‘Raees’, Shahrukh’s first gangster-genre film

Neha Saini

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 1

On a whirlwind promotional tour of “Raaes”, Shahrukh Khan made a brief halt in Amritsar with his director, Rahul Dholakia and producer Ritesh Sidhwani yesterday. The King Khan was his usual charming self, as he spoke candidly about playing a baddie with a heart of gold in his latest gangster flick.

“I loved playing the versatile character, as he is not just a bad guy but also a family guy, a man who helps out people in need. I have never done a gangster genre film based in a small town and “Raaes” is different altogether as it is not fast cut, not just shows bloodshed. It’s a very gentle character.” His first film with Rahul Dholakia, who, incidentally, also calls “Raaes” his first successful commercial venture, Shahrukh admitted that he had never seen any of Dholakia’s earlier films.

“In fact, I had never seen Imtiaz’s or Gauri’s films as well before working with them. So, my films are director’s versions or their interpretations of the character or subject.” Khan also enjoyed working with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who engages in a game of cat and mouse with his character in the film. “It was very interesting as Nawaz and Zeeshan, are classically good actors. I was remained of my theatre days since we all belong from a theatre background. There was a lot more give and take happening between shots.”

Confessing that he loves coming to Punjab, he says that he will next be visiting to shoot for Imtiaz Ali’s next with Anushka Sharma. “I love coming to Punjab, as there was an excuse that I had a shooting schedule with Imtiaz. But now I am taking a break till “Raaes” gets all settled and Inshallah, I’ll come back soon.”

“It took us five years to get the film completed.” Rahul Dholakia defines his journey from national award winning “Parzania” to his first Bollywood masala entertainer “Raaes” as satisfying.