Sarkar Raj: Welcome Back The Good Ol' Ramu review
RGV is back in his elements after the AAG debacle, but wish he would've worked harder on the script. It is nicely shot and the cinematography is excellent, writes Yasser Usman
Sarkar Raj was tremendously hyped as the first film with the Bachchan trio...and believe me it is just that. There are Bachchans in every frame of the film even at the cost of making the story unconvincing but ya there is one good news... Ram gopal Verma is BACK...
Sarkar Raj is about a foreign company wanting to set up a power plant in Maharashtra. But they need the permission of "Sarkar", who obviously is miffed with the idea of displacing 40,000 villagers for setting up the powre plant. However 'Chote Sarkar' ( Abhishek Bachchan as Shankar Nagre) thinks otherwise as he is convinced that the project is essential for the development of Maharashtra.
The lady Bachchan plays Anita Rajan, the CEO of the company that wants to set up the plant. So "Chote Sarkar" Shankar undertakes a journey along with Anita to the villages of Maharashtra to garner support from the villagers.But the situations are not what they seem to be and the project soon becomes a political minefield.The hidden enemies gang up to challenge the Sarkar Rule. Evil plots, conspiracies and loyalties clash with each other to dethrone the sarkar regime. The detractors are out to eliminate Shankar in which they succeed. Finally, Bade Sarkar comes back in his elements and takes revenge. And as expected, the angry old man emerges a winner. No one can challenge 'Sarkar ka Raaj' u know...
First thinks first, Does it match the hype created around it?................... NO
Is it better than SARKAR?.......................
Sarkar Raj has a lot of "confrontation" scenes but not even a single scene remain with you due to the complete lack of emotions. The writer as well the director are too eager to finish every scene so quickly that it hurts sometimes. The scenes where Abhishek is convincing his father about the project, where they are talking about the death of Vishnu (kay kay), even the scene where Abhishek's wife is killed in a bomb blast...they were all turning points in the story but the screenplay fails to create an impact .Being subtle never means being flat. There should have been a larger dose of emotions absolutely needed for the Box Office success. If it doesn't touches your heart, it is doomed despite all the technical brilliance. The dialogue writer and the director wants to finish every scene with a 'punch'. So, each and every scene either has a one-liner or an extreme-extreme close of one of the Bachchans. The Sarkars either stare or just delivers one-liners.
Abhishek bachchan has got another author backed role after GURU but still seems he doesn't have a third expression (the two you can see in all his films including this one).Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the CEO of the company that wants to set up the power plant but surprisingly the CEO never takes a decision herself and always look upto the Sarkars for everything. The character is badly written. And Ramu ji please explain why is she present in all the emotional and personal meetings of the Sarkars....the scenes where abhishek's wife dies and finally abhishek's death scene, the mother (Supriya Pathak Kapur , completely wasted to accomodate the bachchan trio) is nowhere to be seen but Sarkar saab cry with the CEO sahiba... With such CEOs, no project could ever be completed.
So Sarkar Raj is made with the sole aim to showcase the Bachchans... And only Amitabh Bachchan, expectedly, comes up with a terrific performance. He underplays the role of Sarkar brilliantly. All the villains look like buffoons instead of looking menacing. Only Dilip Prabhawalkar plays his part convincingly. The actor enacting the role of Dilip Prabhawalkar's grandson is very good.
The film falters at the climax. From a political conspiracy story, it suddenly becomes a revenge drama and this looks abrupt.
RGV is back in his elements after the AAG debacle, but wish he would've worked harder on the script. It is nicely shot and the cinematography is excellent. And what is it with the Extreme Close Ups and the done to death monochromatic frames Ramu? We understand such shots create an excellent impact...but excess of anything could be bad. And here the entire film is in extreme close ups which sometimes looks jarring, especially when it shows the wrinkles of Amitabh and also when we have to closely bear with the same deadpan expression of Abhishek Bachchan. When there are no ECUs, there are wide angled shots giving it a 'ghostly' look. We are not against the changing of grammar of cinematography, but experimenting should be with proper reasoning.
Though their is no chance of Sarkar Raj ruling the box office, we welcome back the good ol' Ramu...
