“Raees” stirs up YouTube Storm

“Raees”, the latest big screen venture of Bollywood super star Shah Rukh Khan appears all set to storm the box office, if the response on the internet to its trailer is anything to go by.

Khan launched the trailer of the movie, directed by Rahul Dholakia on Wednesday and in the first 24 hours it was watched over 12 million times on Youtube.

The actor plays the role of a liquor baron in the 'dry' state of Gujarat.

At about 2.45 minutes, the trailer of “Raees” is fairly long and Khan occupies most of the screen time while Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a police officer also gets a large chunk of attention. Pakistani actress Mahira Khan appears as Raees Alam's love interest Mohsina, and there is also a glimpse of Sunny Leone who makes a special appearance in a reworked version of the Zeenat Aman hit song “Laila O Laila”.

“Raees” was originally scheduled for commercial release in July last year but was deferred to make way for Salman Khan-starrer “Sultan”. The new date has been pegged at January 25, 2017.

Shah Rukh Khan has starred in two films this year and made a special appearance in a third. He had a double role in “Fan”, featured in “Dear Zindagi” and had a cameo in Karan Johar's “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”.

Rahul Dholakia shot into limelight with his 2005 film “Parzania” based on communal riots in Gujarat of 2002.