Sarkar Raj --- Movie Review

First Tashan and now Sarkar Raj , I don't know why prominent film makers are going back in time and making films like they used to be made years ago ? The sequel to Indian Godfather , Sarkar , is out in the theaters now and it seems to me that while Godfather 2 set parameters in terms of sequels , this one completely violates those . It is always said that one should not compare a sequel with the original one but if the sequel is not done well then comparisons are bound to happen . So here I go .

While Sarkar was a very tight film and quite brisk , this one has long emotional "speeches" and not dialogues , that go about very slowly in the film . The story is more or less the same , only the characters have been changed . And this is what Sarkar Raj lacks , a good storyline . Ramu recently gave an interview where he said that how much wrong he could go when he himself has created the characters in the original one which was a success . Well , here Ramu was wrong , he has not only gone competely wrong but also added nothing to the original movie , apart from so many characters that one tends to forget who is the central character .

Any film no doubt stands on the strength of its characters but if there are so many of them then it just becomes a circus where one by one animals come , do their act and then go . In Sarkar the negative characters were also played by some of the most power house performers like Kay Kay whereas in this one the negative characters were more of Jokers than actors . I seriously missed Kay Kay in the movie . Maybe Ramu has got a little afraid since Bachchans are the only one that trust him and he didn't want to offend them by making a stronger negative character that could overshadow them a little bit . Kay Kay is one such performer that can stand neck to neck with the Bachchans . If Sarkar or a Godfather doesn't have a challenger as powerful as he himself is then it is a no show all together . So , Ramu failed in that department .

Now talking a little about story , it starts with a leader of opposition wanting to get the seat of the CM and to get it plays a big game to defame Sarkar and his family in public . He along with an International company try to bring a Power Plant project into Maharashtra which involves displacing a lot of people of Village . The company is owned by Ash's father and she comes to India to head the project . The project is mainly situated in the hometown of Amitabh where he grew up and where his guru lives . Amitabh refuses it as it involves thousands of people's lives but Abhishek thinks of the future progress and convinces Amitabh to talk to his Guru , Rao-saab , back in the village about the project . Rao-saab has a grandson , Sanjay Somji , who is a local leader and quite a rebel . Amitabh and Abhishek convince Rao Saab and start their dream project for the progress of Maharashtra . But his grandson doesn't support them and starts a violent protest against them . Then starts the entire Political game in which Abhishek loses not only his wife , Avanti (Tanisha) , but also his unborn child and eventually his own life also . Then the old Sarkar comes back to full force and takes a revenge of the death of his son .

Talking again of Sarkar , it connected emotionally to an extent with the audience where it portrayed the struggle between a son and a father who have a different ideology . It also had Abhishek killing his own brother which was an excellently done scene by all the actors . Whereas Sarkar Raj doesn't connect with the audience at all just because of the plain simple fact that it just doesn't have those emotions in the script itself .The emotional scenes which are there in the movie are stereotype and they just don't appeal to the audience of today . Today nobody cares for long emotional speeches beacuse nobody has time for it . Today , everything has to be short and sweet , just like Twenty Twenty . And when cricketing fraternity has also understood it Ramu probaly hasn't . He has given Dialogues to Amitabh that he last would have delivered in the Mid Seventies holding the Temple Bells . Dialogue pe Dialogue , thats it . Whereas Sarkar had very few dialogues and more of Acting .

The Dialogues are so much in abundance that when Abhishek is on the deathbed then also Amitabh is delivering heavy weight dialogues to his son . Today's youth is not at all going to like it . The movie might work with the oldies and Die hard Amitabh fans , but not for me . One more thing that doesn't make sense to me is the Time Frame that Ramu has kept in his mind for Sarkar . Ramu always talks of realistic cinema , now tell me is it possible to have a person as strong as Sarkar in today's times when media is constantly up your asses ? Abhishek along with just Two men going out and killing 50 other armed people and coming back alive , is that realism ? How can he change all of a sudden from Realistic to a Larger than Life cinema lover ? Ramu accuses Karan Johar of portraying SRK larger than life in his films . Well , he himself has done the same with the Bachchans' in this one .

Leaving that aside and talking a little technical , the film has two and half hour long background with constant chants of Govinda that just doesn't stop till the film ends . The background score is very much inspired from Ramu's own films like Ab Tak 56 and Company . Ramu has himself taught Indian filmmkaers the importance of Background score through his films like Bhoot , Company and Darna Mana Hai . And now may be he has got a hang of himself and abusing it rather than using it wisely . His famous dark and documentry like cinematography is in this one also with a sepia touch . But the camera work is at times brilliant but most of the times quite annoying along with hammering background score . The entire film is focussed on Maharashtra and desn't talk in general . Ab Tak 56 did well specially in Maharastra circle because it had Nana in it . Ramu has tried to that formula again so that film works well at least in Maharashtra .

Now talking of acting , their is very little for Abhishek and Ash in it . Though the posters of the film just show Abhishek but he is in no manner the central character . Ramu wants to create an Amitabh out of Abhishek by portraying him as the new angry young man but one piece of advice for Ramu , times have changed and we don't need one more Amitabh , we already have seen one . Just like SLB tried to portray a new Rishi in form of Ranbeer Kapoor in in Saawariya , RGV tries it on Abhishek . Ash has done her part well and she looks quite glamorous in the movie . Ramu lied on the fact that there is no romantic angle between Abhi and Ash . In fact , there is and probably ash wouldn't have signed the movie without it . An undercurrent of romance is in the entire film between Abhishek and Ash . Amitabh as I said earlier was in his vintage avatar giving emotional dialogues that he once used to give . The new guy Rajesh Shringapure (Somji ) has done a lot of over-acting and I don't expect much from him . Upendra Limaye has done his part well as Kantilal Vora , a true businessman .

Overall , the movie is quite slow since the story is not that long and it has just been dragged for two and half hours . The characters in this one didn't connect that well and the screenplay and direction was also not that good . Script was again weak as it is a regulation in Bollywood films these days . A die hard Amitabh or Abhishek fan might like it and there is a surprise for Ash's fan also . In totality , Ramu has tried to please all the three bachchans in the film . I expect a great film from a director like RGV after films like Rangeela , Company , Bhoot , Satya and Sarkar under his belt but my expectations are denied . I hope he comes up with something new in Contract , his next film , which is suppose to be a trilogy ending the satya and company series . Stop making same old Crime Films and Horror films . Come out with something new , like a sci-fi or a love story , take a break .

Movie Rating : Two out of Five , loose script and direction .