# Race (2008 film)

Race is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action crime film directed by Abbas–Mustan and written by Kiran Kotrial and Shiraz Ahmed. Reportedly inspired by the 1998 Hollywood movie Goodbye Lover, it is the first installment in the Race franchise and stars Saif Ali Khan,Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, and Sameera Reddy. In the film, the professional and personal loyalties between brothers and businessmen Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khanna) are shown as a storyline.
Principal photography took place in Durban, Goa and Dubai, and was produced by Tips Industries. Race was theatrically released in India by UTV Motion Pictures on 21 March 2008. The film received critical acclaim, with praise for its editing, screenplay, cast performance and music. It was a commercial success, grossing ₹103 crore (US$12 million) worldwide, making it the sixth highest grossing Hindi film of 2008. It was followed by the sequel film Race 2 (2013) and the spiritual successor Race 3 (2018).

## Plot

A voice-over by Inspector Robert D'Costa "RD" (Anil Kapoor) introduces the four main characters. Ranvir "Ronny" Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a successful and powerful businessman who runs a ranch house, Stallions, in Durban and fixed many horse races using the finest breed (mainly Thoroughbreds) of horses. His younger brother Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khanna) is an alcoholic. Ronny is dating an upcoming model, Sonia Martin (Bipasha Basu), while his personal assistant Sophia (Katrina Kaif) appears to be secretly in love with him. Ronny is also involved in a competition with his business rival, Kabir Ahuja (Dalip Tahil), who is also a horse race fixer.
The film opens with a murder plot involving a car accident that Ronny narrowly survives. Ronny later kills his unfaithful jockey, who had been bribed by Kabir, and destroys Kabir when the latter offers to buy his company, which is in debt.
Rajiv drunkenly confesses to Ronny that he likes Sonia and would quit drinking for her. Ronny stops dating her, and Rajiv and Sonia begin dating until, in a twist, Rajiv reveals that he knows of Sonia's shady past and plans to use her. His father had secured huge life insurance policies on each of the sons, and he wants to kill Ronny and inherit $100 million in insurance payments. Sonia agrees to help in exchange for $20 million.
They pretend to get married; as per Rajiv's instructions, Sonia seduces Ronny, who confesses he loved her all along. Rajiv's plan is to threaten suicide in response to Sonia and Ronny's affair by leaping off a tall building and getting Sonia to push Ronny off. It turns out Ronny was aware of the plan, as Sonia had been keeping him updated, having always been in league with him. They scheme to kill Rajiv.
Sonia double-crosses Ronny and pushes him off instead, saying she loved him, but the money was more important. As RD investigates the death, Sophia reveals that she was married to Ronny, leaving Sonia shocked since Sophia is now the heir to the insurance money. In another twist, Sophia was in on the plan too and is Rajiv's secret collaborator. Rajiv plans to bump off Sonia after he and Sophia get the money. RD figures out that Sophia had faked her marriage with Ronny, and he had been tricked into signing the marriage certificate. RD confronts Rajiv and agrees to remain silent in exchange for $25 million.
Rajiv hires the same hitman who had attempted to murder Ronny in the beginning to kill Sonia, revealing that he had been behind the first murder attempt too. However, Ronny reappears and rescues her, killing the hitman.
Ronny confronts Rajiv and Sophia. He had overheard Rajiv discussing the failed murder attempt with the hitman and had been playing along the whole time so he could get the insurance money from his own faked death along with the insurance money from Rajiv's death. He allows Rajiv one last chance to win by agreeing to a car race. Ronny and Sonia show up in a yellow Toyota Supra, and Rajiv and Sophia in a blue Nissan Skyline. When Rajiv protests, he switches cars with Ronny. Rajiv anticipated the switch and had destroyed the Nissan's brakes. In the middle of the race, Ronny tells Rajiv that he planted a bomb in his car, and it will detonate if Rajiv slows below 100 kmph.
As the race continues, the two cars dodge obstacles. As they reach a parking lot, Rajiv attempts to cross a ramp to overtake Ronny. This causes the Supra to crash into a caravan, topple over, and knock into a petroleum tank, killing Rajiv and Sophia. After Ronny and Sonia narrowly escape death, Ronny confesses to Sonia that there was no bomb in the car and Rajiv killed himself. He also expresses his grief in realising that while he raced with honesty, Rajiv continued to deceive him until his last breath.
In the end, Ronny collects the insurance money from Rajiv and Sophia's deaths, along with the money from his own 'death'. He attempts to flee the city with Sonia, but RD stops them. The two are revealed to be childhood friends, and RD was working with Ronny all along in exchange for more money. Ronny gives RD a briefcase with a bomb. The bomb does not detonate, and Ronny explains that it was to prevent RD from killing Ronny and taking all the money.

