Race

Plot

A voice-over by Inspector Robert D'Costa "RD" (Anil Kapoor) introduces the four main characters. Ranvir "Ronny" Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a successful and powerful businessman who runs a ranch house, Stallions, in Durban and fixed many horse races using the finest breed (mainly Thoroughbreds) of horses. He likes to take part in adventure sports. His younger brother Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khanna) is an alcoholic and has no interest in the business. Ronny is dating an upcoming model, Sonia Martin (Bipasha Basu), while his personal assistant Sophia (Katrina Kaif) appears to be secretly in love with him. Ronny is also involved in a competition with his business rival, Kabir Ahuja (Dalip Tahil), who is also a horse race fixer.

The film opens with a murder plot involving a car accident on 7 October that Ronny narrowly survives. Ronny later kills his unfaithful jockey, who had been bribed by Kabir, and destroys Kabir when the latter offers to buy his company, which is in debt.

Rajiv drunkenly confesses to Ronny that he likes Sonia and would quit drinking for her. Ronny stops dating her, and Rajiv and Sonia begin dating until, in a twist, Rajiv reveals that he knows of Sonia's shady past and plans to use her. His father had secured huge life insurance policies on each of the sons, and he wants to kill Ronny and inherit $100 million in insurance payments. Sonia agrees to help in exchange for $20 million.

They pretend to get married; as per Rajiv's instructions, Sonia seduces Ronny, who confesses he loved her all along. Rajiv's plan is to threaten suicide in response to Sonia and Ronny's affair by leaping off a tall building and getting Sonia to push Ronny off. It turns out Ronny was aware of the plan, as Sonia had been keeping him updated, having always been in league with him. They scheme to kill Rajiv.

Sonia double-crosses Ronny and pushes him off instead, saying she loved him, but the money was more important. As RD investigates the death, Sophia reveals that she was married to Ronny, leaving Sonia shocked since Sophia is now the heir to the insurance money. In another twist, Sophia was in on the plan too and is Rajiv's secret girlfriend. Rajiv plans to bump off Sonia after he and Sophia get the money and live a luxurious life. RD figures out that Sophia had faked her marriage with Ronny, and he had been tricked into signing the marriage certificate. RD confronts Rajiv and agrees to remain silent in exchange for $25 million.

Cast

Anil Kapoor as Inspector Robert “RD” D'Costa

Saif Ali Khan as Ranvir “Ronny” Singh, Rajiv's elder brother; main protagonist

Akshaye Khanna as Rajiv Singh, Ronny's younger brother; Sophia's secret boyfriend;main antagonist

Bipasha Basu as Sonia Martin, an upcoming model Ronny's love interest;Rajiv's fake wife

Katrina Kaif as Sophia Singh/Sharma, Ronny's secretary, Rajiv's secret lover turned wife (voice dubbed by Smita Malhotra)

Sameera Reddy as Mini D'Souza, RD's assistant and love interest

Dalip Tahil as Kabir Ahuja ranveer biggest rival

Kiku Sharda as Sam, Ranvir's assistant

Johnny Lever as Max, marriage bureau chief (cameo appearance)

Gurpreet Ghuggi as police officer (cameo appearance)

Production

Source material and influences

The movie was loosely inspired by the 1998 American thriller/comedy Goodbye Lover. Apart from the basic plot, notable similarities were observed in several supporting characters as well. Actors Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu later acknowledged the resemblance to the Hollywood film, and Basu subsequently worked with Goodbye Lover’s director Roland Joffé in The Lovers (2013), who reportedly expressed frustration when she discussed Race with him.

Casting

The casting of Race was marked by several notable changes. Initially, Ajay Devgn was approached to portray Inspector Robert D'Costa (RD). Although he appreciated the script, Devgn declined the role as he wasn't inclined towards participating in an intense action film at that time.

Akshay Kumar was offered the role of Ranvir Singh, while Saif Ali Khan was considered for the role of Rajiv Singh. However, Kumar turned down the offer, reportedly due to unreported reasons. Subsequently, Khan expressed interest in playing Ranvir Singh, the elder brother, leading to his casting in that role.

For the character of Sonia, Priyanka Chopra was the initial choice. She declined the role, as she was not keen on portraying a character with negative shades at that point in her career. The role eventually went to Bipasha Basu.

Fardeen Khan was originally signed to play Rajiv Singh. However, due to scheduling conflicts with his commitments to the film Heyy Babyy (2007), he had to opt out. Following this, John Abraham, Bobby Deol, Vivek Oberoi, and Abhishek Bachchan were considered for the role, but none took it up. Ultimately, Akshaye Khanna was cast as Rajiv Singh. Nonetheless, Abraham was cast in the sequel in a completely different role, while Deol was cast in the standalone followup, which was directed by Remo D'Souza, replacing Abbas–Mustan.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Race was released by Tips Music on 25 January 2008. Composed by Pritam with lyrics by Sameer, Race had 7 original songs, 9 remixes and an instrumental theme. The song "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy Lady)" sung by Monali Thakur and Neeraj Shridhar was recorded after the release of the soundtrack, replacing the original song "Mujh Pe Toh Jadoo" in the film. Tips then re-distributed the soundtrack, adding "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy Lady)" after the release of the film. All the remix versions were produced by DJ Suketu feat.

Reception

Critical reception

Race received acclaim from critics, with praise for its stylized presentation, music, and plot twists.

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave Race 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a superb entertainer all the way" that "has not just style, but a lot of substance too." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave it 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as a mix of "fast cars and fast babes" and noting it was "better than anything else its directors have made recently." He suggested that audiences "won’t be disappointed."

The Economic Times stated that Race is "reasonable enough to win a 'not bad' stamp" but "isn't imaginative enough to gain a 'good' tag." The review criticized the outdated action sequences and inconsistent camerawork, though it acknowledged that the film's racy ending helped to camouflage its narrative flaws. Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times described the film as "an absolutely average Abbas–Mustan plot pourri."

Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave Race 1.5 out of 5 stars, calling it a "carnival of twists." He further criticized the film as "boringly shot" and "shabbily edited." Kathy Gibson of Access Hollywood rated the film 1.5 out of 4 stars. She found the plot twists "ridiculous" and their explanations even worse, adding that the stunts were "more laughable than exciting." She concluded that "not Anil Kapoor’s humorous portrayal of a quirky, fruit-eating detective can save Race."

Box office

Race was released worldwide on 21 March 2008, coinciding with the Holi festival weekend. It earned approximately ₹6.20 crore on its opening day, followed by ₹6.80 crore on the second day and ₹7.50 crore on the third, bringing its opening weekend total to ₹20.50 crore.

The film concluded its theatrical run with a domestic net gross of ₹60.83 crore and a worldwide gross of ₹103.45 crore, ranking as the fifth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2008. According to Box Office India, Race was declared a "Hit."

Sequel

The original production team announced a sequel titled Race 2. Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor reprised their roles from the first film, while John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Ameesha Patel joined the cast in new roles. Bipasha Basu also returned for a cameo appearance as Sonia. Principal photography began on 5 October 2011. The film was released theatrically on 25 January 2013 and was a commercial success, earning over ₹1 billion (US$12 million) at the domestic box office.