And finally, Friday is here, Eid is here and so is Salman Khan at the theaters near you! This time, the superstar has arrived with a family suspense-thriller… he likes to call it Race 3 with Hum Aapke Hain Koun! Don’t try to figure out what he means by that because you have to watch the film to know more. Race 3 is the third instalment of the super hit series which has always managed to impress the audience and the box office alike. Say for that matter, Race 2 had ended up making over Rs 100 crore when it had released in 2013. Obviously, this time the film will only get bigger thanks to the ultimate crowd-puller, Salman Khan who is at the helm of all affairs. And then when you know everything has undergone a change right from the director (Remo D’Souza) to the cast which has a host of new actors including Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem along with the original Race faves Anil Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez, you only expect more twists and turns in store for you.
Race 3 is everything film students are taught not to do, but then what do they know? From the first scene in which Anil Kapoor blows up a gang member with the help of a pen bomb to Salman coming to the rescue of his family in a base-jump suit, Race 3 unabashedly targets the fans. There isn’t any pretension of logical filmmaking or sound screenplay. It seems Race 3 categorically wants the non-Salman fans to mind their own business.
Shamsher Singh (Anil Kapoor), a runaway criminal from a village near Allahabad, has built an empire in Al-Shifa Island in the Middle East, which was bought by his elder brother for difficult days. Sikander alias Sikku (Salman Khan) is Shamsher’s stepson who runs his illegal arms’ business. Sanjana (Daisy Shah) and Suraj (Saqib Saleem) are Shamsher’s other kids. There is an intra-family rivalry going on among all of them for the control of business and assets. But they don’t know ‘iss khel ka asli Sikander kaun hai (who is the real boss of this game)’. You have seen the trailer, right?
Let’s get back to the race, I mean the story, which starts, speeds up and finishes with black SUVs, airborne fighters and a barrage of bullets.
Consider this example: Sanjana, the cool-headed MMA champ, and Suraj, a mostly screaming psychotic gangster who likes to break beer bottles on his own head, are trapped in the den of an adversary. Shamsher isn’t worried about his children because “Sikander tak message pahuch chukka hai (The message has reached Sikander).” You know what that means?
This means the killing of more than 10 dozen weapon-wielding trained bodyguards and a song thrown in between. The icing on the cake is Saqib’s reaction to his rescue, “What the hell bro!” Exactly, what the hell!
No wonder, Salman introduces himself as, “My name is Sikander, Sikander Singh.” He is James Bond with tonnes of extra confidence. Before I forget, he is Oxford-educated as well.
Dialogues in the film play on a different level altogether. Just when you thought nothing could surpass ‘My business is my business, none of your business,’ Daisy Shah comes up with another gem: ‘Isko dil nahi Dell khol ke dikhao (Don’t open your heart, switch on your Dell laptop)’.
Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley -- you name it and D’Souza will blow it up for you. He is so obsessed with blasts in the film that he doesn’t mind blasting a tree if he doesn’t find anything else.
Not that Race and Race 2 were classics, but Race 3 has taken things too far. Remo D’Souza’s idea of a dysfunctional family is far more juvenile than Abbas-Mustan’s.
Then there are shirtless people, undercover agents with outrageously simple plans and a twist that does more harm than help. By the end of it, Race 3 turns so bad that you can’t help but laugh nervously.
Let me simplify it for you: A bad guy, who was initially presented as the most powerful person on the planet, challenges Sikander in dual. After being punched for a couple of times, he is lying in the pool of blood. Sikander, meanwhile, is taking care of other business. The fallen guy says something from behind a big black car. Of course, Sikander doesn’t like it, so what does he do? He simply pushes the car and it crushes the previously powerful guy. So simple.
Race 3 is anyway no ordinary film, it is an iteration in a popular action-thriller franchise – Race. Ten years after the first Race hit theatres, the third film in the series comes loaded with big stars like Salman, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol and others.
Releasing on the joyous occasion of Eid, the Remo D’Souza directorial should earn around Rs 30 crore on the first day. Trade analyst Girish Johar had earlier said, “Eid hasn’t been announced as of now still Salman’s charm is working on his fans. Also, Anil Kapoor has left the audience excited for the film and Race 3 is expected to earn Rs 30 crore on its opening day,” he said. He also predicted that the film should cross the Rs 100 crore mark over the opening weekend. Race 3 is releasing on 3500 screens.
When asked if Race 3 will be able to best Salman’s last film Tiger Zinda Hai, Johar said, “It cannot be said as the advance booking for the Ali Abbas Zafar film began much before the release of the film but bookings for Race 3 have just begun.”
The record for the highest opener this year goes to Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War at Rs 31.3 crore. Race 3 has a good chance at beating the Marvel tentpole superhero film.
“Race 3 is nothing but a recycled bin of too many car chases, explosions, buffed up characters strutting in slo-mo, and wilted lines. The same character who had a ‘bad feeling’, also uses the word ‘so tacky’. Well, what else would you call a film which doesn’t do justice to its finest asset, Anil Kapoor? The superbly fit Kapoor is a left-over from the previous Race flicks, and he was an absolute hoot in both.”
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