Amitabh - The Sarkar

Sarkar Raj is all about Amitabh. He proves that he is the most powerful actor Bollywood has ever produced and is only becoming a better actor with age! In the scenes with Abhishek he outshines his son by a huge margin. Abhishek cannot match up to his father’s acting skills and this movie reiterates that.

RGV proves that he may have got carried away by Aag, but in his soul he is a good filmmaker. The movie is not as fast paced as the likes of Company or Sarkar but the last 20 mins redeem the movie, and make it worth a watch. The movie is based on a back drop of Maharashtra politics and even though at times there is an over dose of Abhishek saying that ‘he cares for Maharashtra’ and ‘he loves Maharashtra’ it makes for a good political drama… And particularly the character of Rao Saab (played well by the versatile Dilip Prabhavalkar) does justice to the shrewd, cunning politicians. Though there are a lot of characters in the movie, some of them been barely carried forward from Sarkar (read Tanisha, Supriya Pathak)… The casting for other characters like Kantilal Vora (played by Upendra Limaye), Hassan Qazi (Govind Namdeo), Karunesh Kanga (Sayaji Shinde) is apt and each of them does justice to their small but important role. Aishwarya Rai comes as a package with husband and father-in-law and is the most wasted actor in the movie. Though her character is pertinent for the movie, she does no justice to it – honestly anybody else could have played that role and I am not sure if her presence adds any star power!!

The movie has been shot differently with RGV experimenting with the unstable camera, extreme close-ups and unnecessary angles… Somehow this ‘Hollywood’ effect which he has tried coupled with the sepia mode in which most of the movie is shot only puts a strain on the eyes.

There is nothing noteworthy about Abhishek in the movie and his character seemed a bit flawed to me. He is supposed to be the smart young politician / leader but some of the things which he does did not make sense – for example, the way in which he side tracks Chander seems to be more forced than a natural progression of the story. Similarly there are too many things packed in the two hour movie and at times the story seems to loose its control! But like I said before the movie is worth a watch only for Amitabh and his acting excellence. His transformation from being a supportive mentor to a sensitive father to bouncing back as the ‘Godfather’ is extra ordinary. He does justice to every scene and every dialogue which comes his way.

All said and done, a must watch for those who want to see a decent political drama and Amitabh! The last clip of the movie was a put off. But everything in the last 20 mins preceding that has made me eager to watch a sequel to Sarkar Raj – and if rumors are to be believed, there is one on the drawing boards!