Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone (; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She is India's highest-paid actress, as of 2023, and List of awards and nominations received by Deepika Padukone, her accolades include thre ...
, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel. The music of the film is composed by Pritam, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Salim–Sulaiman. The film was dubbed in Tamil and Telugu.
Made on a budget of , Race ''2'' was released on 25 January (India) and 26 January (Worldwide). The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and the audience. It grossed ₹173.36 crore worldwide.
Plot
In
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, a contract killer blasts a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo by shooting its fuel tank.
Few months later, a robbery takes place and European printing plates are stolen. Crooked businessman Ranvir Singh meets a casino owner, Vikram Thapar, claiming he stole the plates. He offers Thapar €1500 million in counterfeit currency in exchange for €500 million in real banknotes. Thapar agrees and borrows €500 million from his friend Armaan Malik, who is a powerful don and the leader of the powerful Turkish mafia. It is then revealed that Ranvir never stole the plates, and cheated Thapar. Unable to return Armaan's money, Thapar is forced to give control of his five casinos to him.
Ranvir and Armaan planned the whole scam. They met through Ranvir's childhood friend retired police inspector Robert "RD" D'Costa. Ranvir delivers Thapar's casinos for €500 million to Armaan by taking 10% from it. Ranvir meets Armaan's step-sister Aleena, and gradually becomes attracted to her.
Ranvir sees a picture of his deceased wife Sonia in Armaan's girlfriend Omisha's wallet and begins to woo her in order to gain her confidence. Ranvir reveals to RD that he is trying to bankrupt Armaan because Armaan and Thapar were responsible for Sonia's death.
In a flashback, Ranvir and a pregnant Sonia are in
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. Sonia's sister Tanya calls them to meet her in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
. On the way, Ranvir tells Sonia that he wants to transfer some savings from the bank. Unaware of an assassin lurking around, Ranvir asks her to sit in the car as he heads to the bank. The assassin successfully shoots the car's fuel tank (the Lamborghini blasting scene at the beginning of the film), and Sonia dies. Ranvir chased the assassin and killed him. Omisha tells him that she is Sonia's sister, Tanya Martin. It is revealed she is not Sonia's sister and it was a ploy by Armaan who knew Ranvir's true intentions.
Ranvir schemes to steal the Shroud of Turin and sell it to Armaan. After that, he will steal both the shroud and Armaan's wealth. However, RD, who is afraid of Armaan, betrays Ranvir and tells the truth to Armaan. Armaan gives 15 billion euros to his old friend, godfather Anza, as an investment. But Anza demands Armaan that he will only give money, if Armaan defeats Anza's fighter Typhoon. Armaan agrees and defeats Typhoon in the fight.
Aleena reveals Armaan planted a bomb in her car to kill her, and decides to help Ranvir. Ranvir steals the shroud, while Armaan defeats Typhoon. During the celebration, Aleena poisons Ranvir. As he slowly dies, Armaan reveals he knew his plan and Aleena was never on Ranvir's side. After Ranvir dies, Armaan and Omisha retrieve the shroud and leave in their private jet. Armaan points his gun at Aleena, revealing that he had been planning to kill her to take her share of their combined wealth. Unexpectedly, Ranvir crashes through the wall; Aleena never poisoned him. Aleena tells Armaan that she was helping Ranvir, and knew about Armaan's intention to eliminate her. Ranvir reveals that RD never betrayed him and it was a ploy to trick Armaan into thinking he was ahead of Ranvir.
Ranvir and Armaan fight in the aircraft. Armaan tells Ranvir that he killed Sonia because she fled away with his money. He shoots the pilot and escapes with Omisha through a parachute, leaving Ranvir and Aleena to die in the resulting plane crash. However, they manage to escape by using Armaan's Audi R8 car, which has four attached parachutes. Armaan and Omisha hand over the shroud to Anza. On inspection, it is revealed to be fake. When Anza asks for his bearer bonds, they're also fake. Ranvir calls Armaan and taunts him that he is penniless now. It is also revealed that Anza is secretly helping Ranvir and Armaan is forced to hand over his properties, while Omisha dumps him for Anza. Armaan vows vengeance on Ranvir.
