Sarkar Raj Review:NDTV ANUPAMA CHOPRA

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11 | June 6, 2008 at 2:48 am | 109 views | Reviews| Share

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Review: Sarkar Raj

Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films

At one point in Sarkar Raj, the villains are planning their next move. One of them shouts: Zabardast idea.

The other asks kya and he replies: abhi puri tarah se aaya nahi hai. That’s exactly what I felt about the movie.

It is a good idea that doesn’t quite coalesce into a whole. Despite wonderful performances and nicely done dramatic moments, Sarkar Raj doesn’t pack the visceral punch of Sarkar.

The sequel takes us back to the Nagre’s Thackeray-esque dynasty of self-styled political leaders.

One character describes Nagre senior as Neta ke libas mein ek goonda.

Subhash Nagre, played by Amitabh Bachchan, is still enthroned but it is his son Shankar, played by Abhishek, who is the new Machiavelli, plotting moves and ordering hits.

An international company wants to set up a power plant in Maharashtra.

The plant will displace 40,000 people. Shankar believes that the plant will empower the state and backs the plans. He becomes embroiled in a vast and lethal conspiracy, which almost destroys the Nagre family.

What works here are the performances. The Bachchans-all three of them are in fine form.

Aishwarya displays a rarely seen steel as the head of the corporation. Mr B creates a carefully controlled menace – you know this smiling grandfather could kill without blinking. And Abhishek surpasses them both with a brooding intensity that echoes, in the best way, his father’s angry young man days.

The supporting cast is also impressive-Ravi Kale as the right hand man who proves fallible is especially good. What doesn’t work as well is the screenplay.

Ram Gopal Varma shoots-in tight close-ups and notches up the background score to create a sense of drama but the film remains flaccid.

There is so much plot that at the end, Mr B expounds at length about who did what to whom and why and yet there is very little tension. Beyond a point, all the subterfuge and counter-subterfuge becomes tedious.

The film’s politics also remain specious – Nagre senior expounds on gandi rajniti and then coolly has his enemies murdered.

Despite these sizeable bumps, I recommend that you see Sarkar Raj. Its performances are a proof that Ram Gopal Varma, who last gave us the mind-numbing Aag, is on way to getting his groove back.

My piece on SARKAR RAJ (Hindi, 2008)

Anupama Chopra reviews Wake Up Sid

An older piece on SARKAR (Hindi, 2005)

Anupama Chopra talks about Blue and All The Best

Anupama Chopra on Wanted and Dil Bole Hadippa

There Are 11 Responses So Far. »

N I T E S H 6 June 2008
03:00:33 am

A very confusing, badly written, terrible review as always by this highly overrated anchor of NDTV.

manoj16_391 6 June 2008
03:05:21 am

ahem! ahem! ho-hum!

beld o beld 6 June 2008
03:09:36 am

why nitesh – this wasnt a great review – but didnt understand why its terrible either. btw i actually like anupama chopra as a reviewer – not the best but pretty ok. my fav tv reviewer tho is still masand. am looking forward to his. but given buzz18 gave a great review – i expect masand to do so too. they always match

rhapsody 6 June 2008
03:31:56 am

“Masand is another Kaveri Bamzai. Have seen lots of world cinema and is completely out of touch with the indian audience’s pulse. He tries to being his intellect in every review without realising that his bread and butter is based on massy masala soaking news channel.”

You’re kidding right?Masand is a completely vacuous reviewer.His analysis of films is limited to them being logical and beleivable.What world cinema could he have seen?

N I T E S H 6 June 2008
03:32:11 am

beld…this is a pretty bad review.
Anupama, at many times appears confused and is not sure what she expects from a movie.
Here, she does not elaborate on her points and falls short of providing an insight about the movie.
Terrible review because for some reason, few on NG find her good which sets a high standard and she fails to achieve that level every time. Cannot think of a singlt great review coming out from her.

Masand is another Kaveri Bamzai. Has seen lots of world cinema and is completely out of touch with the indian audience’s pulse. He tries to bring his intellect in every review without realising that his bread and butter is based on massy masala soaking news channel.

IMO, best reviews comes from old time journalists (barring Khalid), few NGers and the best of all- public opinion video.

beld o beld 6 June 2008
04:24:57 am

i disagree nitesh. I find Rajeev to be spot on more often than not on his reviews. btw – whats with this comments in threesome…reminds me of that Rajni song …Repeattu

N I T E S H 6 June 2008
04:38:37 am

Beld…

NG is quite slow today…hence the repeattu.

My 2 comments previous to the last can be deleted.

“I find Rajeev to be spot on more often than not on his reviews.”

Somtimes yes….but not most of the time. Yes…he is def better than Anupama.

Achilles 6 June 2008
06:20:40 am

Why crucify the critic just because she dis not rate the movie as highly as some wud have liked?

She isnt the only one to negative review to SR!

akshay shah 7 June 2008
09:56:04 pm

I’ve read some bad reviews for SR which have been written well…the point here is that Chopra is a CRAP writer….

satyam 8 June 2008
12:02:38 am

at allbollywood it’s gone up to 63% again. Earlier it was at 64% then went down to 61%. As I said earlier it’s more or less in D2 and OSO range.