Fed on a staple diet of caper films, such as the eminently puerile Cash or equally inane variations like Dus and the Dhoom sequels, it is with great trepidation that some are venturing to see the new Bollywood blockbusters Race and Tashan. Fortunately, they can forgo the apprehension: it turns out that neither of these releases should be so quickly dismissed. Indeed, while few movies could be as dissimilar as these two in terms of the atmosphere they create, both interpret human actions in the face of depravity.
If art is about holding up a mirror to society, in order to force it to take a hard look at itself, then Abbas-Mustan's Race meets this criterion almost effortlessly. Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajeev Singh (Akshay Khanna) are stepbrothers whose deceased father left behind large business enterprises and stud farms. Ranvir, the elder of the two, ruthlessly manages his father's industrial legacy with the support of his efficient, pretty secretary, Sofia (Katrina Kaif), who loves him. Rajeev, on the other hand, is a happy-go-lucky type who seems hardly interested in business matters, and rather is content with his debauched, alcoholic lifestyle.
Suddenly, things change. Into this world steps a mysterious fashion model named Sonia (Bipasha Basu), who wins over Ranvir's heart – and Rajeev's. Despite his feelings for her, Ranvir helps his younger brother in wooing Sonia. But Rajeev soon shows his true colours. He divulges to Sonia that he knows of her shady past, and talks her into helping him kill Ranvir. As it turns out, beneath his cool exterior Rajeev has long hated his brother for his many successes. From then on, Race proceeds in a vicious escalation of murder, surprise and betrayal. Into this cauldron drops Police Inspector Robert D'Costa (Anil Kapoor), who seems to have a private agenda of his own. Audiences are left to wonder: Will the good guy win, or will the bad one? Will morality win over human perfidy?
But, wait! Who exactly is the good guy here? On whose side does morality lie? In their turn, both brothers seem equally cold, vicious, ruthless and immoral. And that seems to be precisely the point. Race is not about good versus evil or virtue versus vice. Instead, it slowly becomes a bleak metaphor for the soul-killing impact of competitiveness, which equally dehumanises the winner in victory as the loser in defeat.