I saw Sarkar today.
Before I start my expressing my views, let me state the usual disclaimer. I am a big God Father fan. I practically grew up on a staple diet of Mr Brando and Mr. Pacino. The views expressed here in this post are strictly my personal views. I don’t speak for the community.
It all starts quite interestingly. The man whose daughter has been raped – approaches Sarkar to punish the rapist. Sarkar nods his head – And we see some goons thrashing the hell out of that rapist – in a very explicitly shot scene which leaves you wondering why Ram Gopal Varma or for that matter most cine technicians feel that subtlety is a taboo. They could very well have done without showing that gory on screen. This is an area where even the Hollywood biggies tend to tread the cliché ridden screenplay tricks.
Another similar twist in the tale – which I don’t want to divulge as it contains an element of suspense -occurs later in the story when Bacchan Jr does something and then talks about it with Amitabh. What he does is not shown on the screen. They only talk about it. Yet the twist gives you a powerful jolt. (That is if you haven’t seen God Father.) That is the art of subtlety and such brilliance only affirms the faith we have in Ram Gopal Varma. If only he maintained a little bit of consistency – the film would have been a masterpiece.
The story then unfolds. We are introduced to the wonderfully upright world of Sarkar – a man outside the reach of law. We are made to understand that his house is a fortress but it doesn’t look like one. We are shown that people revered the man by cheering his appearance from across the streets. What stops a Mani or a Rashid from planting a man with a gun in that crowd?
Such thoughts are quite dangerous to your cinematic experience. So let us not worry about such things. We can always assume that Sarkar’s men frisked everyone on the road before they let the onlookers cheer Sarkar.
While I resist the temptation to dwell deep into the story – as it is just a rehash of God Father – I would like to talk specifically about certain scenes in the movie. I have already talked about one. Another scene where you feel like you are watching a K Raghavendra Rao murder mystery instead of an RGV Mafia flick – is when Bacchan Jr is chased by the con men in a maze of boats and water. The guns these con men hit everything but Bacchan Jr though hardly ten yards separate him from them.
Kota Srinivasa Rao – a much underrated actor – has done a brilliant role in this movie. His voice has not been dubbed and we get to see him at the peak of his performance levels. He provides the comic relief in this otherwise dark and serious movie. His three or four appearances in the movie are very tastefully done.
Katrina Kaif is a waste of time. Her character is one dimensional and the script does not require her. Maybe she is in the movie just for the sake of bringing some glamour on to the screen. However such compromises are surprising in a Ram Gopal Varma movie.
The ending – surprisingly very cinematic and predictable proves to be anti climax. The RGV touch was missing in the latter half of the movie. In fact you feel like the movie has ended on a creative scale at the interval point. What follows then is just a series of epilogues trying to explain each point and tie the loose ends.
Mark my words. This is not a bad movie. It is much better than most Hindi movies we get to see these days. The cinematography with all its grainy texture complements the mood of the movie perfectly. The background score is a little too loud especially in situations where silence could have had a more chilling effect instead of violins and sitars barking at more than a hundred decibels.
Performance of the cast – Amitabh excels in a neatly restrained role. Abhishek has nothing much to do. His job is to look serious and his two week beard does that job for him. There is a scene in the movie when Abhishek has to shed a tear or two. The man is so stone faced and emotionless but still a tear drop finds its way off his eye. It ends up as a hilarious scene instead of a moving experience. He gets overshadowed by the actor who essayed his brother in the movie. He walks away with all the laurels.
Among the “villains”, Kota is just brilliant. Jeeva excelled in his tiny role as a Swamiji. The rest of the cast just sleepwalks through the movie.
I have tried to be as impartial as possible and gave my comments without analyzing the move from a God Father perspective. (Some of these observations are applicable even to God Father.) As I said earlier, this is my personal experience and is not a professional review. So don’t decide whether to see the movie or not based on my review.
My recommendation: (I am eligible to give a recommendation. You are free to discard it. :) ) – Drop the God Father hat before you enter the theatre and enjoy the movie.