The “king of Bollywood,” Shah Rukh Khan, rarely plays the villain. So it’s not surprising that as the criminal title character in Rahul Dholakia’s “Raees” would create an expectation amongst the audience. So, let's find out if Raees has been able to meet the expectation.

Story: Set in Gujrat, the film opens with a brief childhood sequence, the '70s set piece. The young Raees is street-smart, and with a head start into criminal activity. Yes, he’s poor. And overly touchy about being called “Battery”, slang for someone who wears spectacles. When he grows up, in one broad stroke, he’s out to conquer the world with two basic lessons: mommy said “No business is small” and smuggling mentor Jayraj Seth (Atul Kulkarni) said he has “baniye ki dimag, aur Miyabhai ki daring”.

Raees turns an illicit liquor mafia to a reigning gangster who slowly gains the controls the booze trade of the area. Wearing kajal and a swagger, Shah Rukh gives Raees flamboyance but also imbues him with an inherent decency. This criminal cooks for his wife and gets teary eyed before he pumps bullets into his mentor. Here comes the tough cop Majumdar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who take a vow to capture Raees and seize his illegal ‘dhanda’.
 

Though Raees is creative at getting illegal shipments past cops still he isn’t the smartest businessman around. He bungles up his effort to get seed money, trusts the wrong people, and picks fights for every slight. Being a good-doer and kind hearted he beats up a derelict factory owner at a drive-in, as the big screen shows Amitabh Bachchan, Hindi cinema’s original Angry Young Fix-It Man, threatening a boss who is careless with workers’ lives.
 

What’s hot : This saga of hunter and hunted plays out like a souped-up ’70s gangster film, one with furious background music, dialogue-baazi, frantic action and a killer item number featuring Sunny Leone. Rahul unabashedly pays homage to Salim-Javed and, of course, Amitabh Bachchan.
 

What not: The problem is fundamental: the writing is shoddy and unoriginal. Raees is a typical ’80s potboiler with its flabby subplots. Though Mr. Dholakia tried hard to keep “Raees” taut and suspenseful but eventually he lost in the messy script adorned with too many song sequences.
 

Performances : SRK brings to Raees his usual screen presence. But also something that has shades of his early career: the ability to play the menacing anti-hero, with a simmering, all-consuming anger. But amongst all it is Nawaz who shines most. His dry, wry one liners, and he has several, have a zing which SRK’s don’t. Another actor who needs to be mentioned here is Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. SRK’s romantic interest, Mahira Khan hasn’t been able to make an impression to look forward and so does item girl Sunny Leone.
 

Raees perhaps works only as an SRK showcase. But we’ve seen many of those already.