## Cast

* Anil Kapoor as Inspector Robert “RD” D'Costa
* Saif Ali Khan as Ranvir “Ronny” Singh, Rajiv's elder brother; main protagonist
* Akshaye Khanna as Rajiv Singh, Ronny's younger brother; main antagonist
* Bipasha Basu as Sonia Martin, Ronny's love interest turned wife.
* Katrina Kaif as Sophia, Ronny's secretary, Rajiv’s secret lover
* Gulshan Grover as Chaudhary Khanna, The perfectionist and Villain
* Sameera Reddy as Mini, RD's assistant
* Dalip Tahil as Kabir Ahuja
* Kiku Sharda as Sam, Ranvir's assistant
* Johnny Lever as Max, marriage bureau chief (cameo appearance)
* Gurpreet Ghuggi as police officer (cameo appearance)

## Production
### Casting

Ajay Devgn was the original choice to play the role of Inspector Robert D'Costa, however he declined as he wasn't keen on doing an intense action film. Akshay Kumar was offered the role of Ranvir, whilst Saif Ali Khan was approached to play Rajiv. After Kumar opted out, Khan insisted on playing the latter's role. Priyanka Chopra was offered to play the role of Sonia, upon her rejection the role went to Bipasha Basu. Fardeen Khan was initially signed to play Rajiv, but declined as his dates were clashing with Heyy Babyy (2007). After John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi and Abhishek Bachchan declined, Akshaye Khanna was cast.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Race was released by Tips Music on 25 January 2008. Composed by Pritam with lyrics by Sameer, Race had 7 original songs, 9 remixes and an instrumental theme. The song "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy Lady)" sung by Monali Thakur and Neeraj Shridhar was recorded after the release of the soundtrack, replacing the original song "Mujh Pe Toh Jadoo" in the film. Tips then re-distributed the soundtrack, adding "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy Lady)" after the release of the film. All the remix versions were produced by DJ Suketu feat.

## Reception
### Critical reception

Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times labelled the movie "an absolutely average Abbas-Mustan plot pourri." Raja Sen gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, saying it was a "carnival of twists". However, Taran Adarsh gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "Race is a superb entertainer all the way", and that it "has not just style, but a lot of substance too".

### Box office

Race released worldwide on 21 March 2008, coinciding with the Holi festival weekend. It collected around ₹6.20 crore on its first day, followed by ₹6.80 crore on its second day and ₹7.50 crore on the third day, taking the three-day total to ₹20.50 crore.
At the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed ₹60.64 crore domestically, and ₹103.45 crore worldwide, leading the film to be declared a BLOCKBUSTER by the Box Office of India.

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Recipients and Nomninees | Results |
| Producers Guild Film Awards | Best Actress | Bipasha Basu | Nominated |
| Producers Guild Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Katrina Kaif | Nominated |
| Producers Guild Film Awards | Best Music Director | Pritam | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Villain | Akshaye Khanna | Won |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Sound Recording | Leslie Fernandes | Won |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Film | Ramesh S. Taurani, Kumar S. Taurani, Tips Films Pvt. Ltd. | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Actress | Bipasha Basu | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Comedian | Anil Kapoor | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Music Director | Pritam | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Lyricist | Sameer Anjaan for "Pehli Nazar Mein" | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Male Playback Singer | Atif Aslam for "Pehli Nazar Mein" | Nominated |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | Best Female Playback Singer | Monali Thakur for "Zara Zara Touch Me" | Nominated |
| Filmfare Awards | Best Music Director | Pritam | Nominated |
| Filmfare Awards | Best Screenplay | Shiraz Ahmed | Nominated |
| Screen Awards | Best Villain | Akshaye Khanna | Won |

## Sequel

The original production team had announced plans to make a sequel called Race 2 : Betrayal Is Survival. Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor returned to reprise their roles while John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel were new additions to the cast. Bipasha Basu was the only other returning member and appeared in a cameo role as Sonia. The filming for Race 2 started on 5 October 2011. It was released on 25 January 2013, and was another success, grossing over ₹1 billion (US$11 million) domestically.