Raid

About the film

Raid is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Raj Kumar Gupta starring Ajay Devgn, Saurabh Shukla and Ileana D'Cruz. Raid is based on the real life income-tax raid conducted by the officers of Income Tax Department on Sardar Inder Singh in the 1980s, which distinguished itself from others for being the longest raid in Indian history.

Raid was released theatrically in India on 16 March 2018 and became a critical and commercial success at the Box office. A sequel, Raid 2 was released in 2025.

Plot

In 1981 an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Amay Patnaik, who has just been transferred to Lucknow as Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, where he lives happily with his wife Malini. One day, he receives an anonymous tip about black money hoarded by (Member of Parliament) Rameshwar Singh (Tauji), the don of Sitagarh, who had evaded income tax for a long time. Soon, Amay and his team, after much planning, head to Sitagarh.

There he and his team face opposition from Rameshwar's very hostile family, but he holds up to his ideals and integrity. He searches every nook and cranny of the house with his team to find the black money but without any success. After a few hours of searching, when all hope seems lost, he receives an anonymous letter, along with a map, revealing the location of the money in the house. Amay and his team break a statue to find stacks of money inside the statue, Moreover, when Tauji brings out his gun to shoot Amay, he accidentally fires on the ceiling revealing the assets Amay was crowd searching the force. Amay and his team break down more walls, ceilings, staircases and old storerooms to find assets worth crores (tens of millions). As an act of mercy, Amay lets Tauji leave the house to stop the raid as he is confident that he will take the assets before Tauji stops the raid.

He then meets the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who refuses any help as the Income Tax department is under the control of the Central Government and the raid is legal. The Central Finance Minister is persuaded to call Amay but is promptly rebuffed. A relentless Rameshwar meets several MPs, politicians, senior officers and even the Prime Minister of India, but to no avail. He then rallies his political support and threatens to topple the state cabinet unless the Prime Minister agrees to meet him. As the raid continues for a 3rd consecutive night, the PM and Rameshwar meet. The PM calls Amay and asks him to look for other legal options; Amay agrees to comply, as long as she furnishes a signed order through fax ordering Amay and his team to stop the raid, effectively negating the request.

Production

In August 2017, Raj Kumar Gupta made an official announcement about Ajay Devgn and Ileana D'Cruz being a part of his next film titled Raid. More than 40 theatre actors of Lucknow were selected to play various characters in the film.

The principal photography of Raid took place in Lucknow and Raebareli, and commenced in September 2017.

Background

The film is loosely based on what is purported to be the longest-running Income Tax raid in history. On 16 July 1981, IT officials raided the house of a businessman, and Congress MLA and a former member of the Rajya Sabha, Sardar Inder Singh in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The morning of July 16 began quietly enough. When Alok Kumar Batabyal, deputy director (Intelligence) who headed the raids on the first day, left his house in Swaroop Nagar with a group of other officers, nobody paid the slightest attention. They recovered undeclared assets worth ₹16 million (US$170,000) in cash and gold. The raid reportedly took 18 hours and 45 people to count the notes.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Tanishk Bagchi and Amit Trivedi while lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir and Indraneel. The first song of the film "Sanu Ek Pal Chain" which is sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was released on 12 February 2018. The second track of the film titled as "Nit Khair Manga" which is also sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan released on 20 February 2018. Both the songs were originally composed by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and recreated by Tanishk Bagchi.

Reception

The film earned ₹100 million (US$1.0 million) on its first day and by the end of its first weekend the film had made a collection of ₹410 million (US$4.3 million).

The film was a critical and commercial successful and also entered the 100 Crore Club in India. It earned over ₹150 crore (US$16 million) in its global theatrical run on a budget ₹40 crore (US$4.2 million) crore

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10.

Sequel and remake

In April 2020, Raid 2 was announced. Principal photography began in January 2024. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh, Saurabh Shukla and Vaani Kapoor. It was released on 1 May 2025.

The film was remade in Telugu as Mr. Bachchan (2024) starring Ravi Teja and directed by Harish Shankar.

Key details