For fans of Shah Rukh Khan, the release of his film is nothing short of a celebration. Especially when the film’s trailer is as good, as promising and as action-packed as was the case with Raees. 

As the first big release of the year, the film has clearly got everyone excited and as it hit theatres today, we’ll soon find out how well the film lives up to our expectations! 

The journey of a small time goon who turns into a gangster is loosely inspired from the story of the famous Gujarati bootlegger, Abdul Latif. 

And in case you have seen the Netflix series, Narcos, you would’ve probably noticed already how the story is eerily similar to the tale of the Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar.

The trailer presented Raees as the Escobar of Gujarat. And after watching a mashup of the two, we were keen to learn even more.

We looked closely and found that there are actually many similarities between Abdul Latif & Pablo’s life.

They both entered the world of crime when they were just kids.

Abdul Lateef started delivering alcohol in the dry state of Gujarat as a young boy. He used to wait tables at underground bars which were frequented by gangsters. At a young age, he was already working for bootleggers.

While Pablo Escobar entered the drug business much later in his life, as a child, he too used to steal gravestones and sell them to earn money. 

Both had small illegal businesses that turned into an empire.

Shortly after his stint as a waiter, Latif realised the potential in the business of alcohol in Gujarat. Since it was not legal to sell alcohol in the state, there were no taxes on the product. He started smuggling alcohol in large quantities by bribing the local police and politicians.

If you’ve seen Narcos, you know how Pablo Escobar established his drug business. Right from the guards at the state borders to the highest officials, everybody was Pablo’s pawn. They were all on his pay scale and it soon became an international trade as well.

They covered up their shady businesses by helping the under privileged.

Abdul Latif was known as the local Robin Hood as he distributed a lot of money to those who lacked resources. He came from a humble family and had seen a difficult childhood and thus started funding many schools. 

Same was the case with Pablo Escobar. 

Colombian nationals and especially the people of Medellín started addressing him as the local Robin Hood. He built residential complexes and started funding children’s education as well.

Both had political careers.

Due to their local popularity, they both contested for elections. 

While Abdul Latif was jailed shortly after the elections were held, his goons started contesting for elections under his party’s umbrella. Escobar dreamed of becoming the president of Colombia and even gathered a lot of votes because of his goodwill among the locals.

Just like their lives, their deaths too had a similar trajectory. 

Lateef was put behind bars in 1995 and was was killed in 1997 while he was trying to escape from the Sabarmati prison. Similarly, Escobar was killed by the Search Bloc in 1993 while he was trying to escape from the prison, the same one he’d constructed for himself and was living in. 

The stories of these two criminals bear a lot of resemblance. Thankfully, for the people, their tenure ended soon and they were served with what many believe as justice.