Race 3: FILM REVIEW

By Ambar Chatterjee

Director:

Remo D'Souza

Cast:

Salman Khan, Anil S Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem, Bobby Deol, Freddy Daruwala

Race 3

'Race 3 delivers a lethal dose of terrible acting, cringe-worthy dialogues, tacky VFX and poor direction'

Race 3 is exactly what its trailers made us believe it to be. It is a film with no merit that tries to score on Salman Khan's star power alone. It's a non-starter from the word 'go'. The fact that Salman brings in some of his favorites and gives them a piggyback ride for all the wrong reasons only makes this film that much worse. I liked the first two Race films. Even though there wasn't much merit in them, atleast they were entertaining, slick, had good action with believable performances and some nice twists and turns. Race 3 is not that beast and is laced with cringe-worthy dialogues, terrible acting from everyone except Anil S Kapoor, twists that never make the chop, tacky visual effects and a runtime that is as irritating as it is yawn-inducing.

Sikandar (Salman Khan) is the blue-eyed stepson of weapons manufacturer Shamsher (Anil S Kapoor). Shamsher has two more children, Suraj (Saqib Saleem) and Sanjana (Daisy Shah) who hate Sikandar and want to throw him out of the family. Yash (Bobby Deol) is Sikandar's go-to person for any problems and has shared a bond for years with him. Things turn interesting when Jessica (Jacqueline Fernandez), Sikandar's ex-girlfriend turns up as Yash's girlfriend and Sikandar is caught off guard. Add to that a hard disk full of incriminating videos of ministers, a government agent who is posing as one of the characters, a plot of revenge and unknown lineage and you have a story that feels interesting and intriguing on the surface.

However, what plays spoilsport is its poor treatment, terrible acting, and cringe-worthy dialogs. Salman Khan has become somewhat overconfident that whatever he will do will strike a chord among his fan base and it has proved to be true thus far but he is really pushing his luck. As I watched this film, I felt that he wasn't even trying to act. His performance gave me a feeling that he was on the sets of Big Boss and hosting a season of it every time telling people what to do and what not to. He doesn't even try to emote. The worst he saves for the action sequences were he doesn't even move an inch. It may appeal to the front benchers but for people who know how quality action looks, this will not work out. If that was not enough, just look at him dance. He is getting overweight, has a haggard and almost sleep-deprived look on his way and it just doesn't cut it for a role like this. I missed Saif Ali Khan's Ranveer.

Saqib Saleem can't act. He tries to be angsty but every time he does that, he ends up being hilarious. Also, the fact that he is handed easily some of the worst lines of dialogues in the movie doesn't help his cause any more. I will go to the extent of saying that he reads his dialogues and not so much acts his part. Ditto can be said about Daisy Shah. She was never an actor and if she continues the way she performs here, she never will be one. However, her "our business is our business, none of your business" line extracted more cheers than Salman Khan's entry. That's probably her brightest hour in the film. She has absolutely no feel for the character that she is playing. Sorry! I forgot neither did the writer. Jacqueline Fernandez is a pin-up doll. She plays a character that is as irritating as it is tacky. What she turns out to be in the end only makes us go HO! HO! HO!...really! She looks pretty and that I believe was enough for the makers of this film. It will, however, never be enough for the audiences. It should never be.

Bobby Deol is looking at salvaging his career after being sidelined for years. Unfortunately, he chooses one of the worst roles and films to do that. If I was a director, his performance would definitely sway me away from taking him on any film of mine. Add to that the confused feel and tone of his character and he is down in the dumps. Again…pathetic dialogues and that unnecessary twitch of the eyebrows in the end and you have a role that could forever put his acting career in a coma. Oh! wait.…he has another "Yamla Pagla Deewana" film coming up next. If not this one, that film should do the trick. I am pained to see him like this after acting in films like Chamku and even Soldier and Gupt where he actually did quite well.

The only actor in this film who acts is Anil S Kapoor. Playing a man with many shades, he is able to extract some genuine emotions and is also the only one who doesn't feel like reading his lines from a page and trying to be uber cool unnecessarily. He is actually cool. Also, his character is probably the only one that had some thought going behind its creation. Freddy Daruwala is barely there.

Coming to the action, the film falters terribly because none of the actors were fit enough to do their own stunts and hence, the cinematography and editing suffers in these sequences. Partially invisible to a layman's eye, it was way too clear for me to miss. They speed up the sequences to pull a veil on the audiences but that doesn't always work. Add to that, the terrible done gravity-defying stunts that could have easily been avoided and you have a Race film where the action doesn't work. And what is this obsession with six-pack abs? It's evident that Salman and Bobby don't have it and it was digitally inserted in the sequences and it just makes the whole sequence feel so pathetic that it's beyond putting in words. If they wanted it that bad, they should have worked hard for it.

I tried hard to look for some redeeming factors in this film but was unable to find any. I believe in constructive criticism and am of the belief that for every reason for which I hate this film, someone out there will love it. But in this case, it will be a pretty hard thing to find. Bad acting, terrible dialogues, tacky visual effects and above all, lackluster treatment of the subject make this film an experience that you would like to miss.

Feedback: aambar03@gmail.com