Raajneeti

I watched this movie last night. it was not planned but somehow i just went as some of my friends are big Prakash Jha fan. the movie started with some promise and it looked OK to me and my friends were more than happy the way it turned out. BUT i had my fears as it was turning out to be pretty much like godfather and the moment ranbir kapoor is slapped by the policemen that was the moment i was completely put off - HOW many times we see the same things. it was with sarkar too. abhisek bachchan in sarkar and ranbir kappor in rajneeti is all the same to me - trying to do a Al pacino. If that was not enough they brought in complete Mahabharata which was still good.

over all the movie is good, better than other releases but what was the point of bringing in Mahabharata and godfather in it. it could have been lot better in its own way but it didn't.

Power. The quest for its supremacy has seen many a battle through centuries bringing chaos, destruction, bloodshed, grief and loss. India's greatest epic, The Mahabharat witnessed cruel forces stand for what they seemed as right, against their brothers who, aided by a master Strategist, outsmarted the great warriors. In the end, it never was about good or evil. It was about achieving victory… at any cost. Prakash Jha's audacious venture of Raajneeti treads this very path to re-incarnate the intricate battle for supremacy. An ensemble cast comprising of Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Naseeruddin Shah and an impressive lot of others play today's warriors in the great battlefield of Indian politics.

The back story of Kunti's 'first born', Karna leads us to the high stakes political game in the Pratap family after their supremo is hospitalized. The state is witnessing a transition in government and there is more than one challenger within the family itself. The battle lines have been drawn and clearly, the thirst for power has corrupted everyone involved. There is no good in this quest for victory. Aided by Karna, Duryodhan leads his charge against the Paandavs who are aided by the experienced strategist, Krishna. After the fall of Paandu, the united brothers of Yudhishtir and Arjun salvage their position with every move, lie and trick outside the book as Krishna guides them through the battlefield. This essence of The Mahabharat has been adroitly adapted to Raajneeti's political backdrop and all credit for its intricate development goes to writers Anjum Rajabali and Mr. Jha himself. The scale is elaborate, the cast ensemble and the plot engaging but the execution of it all with the thorough script, well paced screenplay, masterful direction and flawless performances make this a remarkable film.

Raajneeti is not for the faint hearted who solely indulge in slap-stick comedies, heart warming tragedies, mushy love stories or any vampire chronicles. This is real, wicked, unforgiving and ruthless politics. But Jha doesn't make a documentary with this cast. There is a bit of filmy drama with women being impregnated after just one encounter, love being compromised for the ultimate goal in battle and people being used as pawns on a big chess board. At the same time, Jha is unforgiving while he portrays the brutally of battle. There are car bombs, assassins, gruesome beatings, bloodshed and profanity suited to the film's environment. It rarely fails to surprise you with every new conniving plot and strategy and the convincing performances by the actors who certainly are portraying dual characters. One being those of the film Raajneeti and the other being the celluloid reincarnations of characters from The Mahabharat.

This is also a performance powerhouse. Naseeruddin Shah of course, excellent in his brief role, deserved more screen presence. Nana Patekar's simplicity in portraying the most important of characters is awe inspiring. He is indeed a mentor for the rest of them. It's been a long time since we watched Manoj Bajpai in a worthy role and what a laudable performance it was! His defining moment was his speech after Shakuni Mama's incident. Ajay Devgan being Jha's favorite man maintains his typical intensity in a solid act while Arjun Rampal delivers the most shocking performance which is also his finest yet. Watch him as he speaks to his brother on his cell phone with bloody hands and you will witness the intense actor in him. Sarah Kane in a brief role seemed quite seasoned already along with Nikhila Trikha (Kunti). Katrina Kaif has proved her worth with Raajneeti. Jha instilled confidence in Katrina's mediocre dialog delivery and nurtured her to reach her epitome in the public speech she makes in front of thousands. She now sheds the tag of the cute, beautiful new comer and surpasses many of her peers showing her versatility in just the past year. Speaking of which, the new force to be reckoned with is certainly Ranbir Kapoor. From being the lover boy, funny man, awakened man and salesman, he proves his mettle as the underdog who earns respect through actions. Whether he is playing chess on his BB or watching his game plan unfold on the screen or calming an infuriated, impulsive brother, Ranbir shows his composure and caliber while making his presence felt in the midst of accomplished senior artists.

The musical score also has an ensemble cast here. With Pritam, Aadesh Shrivastava, Shantanu Moitra and Wayne Sharpe, the music is brilliant. The pop-classical Ishq Barse, the melodious Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si, the uplifting theme song - Dhan dhan Dharti by Shankar and Wayne Sharpe and Aadesh Shrivastava & Shashi's outstanding Mora Piya are all excellent, even with their well remixed versions (Mora Piya 'trance' mix!). But Jha mercilessly edits the songs from the movie, only to keep a bare minimum when the screenplay could exhale.

