’’When your leg is broken, when you are the limping guy with the walking stick , when you just missed your morning show tickets do you really have to
fight the hot sun to watch the matinee?’’, my mother asked. I didn’t know what to answer then.
May be I can answer it with a big YES now. After watching many of Ram Gopal Varma’s films , both in telugu and hindi, I was sure of a minimum
gurantee. But this movie is a real treat.
Reviewing a movie which might be called a fine piece of cinema is surely a scare to any first time reviewer. But I think this my duty to appreciate a
very finely made movie.
The movie starts with a very humble note from Ram Gopal Varma saying, that like any film maker he too was inspired by The Godfather and this movie is
just a dedication to that masterpiece.
The story though simple is very complex with intricately carved plots. With plots so intricate and characters so many you surely need certain amount of
intellegence to make the audience seat in their places and not grumble. Here the departments of screenplay and editing have done a commendable job.
The editing crisp and screenplay intresting. The director has done a wonderful job thanks to him you won’t feel like the other movies released this year
’’arrey mein kyon aaya?’’
IF YOU are a person who loves the typical masal movies with songs you might feel the first half a bit slow in pace.
The director has taken considerable time explaining the characters in detail. But as the plot thickens the movie starts gainig pace. By the end of it you
get so involved that you feel bad the movie is over.
SYNOPSIS AND CAST:
The first half of the movie is dominated by Amitabh Bachan and the second half by Abhishek. Amitabh plays Subash Nagre who according to Pooja’s
(Katrina Kaif) father is city’s biggest gonda, to Vishnu (K K Menon) a father who always wrongs him, to Shankar (Abhishek) he is the saviour of the poor
and needy, to rest of the family he is a great father figure and to the common people of Mumbai he is the ’Sarkar’. A Sarkar born when the system
failed. ASarkar who/which is the parallel government. A Sarkar who does what his brain orders and doesn’t even care if god opposes. It is the Sarkar
for the people of the people but run by Subhash Nagre......
Amitabh plays his role with panache. I am 18yrs old and I am from Andhra Pradesh so I haven’t seen many of his movies. So, I cannot compare his
action with his older movies . But I can say one thing his role in this movie is his bestIt may be regarded as his best since the day he started sporting his
now, famous white french beard. RGV in his interview has compared his performance with the yesteryear hits ’Zanzeer’ ’Deewar’.
Abhishek’s performance maybe regarded as his best till date. You have seen to many of his other movies you would be too surprised to see him so
wonderfully act in this movie. His otherwise so stiff muscles of his face really flex here to give expressions you’ve never seen or expected from him. A
round of applause to him. But there still room for improvement.
........ He plays Shankar, an america return who. His slow transformation of a sweet younger son who prefers playing squash with his girl friend to
playing the saviour don in the first half into, the real Sarkar in the second half is very well performed. He challenges all the villans who plan to kill his
father. He even decided the very end of his fickle minded brother.....
KK Menon plays this role of his elder brother. He is the son so unlike his father looking into his own benefits than his the people’s. He is the brother who
thinks ’America returns’ do not know anything about tthe Sarkar. He is the husband who always prefers the herione in his film to be his wife to the real
one who gave him an 8 yr old son. He is wavering he is fickle-minded he has all the vulnerabilities the villans wanted him to fall trap for. KK Menon’s
performance may be equated to performance of the Bachans. He has done a commendable job.
All the villans who always wanted the Sarkar to be removed but feared expressing their hatred are made to come together by a Dubai based don who
doesn’t know much about that the Sarkar ( so he doesn’t fear). He thinks of making a deal with the Sarkar on some illegal matters to which the Sarkar
refuses and then starts the actual story...
Kota Srinivas Rao in the movie plays Siver Mani or Selva Mani (couldn’t make out properly - think it is Selva b’coz he hails from Tami Nadu) in this
movie. He made everybody in the theatre laugh with his broken hindi and broken english like in RGV’s telugu movie ’Money’. His was simply loved here
by the telugu audience. I do not know how the north Indian audience would receive him. His one liner ’’I am Selva Mani stays in south operations north’’
made the audience split into laughter.
To comment on Katrina Kaif’s acting she didn’t stay all that long in the movie. Her performance seems better than the telugu hit ’Malleshwari’.She plays
Abhishek’s girl friend who later splits from him in the second half.
INSPIRATIONS AND RESEMBLANCES:
I have seen The Godfather when I was 14 , 4 years ago. Idon’t remeber much of it. But reliable sources say that ’Sarkar’ is not a blind remake of the
masterpiece. Like there many differnces like the elder son dies in the hands of the villans in ’The Godfather’ but here he dies in the hands of family
members. Godfather was very slow compaed to this movie.
The tiring love relationship between Abhishek and Katrina which forms the interval block seems to resemble that of RGV’s hit ’Ghayam’ which starred
Jagapathi Babu , Revathy and Urmila. In both the movies the protagonist remains far away from the underworld to pursue his studies. There he falls in
love. Asks his parent’s(brother in ’Ghayam’) permission to marry her. They both agree. But the herione hesitates fearing his underworld relations. He
promises not to be a part of the underworld after marriages. In both the movies circumstances force him to be part of the underworld thus breaking his
promise and the relationship fails.
Amitabh’s character according to some is inspired from Bal Thackery. But except the fact that both are highly influential Mumbai politicians and they
have a Rudraksh mala with them, there is no other similarity. Hey Bal Thackery dresses up in oranges but Amitabh is found wearing Ayyapa’s black!!!
And may be Subhas Nagre rhymes with Bal Thackery.
The background score Govinda Govinda at the first instance sounds like the one in RGV’s hit ’Govinda Govinda’. Even the background beat resembles
the ones in ’Company’ and ’The Godfather’ at places. But if you listen very closely there is surely a little difference. But who would listen all that
closely.
DON’T EXPECT:
You would like this movie if you don’t expect - 1)songs every 20 mins with the hero and herione dancing in switzerland 2)Malaika Arora doing an item number shouting Sarkar..SArkar.... 3)The movie to be better than ’Satya’, ’Comapany’ (it is just as good may be slighlt LESS better)
’’Do I lose anything if I don’t watch this movie?’’ - for people who ask such questions....may be... you won’t lose much.... RGV’s direction we have seen his
other movies which are as good and we surely can expect better ones.
But you will surely missed the power packed performance by the cast. Each and every one has done his best. They have shown what facial expressions
can tell which dialogues can’t. Amitabh has once more proved that he si the only actor in bollywood who can hold the frame still without talking anything.