Slick Action Scenes Can’t Save Race 3 From a Mindless Plot

Camera: Shiv Kumar Maurya
Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan
Producer: Abhishek Ranjan

The moments of lull are so many in this 159-minute-long Race 3 that we develop a strange detachment from the on-screen proceedings.

No wonder, for a lot of us it becomes “their business is their business, none of our business.”

Directed by Remo D'Souza, this supposed “action thriller” is fully dependent on the horsepower and starpull that Salman Khan guarantees.

So much so that the action is paused mid-way till Bhai can make an entry (usually in a flying car) and treat his fans to what he thinks is their staple diet – seeing him do a Johnny Bravo!

Flashy cars, bulging biceps, Bobby Deol's fledgling career, Anil Kapoor's white beard, sand dunes, Jacqueline's long legs, Daisy Shah's heels, Saqib Salim's blank looks and absurd lyrics written by Salman Khan himself – Race is made up of all these things in isolation with not even of modicum of sense or sensibility to hold them together.

At the heart of this mess is a dysfunctional family with lots of skeletons in the closet. Anil Kapoor aka Shamsher Singh helms the illegal arms deal empire with his 3 kids for company: Sikandar – Salman Khan, Sanjana – Daisy Shah and Suraj – Saqib Salim.

Khandaani dushmani is weaved into this plot that makes Freddy Daruwala knit his eyebrows and clench his jaw as he mouths some badly written dhamkis.

(At this point I must mention that all this villainy is done mostly by screaming on the phone).

The floor, therefore, is clear for Salman and company to enthrall us with their antics. There is a girl-on-girl fight with Daisy and Jacqueline, both twisting their bodies into enviable positions. Salman, at one point, rips his T-shirt apart with one hand and Bobby follows suit.

These two bare-chested men then fight for some time till even they get bored!

Not that one expected the Race 3 team to come up with swashbuckling celebral stuff but even to do a masala crowd-pleasing entertainer well, you need good dialogues and a solid plot and not lines like “Suraj ise dil nahi Dell dikhao” (Suraj, show him your Dell not your heart).

To expect the audiences to suspend their disbelief and surrender to an overwrought plot you have to write your way past the contrivances!

No one really knows what's happening in this story, that will also be remembered for having the worst songs ever for a Salman film. Two of the songs have been penned by the superstar himself and really test our patience.

To take a cue from one of them, I'll just say “Ek baar baby selfish ho kar” don't encourage mediocrity na! Because that's what is being offered in lavish frames.

Even roping in Thomas Struthers as the action coordinator hasn't helped. The chase sequences dazzle alright and it could give the impression of being a slick action flick – but without a reasonable plot, it collapses.

1 out of 5 Quints! These are testing times for Khan loyalists. Also why 3D? It only further accentuates the lack of perspective and all other cinematic misdemeanours.