondary, even irrelevant, to a hypnotically kinetic structure. I was exhausted by "Race" - yet I can't wait to see "Race 2."

Don't waste your time with this movie. Everything about it is fake. Its one of those movies that takes itself seriously while you sit back and laugh at what you are seeing. It's supposed to be a thriller but all it is some stiff acting put together in a supposed pretty package.