Brilliant movie. Review on Sarkar Raj

I saw sarkar raj amid a lot of trepidations since many ppl were floating around negative reviews.

I think a lot of unnecessary noise was created over the background score being loud, jarring etc. and also about the movie theme being dark. I thought the entire package was very well done and nothing was too much over-board.

To be frank if you are a person who enjoys good quality cinema with crisp dialogs and good performances this movie is for you. If you are the type who likes to have the hero, heroine to break into a song-dance drill in the Alp mountains, and have item numbers with skimpily clothed gals moving around please give it a miss, since this is not your cupa tea. Also there are no silly jokes, or any fights or gun chase scenes.

Infact reflecting back I think that is one of the few reasons why some of the audience did not like it. Sarkar raj is a serious movie and is meant only for a certain section of audience who loves serious cinema. well I guess by now many wud have seen the movie hence I will not dwell much into the narration of the story, but focus only on the finer points.

To begin with the script of the movie is that the shepperd company wants to set up a multi-billion dollar project in Maharashtra and to do that they come to Sarkar to seek his permission, a la Enron-Thackeray drama that was played out in the real-life in 1990s in maharashra.

Though initially reluctant Abhi convinces his father(senior AB) for the project, The dialog "Door ke phayde ke liye nazdiki nuksoona ko bhoolna chahiye" sums it all.

Moving forward once the senior AB gets convinced they set out on the objective of convincing the farmers whose land shud be bought for setting up the plant and hence the family goes to thackerwadi to seek the blessing of "Rao" saheb(Dilip Prabavalkar), the mentor of senior AB and also the mukhiya of the village where the factory is to be put up. This opportunity is ceased by the sarkars opponents to lay a trap for the family to end their raj.

Though the story appears like a much seen or heard about kinda story the end-game is played really well and thats what makes this movie an exceptional one. The dialogs of the movie are crisp especially between Junior and Senior AB. The characters share a very deep relationship of affection and bonding. The feelings are expressed through eyes or facial gestures and are very subtle. Many ppl fail to capture this and thats wer the beauty lies. Abhi is almost laconic and this demeanor suits him really well. Ash is quite ok but compared to the senior junior AB combo she has some learning to do. Not to mention sayaji shinde who hammed a lot and cud hav been replaced by someone more capable. Other actors are strictly alright.

The movie is brilliant in its execution. Many have complained about the odd camera angles but to be frank I did not find it disturbing at all. Audience expecting gun shots, fighting etc, will be disappointed since there is no need for all that in a mature subject like this. Have u ever heard of politicians fighting with guns in real life ? It is more like a chess game where each opponent tries to outdo each other subtly without any violence and thats the reality that is shown in the movie. It just goes on to say that mind is much dangerous than a gun if used effectively. Overall I am happy that such cinemas are being made in bollywood. It is very subtle and one shud understand the nuisances to appreciate the finer points of the movie.

Background score is something which I really enjoyed, may be at places it is a little loud but it can be easily ignored. Screenplay, direction is top grade stuff. As one of my friends said  many wud have praised this movie had this been shot by a top notch "Hollywood" director. It is just  that we Indians have the habit of ridiculing ourselves and praising the west policy that spoils the fun. Agreed that RGVs last movie "AAG" was a disaster but one should not carry that baggage and criticize this one. RGV is a genius and one can't deny it, it is just that he must shed his eccentricity and start doing serious cinema. I am sure he will come up with good movies time and again.