As crazy as it may sound, instances of political corruption are so rampant and frequent in India that if someone decides to make movie adaptations of each of the prominent cases and release them every single day, several years’ worth of time will not be enough to cover the entire proverbial archive. Naturally, viewers get spoiled for choices, as Indian crime thrillers based on real-life incidents, differing merely in narrative treatment, make their way to the theaters almost every month. One such run-of-the-mill thriller, Raj Kumar Gupta’s 2018 release, Raid, starring Ajay Devgn, revolves around the biggest income tax raid of the country, conducted on Sardar Inder Singh, former MLA, MP, and industrialist based in Kanpur. The movie changes the identity and background of the culprit in question to better integrate the vicious rural politics, especially prevalent in Uttar Pradesh of all states. But while doing so, Raid sits at a strange juncture; it is neither as over-the-top as the majority of the bloated masala entertainers with similar narratives tend to be, nor is it as gritty and tense as Prakash Jha’s crime thrillers centered around Bihar and UP’s political dynamics. The main hook of Raid is the stellar acting by Saurabh Shukla as the antagonist, power-crazed MLA, and Ajay Devgn’s due support as the stoic, honest income tax officer—the kind of role he fits in like a glove.
Spoilers Ahead
Amay Patnaik Goes Against Tauji
In 1981, Senior IRS Officer Amay Patnaik arrives at Lucknow with his wife, Malini, after being assigned as the Deputy Revenue Commissioner of the state of Uttar Pradesh. For a country where bureaucratic corruption has ruined public faith in public servants, Patnaik is an exceptional, gold standard of an officer who follows established rules and codes with unmatched sincerity. Patnaik’s honesty and integrity are so fierce that for exposing corrupt tax offenders, he has been transferred across the country twice the number of years in his career. There is a comical touch in Patnaik’s seriousness in knowing the worth of his salt, as he brings his own booze while attending social gatherings with politicians and business tycoons to indulge in things he can afford, to never let anyone have the chance to even say that he takes the bare minimum of favor from anyone else. Patnaik’s dauntless honesty is a concern for Malini; knowing how vicious the powerful and corrupt lot can become to protect their ill-gotten riches, she fears for her husband’s life, despite being quite supportive and proud of what he does. Patnaik assures his wife and often seeks her counsel when faced with any dilemma.
Patnaik finds the revenue collection scene is quite discouraging in Lucknow, in the entire UP in general, given how the established social and economic hierarchy keeps the powerful out of reach—more so because the ones who are oppressed can’t recognize the ones who exploit them in the first place. Before any raid gets conducted on a suspected culprit, Senior Assistant Income Tax Officer in Lucknow, Lallan Sudheer, secretly informs his patrons beforehand in exchange for settlement money and maintaining peace.
One day, Patnaik gets an anonymous tip about illegal gains of businessman/politician Rameshwar Singh, aka Tauji of Sitagarh, one of the most powerful and influential personas in the vicinity, who assumes a position of fear and respect among the locals. Following several such tips by the unknown sender, Patnaik is able to check up on Rameshwar’s business, find solid evidence of tax fraud worth several hundred crores from documents, and decide to build a case on him in secret. Having completed the preliminary research and assembled the necessary documents, Patnaik goes to seek approval from the Director General of Income Tax, who warns him if the raid fails, Patnaik will have to face the consequences of drawing the ire of such a fierce politician, who commands not only his constituency but several nearby ones as well in the state. DI also advises Patnaik to not remain dependent on local police, who will obviously side with Tauji, and instead seek protection from PAC forces during the raid. It should be mentioned that the anonymous informant doesn’t share the precise details of where inside Tauji’s palatial mansion complex the black money can be found but trusts Patnaik’s instincts in finding it. To keep the raid as secretive as possible, Patnaik keeps his subordinates in the dark, as he knows people like Lallan can jeopardize the entire setup by leaking intel to Rameshwar. However, even before they reach Rameshwar’s place to conduct the raid, an officer backs off, whose family has gained favor from Tauji in the past and can’t afford to oppose him. See, there is a commonality in influential politicians/white-collar criminals across the world: they manage to build a network of trust and dependency by entangling the less fortunate ones in favors, thereby ensuring that even without using fear and intimidation, they manage to get people on their side.
