‘Raid 2’ review: Sequel labours in the shadow of its predecessor

Raid 2, Raj Kumar Gupta’s follow-up to Raid sets the incorruptible and dauntless Income Tax officer Amay (Ajay Devgn) a new-old target.

In Raid (2018), Amay’s war on corrupt fiefdoms led to the downfall of the politician Rameshwar (Saurabh Shukla). Seven years later, Rameshwar is behind bars and Amay is trying to get Union Cabinet minister Manohar (Riteish Deshmukh) to join him there.

Manohar, known as Dada Bhai, is too good to be true – a virtuous son to Sushma (Supriya Pathak), a benefactor to the residents of his hometown Bhoj, a politician who is worshipped by his constituents. Amay’s effort to uncover Dada’s ill-begotten wealth runs into a seemingly unsurmountable hurdle: the suave, canny and unflappable Dada himself.

In terms of plot, Raid 2 isn’t too different from its predecessor, with some scenes even staged in the same way. While Raid was inspired by an actual incident, the new film has no such constraints, thereby free to invent situations and dial up the implausibility.

Apart from Raj Kumar Gupta, Raid 2 has been written by Ritesh Shah, Jaideep Yadav and Karan Vyas. Amay’s challenge this time is slightly more complex – it’s like he has progressed in a quiz to a more advanced level. The game of wits between the men is equally poised until Dada...

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