Ajay Devgn's gritty performance draws crowd to movie halls, 'Raid' Box Office collection gets closer to Rs 100 crore mark

Mumbai: Ajay Devgn, who made an impressive debut in Phool Aur Kante as an action hero way back in the year 1991, has proved his versatility time and again in the last couple of decades. The actor has two National Film awards to his credit and is one of the most bankable stars of Bollywood. His latest release - 'Raid' - has turned out to be a massive hit and has collected over Rs 94 crores at the Box Office.

The film, an Income Tax raid drama also stars Ileana D'Cruz and Saurabh Shukla in pivotal roles. 

Directed by Rajkumar Gupta, 'Raid' is inching closer to the Rs 100 crore mark at the Box Office and it is likely to cross the milestone soon.

Trade analyst and movie critic Taran Adarsh tweeted: "#Raid is nearing ₹ 100 cr mark... [Week 3] Fri 1.82 cr, Sat 2.26 cr. Total: ₹ 94.19 cr. India biz."

#Raid is nearing ₹ 100 cr mark... [Week 3] Fri 1.82 cr, Sat 2.26 cr. Total: ₹ 94.19 cr. India biz.

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) 1 April 2018

Set in the 1980s, 'Raid' is based on a true incident, reports suggest.

As Amay Patnaik, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, in Lucknow, Ajay will impress you and his performance in Raid will add a new feather in his cap. The actor apparently interacted with real Income Tax Officers to prepare for his part in the film.

"I don't know about the benchmark or perception that this movie might create, but the real struggle with the film was that the character is very heroic, but real at the same time. We tried to keep it real even with the punchlines. It doesn't feel you're watching a movie. The challenge was to follow the character as realistically as possible," IANS quoted Ajay as saying during the trailer launch of the film.

"Especially during 1980s' era, when the environment wasn't good, it was not easy. I am sure Ritesh (Shah) and Rajkumar Gupta can tell you incidents when income tax officers were brutally murdered. They use to go through a very hard time," he added.