Raid 2 starring Ajay Devgn enters pre-production, informs producer Bhushan Kumar

Raid 2 starring Ajay Devgn in the lead role has entered the pre-production stage, informed Bhushan Kumar who is bankrolling the project.

A sequel to Ajay's 2018 superhit film Raid, Raid 2 is inspired by the raids at the house of Kanpur perfume businessman Piyush Jain.

“The world had stopped for 2 years, but yes, Raid 2 is under production.  Kumar Ji (Co-producer Kumar Mangat) already has multiple ideas in place for Raid 2, he has in fact collated a lot of incidents that can be used in the Raid franchise. We will choose the best idea and then move ahead,” said Bhushan Kumar.

Noteworthy, the residence and factories of UP perfume trader Piyush Jain in Kanpur and Kanauji were raided by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence. He was later arrested and cash worth more than Rs 250 crore, 25 kg gold, 250 kg silver, and sandalwood oil were seized by officials.

For the uninitiated, Raid is a crime film based on the real-life income-tax raid conducted by the officers of the Income Tax Department on Sardar Inder Singh in Lucknow in the 1980s. The raid distinguished itself from others for being the longest raid in Indian history, lasting three days and two nights. 

Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, the film was backed by T-Series and Panorama Studios and starred Ajay Devgn, Saurabh Shukla, and Ileana D'Cruz in lead roles. Its lifetime global gross collection of Rs. 153.62 crore against a budget of Rs. 42 crore, made it a critically and commercially successful venture.

On the work front, Amit Sharma and Boney Kapoor have cast Ajay Devgn to play football coach Syed Abdul Rahim in their pan-India sports magnum opus Maidaan.

This will be followed by Devgn's special appearance in Rohit Shetty's Cirkus which stars Ranveer Singh. Ajay also has a brief role in Indra Kumar's slice-of-life comedy Thank God with Sidharth Malhotra. Both the films are set for cinematic release in 2022.