Director – Ramgopal Varma
Screenplay – Prahsant Pandey and Ramgopal Varma
Plot
The saga continues. Shankar Nagre(Abhishek Bachchan) has taken over the reins from his aging father, Subash(Amitabh Bachchan) and is even more keen to ensure that the legacy of the Nagre family continues and is even strong than before. This is evident in the start scene where a double crossing member of the gang is ruthlessly killed. With growing power of Nagre family, their enemies increase. Amongst them are whealer dealer Hasan Qazi(Govind Namdeo), Deputy Chief and Minister Karunesh Kaanga(Sayaji Shinde). When Anita(Aishwariya Rai Bachchan) brings a proposal to build a multi billion dollar power plant in rural maharashtra, after initial hesitance, Subhash accepts the offer. To get fully convinced he goes to his mentor, Rao(Dilip Prabhavalkar) who is a godfather kind of icon in the place where the power plant is supposed to be built. However they face stiff opposition from his firebrand grandchild, Sanjay Somji(Rajesh Shringarpore) who is a champion for the cause of the farmers who stand to loose their land. However little does everyone realize that the power plant is only a mask behid the dirty politics that is planned behind the scenes.
*Critic’s Comments
*Since the last 2 years, there have been a flow of sequels to Hindi films, and have been very successful, unlike the past(The return of Jewel Thief, Xcuse me and Nagin are examples of dud sequels). Ramgopal Varma has finally found his magic touch and has finally made a good movie after, what seems, ages. His last 3 directed movies bombed miserably at the box office(Although as a film, Nishabd was very good). He has proved that he has always been a good story teller and that was the only thing missing from his last few movies. Everyone has acted very well but once again, its Amitabh Bachchan who gives a powerhouse performance. Watch out for the climax scene when the real culprit comes to meet Amitabh Bachchan, and you will know why he is the best actor we have and the potential of Ramgopal Varma as a director. The Sepia colour tone cinematography by Amit Roy is near flawless. The background score by Amar Mohile, specially the now famous, Govinda, Score is superb. A must watch film.
Psst –
1)
The movie was made on a huge budget of Rs 250 million with Rs 85 million being the combined star fees of Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan. It grossed nearly Rs 30 million in the opening weekend throughout India.
2)
The movie, like the 1st part, had its share of controversy. The main being that it was inspired from the real life Enron Power Plant controversy of 1998 and the character of Anita was based on former Enron CEO, Rebecca mark and the character of Sanjay Somji was based on Raj Thackrey and the relationship between Sanjay and Shankar was based on the Uddhav-Raj Thackrey rivalry.
3)
Ramgopal Varma wanted to show the movie before the release to both Bal Thackrey and Raj Thackrey but due to conflict of schedules and Bal Thackrey’s ill health, that was not possible.
4)
Director Trademark – Scene with rain.
5)
The scenes where Abhishek Bachchan is explaining the benefit of power plant has only background score. In reality, since there was no dialogue to be heard, he was actually explaining sex education to the villagers. At the end of the shot, the villagers were laughing.
6)
Ramgopal Varma took the best names in Marathi Stage and films for the movie. This was the first time that Sayaji Shinde, Ravi Kale(Who was there in Sarkar as well), Dilip Prabhavalkar, Upendra Limaye and Govind Namdeo are seen together.
7)
Although Ramgopal varma denied having inspired from the Godfather -2 for the film, it was evident that he was inspired by The Godfather – 1. The scene where with the bomb blast of the car was evident.
Quotes
1)
“Sab kuch neeji hai.”
2)
“Tumhary sauchney ka nazria aisa hai to mujhe kuch sauchna padega.”
3)
“Technical Baatey chodiye, seedha point pe aaiye.”
Oops-
1) In the scene where Aishariya Rai and Abhishek Bachcan get surrounded by protestors, when Abhishek Bachchan gets out of the car, the window is closed and within 1 second it is open. Even with a power window, it would take 4-5 seconds to open.
2) In one scene where Govind Namdeo, Sayaji Shinde and Upendra Limaye are sitting together in a lawn, the cameras lights and crew are easily visible in the sunglasses that Namdeo is wearing.