Raid trailer: Ajay Devgn's restrained approach as truthful income tax officer makes for a gripping watch

Unlike the familiar ‘raid’ films we’ve seen in the past, Raj Kumar Gupta’s crime drama _Raid_ does not start on a rushed note with income tax officers and the police barging into the residence of a suspected tax evader. Instead, it gradually sets the tone of the film, supported by the lead actor Ajay Devgn’s restrained approach. [caption id=“attachment_4337737” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Ajay Devgn in a still from Raid. YouTube[/caption] Devgn plays an income tax officer in 1981 Lucknow who is a morally upright guy, willing to be subjected to innumerable transfers in exchange of exposing the rich for the sake of the poor. Gupta, unlike Neeraj Pandey’s 2013 con drama Special 26, assumes a serious tone, though the dialogues (penned by Ritesh Shah of Pink-fame) provide ample comic relief. Devgn’s character meets his match in that of Saurabh Shukla, a self-assured tax evader who is confident that the income tax department is incompetent of exposing him. But Devgn is encouraged by his wife, played by Ileana D’Cruz, who shows her concern for how ‘dangerously honest’ he is, yet supports his endeavours whole-heartedly. The screenplay escalates rather quickly towards the end, with rushes of gritty action sequences and Amit Trivedi’s dramatic background score whooshing past the viewers. Raid is co-produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar’s T-Series Films, and Abhishek Pathak’s Panaroma Studios. It is slated to release on 16 March.