Rahul Dholakia's Eid 2016 offering is definitely looking intriguing, says Raja Sen.
We don’t know much about Raees, next summer’s intriguingly titled Shah Rukh Khan release, but the picture is beginning to emerge.
A poster was released yesterday and now the teaser is out, and it seems a bit like Deewar meets Guru -- while wearing soorma.
The teaser opens with the rumbling of various alcohol bottles rolling down a street, as if a barman-bankrupting accident has led a crate of liquor to flow out into the world.
We hear Shah Rukh’s voice talking about what his mother taught him: that no dhanda is too small, and that no religion is bigger than the dhanda.
This is a lesson Khan’s character -- possibly a bootlegger or a smuggler -- has taken to heart.
The shots accompanying this discourse showed us McDowell’s bottles dunked underwater, sold across packed counters, crated and stacked.
The next slow-motion shot introduces us to Khan himself as he walks through the centre of the screen, cudgel in hand, while a riot takes place smokily around him.
His look is that of his character in Farhan Akhtar’s Don, or, more optimistically, an evil version of his Kabir Khan in Chak De! India, bearded and determined and ready to take on the world.
The soorma in his eyes is a distinctive touch, though.
The 70s hangover lasts as the same kind of font used to spell Coolie or Kaalia is used to give us the name of the new film, complete with an “in and as” credit for Khan: Raees.
Khan, like a popular politician, raises his hands to a crowd while telling us that he has the wiles of the baniya and the ‘daring’ of the miyanbhai.
The film, directed by Rahul Dholakia, is definitely looking intriguing and Khan is, as always, at his most fascinating when seething with intensity.
The last shot is a close up of his left-eye while he growls “aa raha hoon.”
Raees hits theatres next year, at Eid 2016.
