Film

Raees

Name: Raees
Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime
Released: 2017
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sheeba Chaddha

Gangster

A slick crime thriller set in 1980s-90s Gujarat, following a streetwise smuggler's rise to power and his cat-and-mouse battle with an obsessive cop. Shah Rukh Khan prowls through the film with charisma and menace, delivering muscular action and moral ambiguity. It's Bollywood gangster cinema at its most confident.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a crime drama built on a charismatic outlaw, a cat-and-mouse dynamic with a sharp cop, and the pleasure of watching a Bollywood star carry a big, swaggering Gujarat-set rise-and-hunt story.

Skip it if you want a tight, realistic crime story; this one leans on heightened hero moments, song-and-dance interludes and a plot that prizes charisma over credibility, which can feel indulgent at 143 minutes.

What it asks of you: It runs a little over two hours and settles in for a long, colourful build before the chase tightens, so it rewards patience more than close attention to every detail.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 12012

A raw, sweeping Indian crime saga that makes Raees look polished by comparison. Anurag Kashyap's masterpiece traces generational violence with operatic intensity and black humour. Essential.

But Nearly five hours across two parts, with regional dialect and graphic violence. Demands patience and attention.

Once Upon a Time in the West1968

Sergio Leone's mythic outlaw saga. A man of principle clashes with a man of ambition in a hostile landscape. The DNA of every crime thriller that followed is here: style, silence, and slow-burn confrontation.

But Glacial pacing and minimal dialogue will test modern attention spans. Almost three hours of waiting between eruptions.

Sarkar2005

Amitabh Bachchan as a corporate crime lord, Ajay Devgn hunting him. It's Raees' closest cousin: gleaming Mumbai underworld, power structures, cops versus gangsters. Political intrigue wrapped in action.

But The plot grows convoluted by the third act. Some sequences feel overwrought even by Bollywood standards.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Raees

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Godfather1972

Both trace the transformation of a man into a crime lord through moral compromises, and both hinge on the central relationship between the gangster and the cop/enforcer pursuing him. The rise and the hunt happen in parallel.

Coppola's absolute masterpiece about power, family, and the American dream's dark underside. It invented the modern crime film's language—every film like Raees is in dialogue with it. Watch the original source.

But Three hours and 15 minutes of deliberate, measured storytelling. If you want explosions and constant action, you'll find stretches unbearably slow.

Donnie Brasco1997

Al Pacino and Johnny Depp in a tense, character-driven study of loyalty and betrayal inside the mob. The intimacy of the central relationship mirrors Raees and Majmudar's obsessive dance.

But Slower than you'd expect for a crime film. Long stretches of talk before violence. Deliberately unglamorous.

A Prophet2009

A young man rises from prison to become a kingpin through intelligence and ruthlessness. Jacques Audiard's masterpiece is lean, exact, and morally unflinching about ambition and survival.

But French-language. Prison setting is claustrophobic and sometimes oppressive. Violence is functional, not cathartic.

Natrang2010

An Indian film about ambition, ego, and the corrupting nature of power, told through theatre. Different world, identical moral architecture. Remarkable performance by Medha Manjrekar.

But Marathi-language regional film. The theatrical context may feel niche. Slow-burn character study rather than thriller.

Johnny Gaddaar2007

A compact Mumbai crime thriller about a heist gone wrong and the paranoia that follows. Quick, clever, and genuinely tense. Shows that Hindi crime films can be both smart and propulsive.

But Lower budget than Raees shows. Some performances are uneven. The twists occasionally stretch credibility.

Shootout at Wadala2013

Sanjay Gupta's stylish take on the 1980s Bombay underworld, based on real events. John Abraham's intensity and the film's visual flair make it a solid companion piece to Raees.

But Suffers from over-direction and a bloated runtime. Some scenes feel self-indulgent. Loses focus in the second half.

Rang De Basanti2006

Both examine what happens when ordinary men decide the system is broken and take justice into their own hands. Both ask: when does righteousness become crime?

Aamir Khan and a group of ordinary young men turn to militant activism after personal tragedy. It's political crime through the lens of youthful rage and patriotism. Completely different register from Raees, but equal moral urgency.

But It's a protest film dressed as a thriller. The politics can feel sermonising. Three hours, and some scenes indulge sentiment over story.

City of God2002

Both show how crime empires emerge from poverty and disenfranchisement, and how the street creates its own code and logic. Both are driven by directorial style matching the chaos of the subject.

Fernando Meirelles' explosive favela crime epic from Brazil. Frenetic, stylish, morally complex. Shows how Raees' themes—poverty, power, survival—play across cultures. A masterclass in visual storytelling about organized crime.

But Relentless pacing and violence. Subtitled. The sheer number of characters and factions can be disorienting. Not gentle.