Did Amay Patnaik Find Black Money In Tauji’s Residence?
Anyway, before the raid begins, a spark of conflict between Patnaik and Tauji is shown. Tauji is a cunning, manipulative, corrupt old-school politician whose vaulting ego and pride about the power he commands prompt him to believe that Patnaik is just another ambitious officer who can be bribed off the case. He wastes no chance to humiliate Patnaik, asks him to back away multiple times to make him feel a sense of powerlessness, and warns about consequences if the raid becomes unsuccessful. But Patnaik isn’t like the lot who revere and fear Tauji, confident and headstrong, Patnaik treats him as just another offender who betrays their fellow countrymen by exploiting them on a daily basis and committing tax fraud. Patnaik faces hurdles in the form of Tauji’s extended family, which includes his three brothers, their wives, Tauji’s son and his wife—but Tauji, too confident that Patnaik will not be able to find anything, handles the situation and allows him to conduct a thorough search in his mansion. However, despite searching rigorously across every corner of the mansion, Patnaik isn’t able to find a single penny that is unaccounted for, and in his bewilderment, he and his fellow officers start considering the option that they have been misled. On one occasion, Tara, Tauji’s daughter-in-law, tries to threaten Amay to call off the raid unless she will put fake allegations of sexual harassment on him, and it goes without saying what will happen to Amay while he is still confined inside the mansion. However, Tauji’s elderly mother notices the altercation and rebukes Tara.
Amay finally gets a breakthrough when the anonymous informant somehow plants another tip inside Amay’s wallet, which he left outside while searching the family temple inside Tauji’s mansion. The tip includes a rough architectural blueprint of the mansion, where the possible locations of the stashed black money and other forms of riches are located. After this, it doesn’t take long for Patnaik and co. to discover millions worth of cash, gold bars, and land dealings. However, not all of it belongs to Rameshwar, as he suspects his brother and their wives, whose businesses were funded by Rameshwar’s money in the first place, have their stakes in the found black money as well. It also becomes clear to Tauji that someone from inside his family has snitched on them, and he continues to threaten them to reveal the identity of the informant, to no avail. Furious and desperate, Tauji brings his gun to threaten the raid team and inadvertently gives up even more hidden riches by shooting at the ceiling, resulting in stashed golden biscuits raining for half a minute or so.
Battle of Egos: Was Tauji Able to Stop the Raid?
Grasping at straws, Tauji challenges Patnaik to face him at his strongest, which means letting him contact his political higher-ups to arrange means to stop the raid. It’d have been the most sensible and wise decision for someone at Amay’s place to not give in to provocations and simply continue the raid. But for a straight arrow officer like Patnaik, the satisfaction of crumbling the ego of criminal scum is like an addiction, which is why he allows Tauji to fetch any help he can seek. Lallan criticizes Patnaik for allowing Tauji a chance to get his footing, and while accepting his mistake, Patnaik too confronts him for his past instances of dishonesty—and requests him to prove his loyalty at this juncture.
After the Director General of Income Tax refuses to help him, Tauji seeks assistance from the UP state CM. By allocating funds and rallying voters in several constituencies, Tauji has helped his party to govern the state, but even the CM is unable to interfere in this matter, given the central ministry is directly involved. Tauji goes to the Finance Minister of India, who is unable to come up with a viable solution either, given the evidence Patnaik has managed to dig up against Tauji already. Still, the finance minister calls Patnaik, requesting him to halt the raid, but Patnaik mentions the need to fetch the target amount. As a last-ditch attempt, Tauji decides to approach the then Prime Minister of the nation, Indira Gandhi.