Ranvir visits Sonia's grave with Aleena and gives RD his share of money. When RD asks about the real shroud, he reveals that he never stole the shroud; it is still in the church. Aleena had switched the real bearer bonds while he and Armaan were fighting on the plane. RD admits that he does not want to risk his life again and makes Ranvir promise in jest to never meet him again. Ranvir wittingly replies that promises are meant to be broken and him and Aleena leave Turkey for an unknown location.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone (; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Hindi films. She is India's highest-paid actress, as of 2023, and List of awards and nominations received by Deepika Padukone, her accolades include thre ...
After the success of '' Race'' (2008), Ramesh Taurani registered ''Race 2'' as a title and Abbas–Mustan said that they would go ahead with a sequel "if we get a script in place which is even better than the original." The screenplay and story was written by Shiraz Ahmed and Kiran Kotrial who also wrote ''Race''. Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor were the first to sign on in November 2009 and were reported to be the only returning cast members from the first film. In June 2010, John Abraham was signed on to play the
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were approached to co-star opposite Khan and Abraham respectively. However, Kapoor turned down the role as she didn't want her pairing with Khan to get repetitive; Chopra opted out due to scheduling conflicts. It was also rumoured that Asin Thottumkal had been shortlisted to star alongside Khan; however Padukone was cast. In December 2010, Sonakshi Sinha was cast as a replacement for Priyanka. Chitrangda Singh was approached for a role opposite Anil Kapoor in May 2011 but eventually dropped out for unspecified reasons. Ameesha Patel and Mallika Sherawat were considered for that same role, but it ultimately went to Patel.
The film's shooting was set to begin on 5 October 2011 but was postponed to accommodate Deepika Padukone's dates causing scheduling conflicts with Sonakshi Sinha. Sinha's dates conflicted with her filming schedule for '' Dabangg 2'' (2012), forcing her to drop out. In October 2011, Jacqueline Fernandez who had opted out of '' Krrish 3'' (2013) and '' Raaz 3'' (2012) was cast as a replacement for Sinha. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that Bipasha Basu would be reprising her role as Sonia in a cameo appearance and continuing to be role of Khan's wife. Despite rumours suggesting that Bipasha would be sharing screen space with ex-boyfriend John Abraham for the first time after their break-up, but John denied this. Reports have said that after this statement was said Abraham then told Saif that he didn't want to work with Bipasha in the first place. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the largest of Sunni clerics in India, urged PM Manmohan Singh to stop their publication and display of ''Race 2'' posters that featured verses from the
Quran
The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
.
Filming
The first Indian schedule began on 5 November 2011 in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
for 15 days, wrapping up on 20 November. Meanwhile, Sanjay Dutt was in talks to join the cast, but he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. The second schedule commenced on 23 January 2012 in
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
. Padukone dropped out within six days because the film was always being rescheduled.
''Race 2''s producer Ramesh Taurani released a statement to the media deeming Padukone's behaviour as "unethical, unprofessional and unacceptable". Also, it was reported that Asin was offered the role to replace Padukone, although it has been rumoured that she declined the offer, thus avoiding any controversies regarding her and Kapoor. However, Padukone and Taurani agreed on a settlement after much negotiation and the filming continued as planned. Fernandez, Abraham and Padukone joined the cast in May at Istanbul for the third schedule. On 7 October 2012, the shooting was completed. The Mardan Palace in Turkey was the setting for many scenes where it was shown as the home of Padukone and Abraham's characters.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of ''Race 2'' which is composed by Pritam features 10 tracks, with four
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
versions an unplugged version and a mashup of all the tracks. It was released on 10 November 2012. The
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
is composed by Salim–Sulaiman.
The songs "Lat Lag Gayee", "Be Intehaan," and "Party on My Mind" became extremely popular and were declared as chartbusters. The song "Lat Lag Gayee" was choreographed by Karishma Chavan.
Track listing
Reception
The soundtrack received positive critical reception. ''IBN Live'' gave it 4/5 stars saying, "''Race 2'''s soundtrack is racy to the core. In a nutshell, the album is bound to be an All Time Blockbuster. Let's just hope the movie is as good as the soundtrack is!" Shresht Poddar, of ''Score'' magazine, gave the album 3/5 stars saying, "Personally, as a standalone album with no biases, it is enjoyable, but it could have done with better lyrics. The tracks are foot-tapping, and they would appeal to the masses. But if you compare it to ''Race'', the album undoubtedly falls flat."
