Race 2

About the film

Race 2 is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action crime film directed by Abbas–Mustan and written by Kiran Kotrial and Shiraz Ahmed. The film was produced by Ramesh S. Taurani under the Tips Industries banner, with UTV Motion Pictures serving as distributor and presenter. A sequel to the 2008 film, Race and the second installment of the Race film series. The film stars an ensemble cast of Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel. The music of the film is composed by Pritam. The film was dubbed in Tamil and Telugu.

Made on a budget of ₹94 crore, 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, 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.

Production and casting

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 and 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 first Indian schedule began on 5 November 2011 in Mumbai 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. Padukone dropped out within six days because the film was always being rescheduled.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on 20 November 2012. Film music & soundtrack is composed by Pritam.

The film score 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.

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, Australia, Pakistan as well as non-traditional markets like Maldives, East Timor, Myanmar, Morocco and Vietnam (with as many as seven screens). The film had a simultaneous release in Morocco in four to five screens, including theatres in Casablanca and Marrakesh. Race 2 is subtitled in Arabic, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, and Dutch.

Key details