Movie Review : RAQEEB !!!

When one goes to watch a nice fireworks show, that is quite influential in the beginning, it is natural to expect a grand finalé. Well, that precisely describes debutante Anurag Singh’s “Raqeeb”. It comes under the genre of suspense thriller but has some humdrum moments in between when you feel as if you have seen all this earlier. The movie becomes quite predictable at times with the routinary Bollywood “masala”.

The story seems to be inspired from Hollywood flick “A Perfect Murder”. Although there are a lot of twists in the storyline, yet the movie appears slow in many frames.

The story unfolds as Remo Mathews (Rahul Khanna), an asthmatic, owns an extensive software company with Siddharth (Sharman Joshi) as his employee and also the best friend. Siddharth, being quite an extrovert, compels Remo to fall in love with some girl and sets up a blind date for him with Sophie (Tanushree Dutta), who is a theatre actress by profession. After some twists and turns, both of them get married.

Meanwhile, Sunny (Jimmy Shergill), a struggling actor who always loved Sophie, returns to her life and a blazing affair strikes between the two. As one would anticipate, they plan to kill Remo by hiding his asthma medicine and then exasperating his asthma due to an attack. But, Sunny turns astonished to discover that Sophie double-crossed him and gets arrested for Remo’s murder. But, the story doesn’t ends here.

Considering the fact that this is director Anurag Singh’s debut, he has done a commendable job. The drama has been handled accordingly. Everyone is shown playing games in the movie, and that is what makes it a bit different. Rahul Khanna, as a software tycoon, fits perfectly into his role (as he did in “Elaan”). Sharman Joshi, as usual, does a laudable job. He seems to be improving with every film. Jimmy Shergill fits as an obsessed lover but sometimes he looks over-enthusiastic. Tanushree Dutta has improved a bit (other than her dressing sense) in the acting department. Other actors are ordinary.

Music by Pritam is foot-tapping with numbers like “Channa Ve Channa”, “Dushmana”, etc. Cinematography by Fuwad Khan lacks refinement. The script is good but could have been better, had the director used an unconventional ending.

All in all, it’s not a disappointment but watch it without any expectations…!!!