Meanwhile, Patnaik’s raid gains further momentum as Rameshwar’s mother mentions an unnecessary addition to the mansion’s architectural plan, and it turns out Rameshwar’s siblings had stashed more of their riches inside newly constructed pillars, staircases, and basement rooms. Initially, PM doesn’t entertain Tauji’s request of seeking her counsel until he threatens to topple UP governments by manipulating MLAs under his control. This prompts PM Indira Gandhi to call Patnaik herself, asking him to opt for different legal methods and stop the raid. However, Patnaik requests the PM to have her signed statement sent via FAX for confirmation that there are no discrepancies involved. Of course, even a PM can influence her subordinates to break the law verbally, not in a written statement, as it can entail severe consequences. At this point, PM too refuses to help Tauji, her negligence and silence indicating he is on his own.
Was Patnaik Able To Survive At The End?
A vengeful Rameshwar opts for cheap intimidation tactics, as he sends his thugs to target Malini in order to threaten Patnaik. Malini gets injured but manages to fend off her pursuers by entering the local police station. As Tauji returns to his mansion, Patnaik, fuming with anger, confronts him about making matters personal, but there is no way for him to prove in court that Tauji was involved in the attack. It is through their conversation that we learn Tauji’s wife passed away by committing self-immolation, possibly due to her husband’s devious nature. Tauji’s ideal, loving family man persona is shattered as he threatens his family members with severe consequences for whoever is acting as a mole. Needless to say, Patnaik’s raid is a massive success, as he is able to seize way more than the expected amount of black money.
Time comes to wrap things up after three days of prolonged raid—which resulted in the seizure of thousands of millions worth of cash and assets. However, as expected, Tauji plays his last card, having already sent word to the armed mob, who gather in thousands outside the mansion. Allegiance bought by fear and respect has made the frenzied villagers oblivious that politicians like Tauji are robbing the destitute ones to build their castle, and the mob is now out for blood; PAC forces can no longer protect the raid officers. Patnaik’s appeal to the mob to come to their senses goes in vain, and his colleagues fear for their dear lives. However, Patnaik manages to send all of them to safety through a secret exit passage, and he himself chooses to stay behind to ensure the seized assets don’t get transported elsewhere. However, as the mob breaks inside the mansion, Patnaik realizes this might really be his final moment, but he doesn’t back off—still holding onto courage and determination. However, help arrives like a miracle as several convoys of police surround the mansion and disperse the mob in no time, saving Patnaik in the process. PM Indira Gandhi herself had sent backup for Patnaik, as she chose to save an honest officer over a corrupt, powerful politician of her party, making a moral choice for the greater good. The movie started with the quote of legendary Indian economist Chanakya, “Kosh Mulo Dand,” a phrase written on the emblem of the Indian Tax Department, which, according to the context of the movie, means the worth of treasure is more than that of the army, as the former can be used for the betterment of people. The final resolution, of PM choosing to prioritize Patnaik’s life over her votebank, is a reflection of this realization.
Lastly, the question remains who was the secretive informant, the proverbial Bibhishan mentioned by Tauji, whose tips helped Patnaik to orchestrate the raid successfully. As it turns out, Tara and her boyfriend were the masterminds who wanted to get back at Tauji for forcibly arranging the marriage between his impotent son and Tara. Patnaik doesn’t disclose the identity of the informant even with Malini. As the epilogue reveals, in real life, the revenue commissioner in charge of Sardar Inder Singh’s raid in Kanpur didn’t reveal the identity of his informant till she passed away. Raid ends with an acknowledgement to the honest, brave officers who put their lives on the line to serve the people, to return their money back to them. As mentioned in the final moments of the movie, in UP and Bihar, income tax officers had to face vicious, life-threatening situations while conducting raids, and in reality, a number of them had perished as well—never getting the justice they deserved.