Prakash Jha seemed to draw inspirations from The Mahabharat, 'The Godfather', 'Kalyug' as well as the 'Sarkars' and in his distinctive way, gave us an engaging, witty, hard hitting, intense drama that is a depiction of a democracy that works, but at a price. With real people, about 10,000 of them, Jha shot in locales that serve as the battlefield with superb cinematography by Sachin Krishn. His well researched and gripping script is the soul of this multi-starrer and his vision to bring the greatest epic to life just adds to the viewer's intrigue and awe element. One might even need repeated viewings in order to grasp some deeper dialogs. Minor dramatizations apart, Jha's work is commendable simply because very few have succeeded with the scale and grandeur of Raajneeti and while critics can dissect all they want, this IS the most definitive and convincing version of The Mahabharat and the ugly face of democracy.

• 8.889 on a scale of 1-10.

If this were a typical Hollywood political thriller, it would be clear which folks were the nasty ones and which were the heroes. If this were a typical Bollywood film, there would be plenty of dancing and the usual generational conflicts. But Raajneeti is neither; surely it is a political thriller, but because it upends expectations, some viewers are disappointed it doesn't deliver what they expect. Granted, it might be a richer film from Westerners if they were more familiar with the complexities of politics in another country, but if you approach this film for what it is--a political thriller with a heavy dollop of family melodrama and a good deal of violence, adding numerous rich characterizations and brilliant color, you might find it hugely entertaining

First of all let me clear it out, I personally hate politics and am a novice in it but after watching this movie I concluded few things:

1) All politicians are murderers.

2) People switch their present or future life partners with others in order to gain votes or money to gain votes.

3) Police is just like dice for politicians. They throw and spin them against each other for their own benefits.

4) There is no term like family or sibling in politics. Anyone can turn against anyone or may be kill each other just for greed of votes.

5) Public is a complete moron; people vote for that person who gives them a cunning speech and not to that person who genuinely wants good for them.

6) There are no human beings in politics, just a bunch of 'escaped-from-hell' devils fighting against each other to attain powers not for using for benefit of public but for personal greediness.

I am not sure whether the things I concluded are correct but you will sense trueness in them once you watch this movie. Prakash Jha( Mrityudand, GangaJal and Apaharan), famous for making movies on serious topics and getting success for every film, fails this time. All his previous movies worked because he stuck to the main story till the end and the lead actor did justice with his role. But, in Raajneeti he did a different thing, he assembled a huge star cast with every actor having a potential of pulling of any movie well and a strong topic: politics, which was great but he didn't give preference to MAIN story this time which went wrong.

Raajneeti is supposedly based on the epic Mahabharata in which brothers went for a long brutal war against each other because of their personal differences. Thus, with so many characters in the movie it was impossible for any director to present two stories simultaneously: Politics and a family war. Prakash Jha had so much scope of showing the inside story of the dirty politics going on in the country, people would have been satisfied with that but we all know there very few politicians who come from the same family or may be there is no one. So, instead of showing the movie on politics Prakash Jha ended up making a movie in which a group of brothers play conspiracies against each other to become the group leader.

I am not indicating that Raajneeti was a complete failure. It made huge impacts many times. The positives were fine performances by the actors. Ranbir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Katrina Kaif and Arjun Rampal deserve special accolades for their performances. Naseeruddin Shah had nothing to do in the movie. Ajay Devgn too had little scope in comparison to others but he did his job well. Nana Patekar was OK. Sarah Thomson was good.

As I told storyline would have been much better if Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali stuck only to the politics. Music by Wayne Sharpe went unnoticed except for the song Mora Piya which was played a few times in the background. Editing was poor, the movie could easily have been cut short by thirty minutes which didn't happen the movie so gave the audiences many chances of yawning and checking their watches.

To conclude I would say the difference lies in Prakash Jha's earlier successful movies and Raajneeti is that the previous movies were made with an intention of presenting the audiences with reality and Raajneeti was only made with intention of scoring big at the box office. The film had so many brilliant actors that Prakash Jha didn't do full justice with everyone, he wanted to include everything in his movie: romance, suspense, and some scenes which were completely unexpected and unwanted.

I know you will watch this film, so there is no point of saying anything on this but yeah this film has its moments which will remind you of old Prakash Jha. That's why I say he didn't go for politics, he went for polymorphism!

My Rating: 6/10

Thanks & Regards

Mahabharat returns in Prakash Jha's 'Raajneeti'. This one is a Masterstroke! Jha makes a film about politics, it's players and it's history.

What works the most for 'Raajneeti' is it's inspiration. Jha and Anjum Rajabali's screenplay is water-tight, the first hour, especially, is fantastic. It's a winner, because it's a drama that creates an impact of it's own. Jha's direction is superb, and performances are award-worthy. Despite, a running time of over 2 Hours and 30 Minutes, this film is a must watch!

Jha and Rajabali's screenplay is water-tight, Jha's direction is superb. The Performances: Manoj Bajpayee is fantastic. He is sure to take away all the awards in the Supporting Actor category next year. Nana Patekar is, as always, flawless. Ranbir Kapoor is wonderfully restrained. Ajay is good, but he deserved more scope. Arjun Rampal is superb. Naseeruddin Shah in a cameo, is effective. Katrina speaks Hindi, and does a fair job. Nikhila Trikha is excellent. Shruti Seth is good. Others are perfect. The Camera-Work is killer.

'Raajneeti' is not to be missed. 2010 brings it's first power-packed venture! Two Thumbs Up!