7 Reasons Why RAW Will Score Big This Week

1.     John Abraham  has already  proved himself  in the political  genre  with the surprise hit  of 2018 Parmanu.  RAW  casts him as an  Indian spy in Pakistan. His  beefy  image again takes a backseat  as  he immerses  himself  into  a character that  is all about immersiveness.

2.     The  mood for  film  exploring  the relationship  between  patriotism and  Pakistan  is   just right  at  the moment.After the  thundering  success  of Aditya Dhar’s  Uri,many filmmakers are planning  films  on  the theme  of cross-border tension.  RAW(acronym for Romeo Akbar Walter) was not launched to cash in  in  escalated hatred between  the  two countries.It as planned long before Pulwama or even Uri happened.

3.     Originally  RAW   was  started  with Sushant Singh Rajput in the  lead but got stalled  for many reasons  including a  production scramble.  Viacom 18 stepped in  to produce  the  film in collaboration  with John Abraham.

4.     John’s dedication to getting  the  part right  was so fierce  that he lost weight,  studied the  behaviour of  secret agents and  curbed his natural tendency to  flex his muscles  into portraying an  undercover agent.In brief, John  is  every inch the spy abroad whom John le Carrewould adopt  in a jiffy.

5.     Superficial  analyses  has  given  rise to  conclusions that  John Abraham  plays  the male  version  of  Alia Bhatt in Raazi, merely because both play Indian spies  in Pakistan. But this is  like comparing Kesari with Uri  because both are  about defending our country. Every shade  of patriotism is different. The same  goes for cinema on patriotism.  There is the  exploitative and  the  credible. RAW definitely falls  in  the  latter category.

6.     Director Robby Grewal has  earlier directed that underrated  cops thriller Samay in 2003 which  was  the first cop film featuring a female actor(Sushmita Sen) where the actor’s gender did  not define   her  attitude to the khaki uniform.

7.     RAW  comes  in isolation. It has no competition when  it  opens  this  coming  Friday. Unless we  see the  blatantly  propagandistNarendra  Modi bio-pic as competition  for a film that  is  original and uncompromising.