by Sam Trailerman
Raid 2 is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller directed by Raj Kumar Gupta. It’s a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat with many cliff-hanging twists and straight-talking dialogues.
The film is a sequel to Raid (2018) and stars Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh and Vaani Kapoor. Set seven years after the events of the first film, it follows the return of IRS officer Amay Patnaik (Devgn), who tracks another white-collar crime.
Like the previous film, the sequel is also based on the income-tax raids conducted by the officers of Income Tax Department who worked with intelligence agencies to track down white-collar crimes in Maya Pradesh.
The film was a commercial success at the box office, ranking the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025. At the time of penning this, it has 29k IMBD users giving a rating of 6.7/10 stars.
Amay Patnaik, the Income Tax Department officer played by Ajay, has all the cards in his favour. Like having a super mind. It makes me wonder if there are any super LHDN (Inland Revenue Department) officers in our country with such great minds to go after the tax-dodgers.
Raid 2 is a gripping drama over 2 hours and 25 minutes. Acting is sensible and so are the songs that blend well with the movie.
The music and cinematography magnificently seize the ethos of the story. The film’s soundtrack was composed by Yo Yo Honey Singh, Rochak Kohli, Sachet Parampara and White Noise Collectives while the background music was composed by Amit Trivedi.
Nasha, a song in the movie, makes you feel the heat with the bewitching Tamannaah Bhatia while Jacqueline Fernandez was enchanting with her dance moves in the song “Money Money” that could even entice you to do the Lungi dance.
The action scenes are well strung together. Impactful and yet realistic to believe. And this isn’t another typical Bollywood.
First of all, there are no excessive romantic songs. The first hour of the movie tracks on the right tempo with dramatic scenes. Suddenly the second half of the movie seems to be rushing like a bullet train as Ajay’s counter actions start to go in his favour.
Riteosh as Manohar Dhankar aka Dadabhai (the bad guy) performed a splendid Jekyll and Hyde character. Any deeper, the character might resemble some real life politicians from somewhere.
Raid 2 nosedives into the world of income tax raids, corruption and justice, showing how one’s firm decision can wobble an entire system of tax cheats. With its intense, emotionally-charged what’s next sequences, the audience is kept on the edge while the calmness of Ajay Devgn delivers a powerful portrayal of the probing income tax official. He also gets good backing from Riteish Deshmukh with his commanding screen presence as the baddie. It’s a meaningful movie with no unnecessary drama.
Just a thought: Could there be a Raid 3 in the offing? And I just can’t help but say this: I hope the director will rope in Rasha Thadani and Nora Fatehi, who excel so well with their dance performances.