Release
''Race 2'' was released in 3200 screens in India; it is the third biggest release ever for a Hindi film after '' Ek Tha Tiger'' (2012) (3300 screens) and '' Dabangg 2'' (2012) (3700 screens). ''Race 2'' was released in more than 50 countries, including US, UK,
Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
as well as non-traditional markets like
Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
and
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
(with as many as seven screens). The film had a simultaneous release in Morocco in four to five screens, including theatres in
Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
and
Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
. ''Race 2'' is subtitled in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
''Race 2'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience. While its cast performance, cinematography, visualisation, technical aspects, songs, background scores and direction received critical acclaim, its writing, plot and humours received criticism and most of the critics states that it is not that much as its first part.
Madhureeta Mukherjee of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' rated the film 3 out of 5, while commenting, "Mass dialogue delivery, heists, fully anti-hero characters, glamorous and sexy heroines, roulette, luxury and exotic cars, gizmos, and gangs – Director duo, Abbas-Mustan have thrown in everything with pompous grandeur, save for a riveting plot that shocks or stuns." Rubina A Khan of '' The First Post'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars, adding, "Race 2 delivers what it promises – good looking and anti hero ensemble cast, exotic locations, luxurious cars, bomb squads, revenge, lust and love, a couple of good and preppy style music tracks and, most importantly, a plot which opens a thrilling pace." Shivesh Kumar of '' IndiaWeekly'' awarded the movie 3.8 out of 5 stars.
Taran Adarsh of '' Bollywood Hungama'' gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "The writing isn't watertight, the film lacks a hit score, the climax is far from effective and overall, Race 2 pales in comparison to Race." Rajeev Masand of '' CNN-IBN'' awarded it a score of 3.5 out of 5 while commenting "The film has no intellectual pretensions; its only ambition is to offer a good time. In that, it mostly succeeds." Anupama Chopra of ''
Hindustantimes
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' gave 4.8 out of 5, reviewing, "''Race 2'' is essentially a big-budget film in which coolness is all. The director duo Abbas–Mustan have no pretensions about what they are making – full-on masala with a dash of revenge, a slice of heist and characters who are either strutting their chiseled bodies in slow motion or betraying each other." Saibal Chatterjee of '' NDTV'' gave it a score of 4.5 out of 5 and feels "This is a movie strictly for action who might be looking for a feverish two-and-a-half-hour ride that is far more giddy than heady."
Box office
India
''Race 2'' had what Box Office India called a "solid opening" at multiplexes and single screens with occupancy of around 60%–70%. The film had a very good opening day, netting . It showed good growth in its second day, collecting approximately nett and on third day. ''Race 2'' did well on its first weekend by collecting around nett.
The film managed to do well and netted around in its first week. ''Race 2'' went on to collect a total gross of in India with a worldwide gross business of .
Overseas
''Race 2'' had a good opening in overseas with approximately the opening weekend. ''Race 2'' grossed approximately $5.5 million overseas in ten days. After grossing $6 million in 17 days overseas, the film was declared a hit by Box Office India. ''Race 2'' recorded similar figures in overseas markets like its prequel. Moreover, it recorded the highest ever collection in Pakistan for any Bollywood film with an amount of $775,000 beating ''
Don 2
''Don 2: The King Is Back'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi language action thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is the second installment in the '' Don reboot series''. Jointly produced by Excel Entertainment and Red ...
'' which netted $675,000. Its final business in the overseas market is around $6.5 million.
Game
''Race 2'', a
racing
In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...
After making two successful films, makers planned the third Installment of this series, which is unrelated to the first two films and will feature a whole new star cast, with the exception of Anil Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez. Salman Khan,
Bobby Deol
Vijay Singh Deol (born 27 January 1969), better known by his screen name Bobby Deol, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. A member of the List of Hindi film families#Deol family, Deol family, he is the younger son of actor Dha ...
, Saqib Saleem and Daisy Shah were some of the new faces in the series and Remo D'Souza replaced Abbas–Mustan as the director of ''Race 3''. But, the film, which was released on 15 June 2018, received highly negative reviews from critics and audiences and is considered one of
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...