NEWS: 'Race 2' collects Rs.79.6 crore in first week

'Race 2' collects Rs.79.6 crore in first week

Abbas-Mustan's action thriller "Race 2" has raked in Rs.79.6 crore net in its opening week at the domestic box-office. The film is also minting money in the overseas market.

Co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Ramesh Taurani of Tips Films, "Race 2" had earned Rs.51.35 crore over first weekend. In the following days, film earned Rs.7.5 crore Monday, Rs.6.5 crore Tuesday, Rs.5.75 crore Wednesday, Rs.5 crore Thursday and Rs.3.5 crore Friday.

The first-week total on the domestic box office sums up to Rs.79.6 crore, while in the international market, "Race 2" grossed over $4.25 million in its opening week.

Made for Rs.60 crore, the film features an ensemble cast of Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Jacqeline Fernandez, Anil Kapoor and Ameesha Patel

Movie Review: RACE 2

Movie Review: RACE 2

‘Race 2’ has every ingredient of an Abbas Mustan flick. It’s got oodles of glamour, scorching style, sleek Bond-ish heroes, gorgeous ladies, characters with more than fifty shades of grey, some enjoyable background music, talks of yachts, and oh boy - some cars, and overshadowing every other thing – money! 

The story involves casinos, generous numbers of Audis – which at times make you wonder whether or not the film is a giant commercial for the car brand. There’s actually a cleverly-put-in sentence promoting a model of the car too. 

People in this film speak of money in millions and billions of Euros – to a point where you stop working out the zeroes in the figures. The style quotient is so much in the film that even in the pouring rain, and sobbing in front of a grave, Saif cannot take his glares off. 

There are twists and turns, some extra-longwinding chase scenes which could definitely have been shortened, and action. The film – apart from the amount of money put in constructing it bit by bit, and its action sequences – is actually nothing. It is very glittery, making it blinding at times. And yes, betrayal is survival – every bit so.

Saif gets to mouth some of the best dialogues in the two and a half hours of blasts and twists and turns. Sample a few: Ranvir saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold”, “Race humesha meri hi thi aur meri hi rahegi… (The race was always mine, and will always be mine…)”, and the like. 

When it comes to acting, barring Ameesha Patel, most have lived up to their roles. Saif, reprising Ranveer’s role from the original, does a great job this time too. John Abraham’s character is painted in the darker shades of grey, and Action Abraham plays the cold-blooded Arman Malik well. He tries hard to provide his character with the required depth and succeeds mostly. Deepika’s acting skills are going up with every single film of hers. If in ‘Cocktail’ she played the carefree Veronica to the hilt, here she ups her performance with the shrewd Eleana. Jaqueline Fernandez has some really stylish fencing and archery scenes in the film – only that their purpose evades the senses. Anil Kapoor in his fruit-loving Robert D’Costa avatar justifies the role completely. 

An almost blink-and-miss cameo by Bipasha Basu is the basic premise of the film, and the lady doesn’t disappoint. The supporting cast of Aditya Pancholi and Rajesh Khattar play along well. As for Ameesha Patel, enough said already.

Salim-Sulaiman’s background score matches the high-octane action scenes completely and is a huge advantage for the story – without it, the film might have been a pretty damp affair. Music director Pritam has a song for every drop of a hat. 

The most famous song of the film, ‘Allah duhai hai’, ironically, comes across as unintentionally funny – and placed at a moment which makes it so. ‘Be intehaa’ in Atif Aslam and Sunidhi Chauhan’s voice is an enjoyable one. The music of the film is mostly for moments when you have a party on your mind – literally. 

The film is defined by its well defined and crazy action sequences – and a lot of it. Shiraz Ahmed’s story doesn’t come across as the most defining feature of the film: blame the excessive action for that. The film is left open-ended, and – I can bet anything on this – there’s a sequel to this one coming up soon. The story isn’t able to keep one glued to the screen: your attention sways from not-enjoyable to boring several times.

In all, ‘Race 2’ is a grand display of money. The adrenaline-pumping action is the plus point of the film, but too much of that does no good to it. Two and a half stars from me for this Friday’s ‘expensive’ release.

Race 2, pale compare to Race

NEWS: 'Race 2' has been most challenging: Jaqueline Fernandez

Actress Jaqueline Fernandez considers "Race 2" as her most challenging film and says a lot of hard work has gone into it.

"It is the most negative character I have played. It is very challenging to do something like that. I had to tackle each scene with an underlying thought that the character is concealing a deep dark secret. Every character is dark and that is the beauty of the film," she said in an interview.

"It is a nice change. It's something new to try. It was very challenging. To be this evil person and be negative, you have to work on yourself," she added.

Comparing "Race 2" to her previous hit "Housefull 2", Jaqueline said: "'Housefull 2' was like a walk in the park. It was fun, everyone was having a good time. Everything was spontaneous. 'Race 2' is more calculative, you have to rehearse. You need to understand that certain messages need to be sent to the audience. So 'Race 2' was most challenging."

With so many films crossing the Rs.100-crore-mark, Jaqueline feels the term is overrated now.

"I feel that a lot of films have crossed Rs.100 crore now, I think it has become overrated. Now we should talk about Rs.200 crore," she said.

Asked how does she go about choosing scripts, Jaqueline said: "I don't have any strategy, I just took whatever came my way. It just happened that these were fantastic offers which just came my way. Things have really started shaping up for me," she said.

Directed by Abbas-Mustan, "Race 2" also features Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Ameesha Patel in prominent roles.

OFFICIAL TRAILER: Race 2

Only view able on Computer

Meet the starcast of RACE 2

FIRST LOOK: Jacqueline Fernandes in Race 2