Race 3 Review - Two For Three

The main pre-requisite to be an Abbas-Mustan film (at least in the good old days, that is) was to have a dark and brooding protagonist. Somebody who was an imperfect, stroked character or even a bruised villain. Sadly, this particular franchise film doesn’t have those two polarising figures helming this instalment. Instead, we get Remo D’Souza (ABCD, ABCD 2, A Flying Jatt) donning the cap of director. Replacing the dark themes are gorgeous locales and replacing the decaying characters played by seasoned actors like Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone are Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem.

So really, how much can you expect? Not much. Race 3 follows a basic construct. There’s the family patriarch, Shamsher Singh, played by Anil Kapoor. He has the herculean task of managing his aberrant family - the twins, Sanjana (Shah) and Suraj (Saleem) and the apple of Shamsher’s eye, SIkander (played by Salman Khan). Other characters include Jessica (Jacqueline Fernandez) and Yash (Bobby Deol). So, Remo already has this cast (of limited talent, no doubt). He also has a budget - sumptuous locales, absolutely stunning cars and gorgeous costumes. And to add to that, he is a choreographer at heart with a cast that can truly dance like there’s no tomorrow.

Yet, he blows it. Where Race 3 goes wrong is at its conception. The story only has so much to it, and it’s wafer-thin. Add in the smallest of conflicts and the story completely snaps. So, the style of writing is rather convenient than logical. The dialogues by Shiraz Ahmed are whole-heartedly awful, especially the ones written in English. These dialogues, luckily, are reserved for the best actors - Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. The over-use of the word ‘bro’ is only one of the many offences that the screenplay commits. The awful writing also transcends over to the songs. The song ‘Selfish’ written by Salman Khan himself, has a chorus that goes ‘Ek baar baby selfish hoke apne liye jiyo na.’

It’s just terrible. Anil Kapoor, however, looks like he’s having a ball of a time. His underworld mafia don act, which he seems to re-visit in each instalment of the Race franchise, just refuses to get old (much like him). He is devious for the most part and even adds in necessary bouts of anger and frustration. Anil is front and centre in the beginning, and after a short disappearance, returns and takes charge for much of the second half. There’s also Bobby Deol, whose innocence works in the beginning, but as the film proceeds, starts to wear rather thin. Bobby, I believe, with a better script, could have achieved far better results.

Then there’s Jacqueline Fernandez, whose character made as little sense as the occasional Hindi dialogues she tries to recite. Her character arc is messy and all over the place. But it is Salman Khan, baring his rippling muscles and abs that disappointed me the most. Now, bhai’s eponymous acting talent (or lack thereof) is no secret. But, especially in Remo’s convoluted formula, it is exactly what was needed. And no doubt, the corny dialogues and the ripping of the shirt (seriously, there’s one scene where there’s a badly VFX-ed bit of fire on his shirt and so he just rips it off) are all present, front and centre actually.

But for a lot of the film’s runtime, Salman doesn’t look like he’s having much fun and that’s a shame. To sum up, there’s a scene in the film’s over-long second half where Daisy Shah and Jacqueline Fernandez have a full-blown physical fight on a light up dance floor that is so distant from reality, it is almost symbolic of the film they’re in. Because like that sequence, there’s some gorgeous sets, a plethora of dance numbers, some mind-numbing action sequences but ultimately a lifeless script. The gloss and glamour simply cannot conceal the gaping plot holes in the film.

Race 3 is an opportunity definitely missed. With an intriguing (but shaky) first half, the film’s plot holes are what unravel it entirely. In the climax (which is approximately one hour of the film’s 2 hour 30 minute runtime), I just wanted to reach into the screen with some cotton swabs so that each of the characters could take a paternity test and I could leave the theatre and save myself from this blubbering mess of a film; but alas, I could not. The final scene is a cliff-hanger, with a nod to the fact that there may be a Race 4 with Salman in the lead. I left the hall with a tear in my eye (thanking god this film was over) and a prayer in my mind: “Please god, not again.” Only time shall tell, I”m going with a very generous 2 stars for Race 3. It is an absolutely ornate and plotless film.