Shah Rukh Khan plays a bootlegger who becomes something close to a folk hero in Gujarat's dry-law years, in a crime drama built around one man's rise through the alcohol trade.
What is Raees about?
Set during a period when alcohol is banned across Gujarat and the drug trade is squeezed just as hard, Raees follows an ordinary, sharp-witted man who decides that the only way up is to build a reputation for himself outside the law. He starts small, moving bottles through back channels, and grows into a bootlegging operation that turns him into a figure the local community both fears and depends on. His rise draws the attention of a determined police officer, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who treats the chase less as a job and more as a personal mission to bring him down. Mahira Khan plays the woman at his side through the climb, giving the film a domestic counterweight to the underworld plotting. The film moves between the mechanics of the bootlegging business and the cat-and-mouse pursuit that eventually closes in on him, building toward a confrontation between two men who each believe they're doing what's right.
About the cast
Shah Rukh Khan anchors the film with a performance built more on quiet calculation than his usual romantic-lead charisma, playing a man whose charm is inseparable from his ruthlessness. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as the officer pursuing him, brings a doggedness that keeps the film's second half from ever feeling like a foregone conclusion. Mahira Khan holds her own in a role that could easily have been sidelined, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub rounds out the supporting cast as one of the figures orbiting the central rivalry.
Context & significance
Raees drew on real prohibition-era bootlegging in Gujarat as its backdrop, using the setting to frame a rise-and-fall crime story rather than a straightforward biopic of any single figure. Director Rahul Dholakia builds the film around the tension between community loyalty and law enforcement, letting the bootlegger's local popularity complicate the officer's straightforward sense of justice. At just over two and a half hours, the film has room to develop both men's perspectives before its plot forces them into direct conflict.
Watching Raees on Ktime
Raees is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, and a free account login is all that's needed to start watching. The title page and full details are visible before signing in, and K-Time's Farsi interface makes finding titles like this one straightforward for Persian-speaking audiences.