'Race 3': Even Salman Khan's fans deserve better than this 

When you make a sequel of a hit franchise, the responsibilities double up. You have to stick to the same format yet bring something new, something that the prequels did not have. You have to ideally take the story forward. Ideally. But such isn't the case when you have Salman Khan as the leading man. Wait, he is not just acting, he is also the producer, lyricist, dialogue writer of Remo D'Souza directed 'Race 3'.

The man is everywhere. When he is not in the scene, people are talking about him. He flies through cities in wingsuits, (not bodybags, okay?) he descends from the sky firm on his feet wearing wrinkle-free suits and nonchalantly kills the bad guys. Salman is everywhere and is everything in Race 3 which is natural considering he is backing the film. But is it enough to make the film work? Not quite.

Despite the histrionics, despite the glitzy sets, lounge style music, high-octane stunts, 'Race 3' falters because of one primary factor- it lacks logic. So looping in hangers on (read:other actors) and aesthetically placing them around Khan doesn't help either. 'Race 3' ultimately falters- because of illogical story, bad acting and a very long unnecessary narrative with forced twists.

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For those who are wondering what the abysmal story is about, here its is: Shamsher Singh(Anil Kapoor) is an illegal arms dealer, a gang lord who inhabits an island which looks like Dubai but we are told it's not. Since he is a rich man, he has plenty of enemies, and he trusts his nephew Sikander (Salman 'god' Khan) with his life. He also has two kids of his own- twins Suraj (Saqib Saleem) and Sanjana (Daisy Shah) who do not like how their father is more biased towards Sikander and in their free time- which they seem to have a lot- keep plotting against Sikander and how to remove him from the family will. There is also a stone-faced Yash (Bobby Deol's first film in four years) who is Singh siblings bodyguard-cum-friend-cum-loyalist. And Jacqueline Fernandez who is a blackmailer-cum-intelligence officer-cum-seductress-cum-con woman. You see, the director and the writers have casually thrown in multiple facets to each of the characters. Now Shamsher Singh wants to blackmail a bunch of politicians and head back to India while all Sikander wants to do is protect his family.

Amid bad Hinglish songs in picturesque places penned especially by bhaijaan and arbid usage of Bhojpuri laced Hindi in dialogues, 'Race 3' is a giant mess that despite the stylised action sequences, shirtless Salman Khan and bonus Bobby Deol, and long legs of Daisy Shah and Jacqueline Fernandez is a two hour forty minutes of torture.

There's really not much to salvage in a film where the dialogues make your ears bleed. Sample this 'Use dil nahi Dell khol ke dikhao' or the now famous 'Our business is our business, none of your business.' I mean they could have just let the actors take over - why was there a need to hire writers?

So many of the scenes have been placed in the film just to cue in the cheers and claps in the theatre. But they are so repetitive that they really induce groans. Khan huffs and puffs, clenches his jaw tight when angry and narrows his eyes at regular intervals when romancing and even when he is sad. The other actors are just as bad. No one really looks too convinced doing what they are made to do. The only person who brings some respite is Anil Kapoor - who looks fit as ever and much younger than Khan - who plays his on-screen nephew.

'Race 3' makes you miss the prequels, Saif Ali Khan and Abbas Mustan. Not that the previous films lacked logic, but they still managed to keep the audience glued to the stylish thrillers especially the first one.

Salman Khan in the recent past has been part of films like 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan', Sultan', 'Ek Tha Tiger' - which not only brought in the moolah but also were praised by people. So one really can't figure out why would Khan resort to backing a film which has no story and is so low on entertainment even. At a time when some of his contemporaries are really pushing the envelope with some path-breaking roles, maybe its time for the superstar to step back and reassess his choices because he owes this much to his loyal fan base. His fans deserve something better from the actor and 'Race 3' is definitely not that.