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.

The Hindi cinema over the years has produced a plethora of timeless gems, which not only entertained the masses, but also awed the critics with their originality, poignance, austerity and occasional grandeur. Today, the Hindi cinema has become a mere impression of what it used to be in its decorated days.

Rajneeti is a mere continuation of the long chain of over hyped run-of-the- mill movies, which lack both originality and substance. The ever meticulous and uncanny Prakash Jha fails to leave any mark on the movie, which is a mere mishmash of weak dialogues, trite sub-slots, incongruities, and incompetency in editing and to some extent in direction. Jha fallibly blends the epic tale of the Mahabharata with that of the Godfather in Rajneeti. Jha missed yet another trick by failing to acknowledge and avow to the fact that Rajneeti was meant to be an adaptation of the Mahabharata.

The stellar cast of the movie somehow manages to give it a much needed impetus. The acting is commendable with a special mention of Manoj Vajpayee, Nana Patekar and Arjun Rampal. The cinematography, sound editing & mixing are also up to the mark. The movie, though marred by the aforementioned inconsistencies is definitely worth a watch if the viewer overlooks the banalities of the plot and its conspicuous similarities to the Mahabharata and the Godfather trilogy.

PS: Rajneeti can definitely serve to be a guilty pleasure to the less eclectic viewers and for those whose sole purpose is entertainment. 6.5/10

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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

Welcome back to the world of Hindi cinema, where movies have a huge star cast, are 3 hour longs and actually have a good story line. Raajneeti is a good mix of modern-day Mahabharata and The Godfather, which turns out to be a pretty deadly combination. Its about a political family which has just lost its leader in the midst of the upcoming election. This in turn sets his family at war as the leader chooses his brother and his son Prithviraj Pratap(Arjun Rampal) as his heirs, rather than his own son Veerendra Pratap(Manoj Bajpai). This angers Veerendra Pratap and he decides to take matter into his own hand. To help him out in this scenario is the Dalit leader form the village Sooraj Kumar(Ajay Devgn). So begins the saga of murder, vengeance and the want to gain political power by any means. In this process gets stuck Samar Pratap(Ranbir Kapoor) who had just come for a leisurely visit to India from New York to attend his uncles birthday. Turning down a teaching job in New York he instead stays back in India to help out is family. In him we see shades of Michael Corleone as a young leader who at first was hesitant to join the dirty family business but reluctantly has become a major part of it, and has started taking all the major decisions. There's also the lovely and innocent India Pratap(Katrina Kaif), his childhood friend who gradually begins to see what kind of a person Samar has become. And to help Samar there's Brij Gopal(Nana Patekar), his mother's brother. He is the all wise, all knowing Mama who can be sweet and mean all at the same time.

This film in the beginning can get a little confusing to its viewers as there are way too many characters who are introduced, and who actually play an important part throughout the film. But as the movie progress the confusion diminishes and you start seeing the clear picture and you probably start taking sides. There is no pure good or evil here, everything's in a shade of Grey, like they all believe that the means justify the end. You take Ajay Devgn who is a local village fellow, a Dalit leader, in the beginning he seems all nice and right, but politics as we know it is not a nice guys game, at least in India. Ranbir turns from the innocent American student to a smart schemer who'll do anything to protect his brother. He even fakes it with his American girlfriend Sara(Sarah Jean Collins) when she decides to give him a surprise visit to India. Be it true or not but this movie shows you a pretty interesting insight of politics in India. Its a brother kill brother world out there.

Acting wise everyone has done a good job I must say but special credit goes to Ranbir Kapoor who has shown that he can actually act in films other than romantic comedies in which he plays a chocolate boy lover trying to woo a girl standing in the balcony. Nana Patekar is not his usual self hurling abuses and shouting dialogues at the top of his voice, he is a smiling, silent planner who is very subtle throughout the film and acts only when necessary. Ajay Devgn is also in the background throughout the film, which is very unlike Prakash Jha as we have seen in his previous films like Apharan and Gangajal. But it is nicely done on his part. Katrina Kaif has probably taken acting lessons and is very sober in this film, and looks amazing as always. Arjun Rampal in my opinion has 'acted' for the very first time and by the end of the movie you feel satisfied that he didn't ruin it by his dead, expressionless face. Manoj Bajpai has a typical role, so no surprises there.

Go watch this movie if you want to see a wholesome Hindi film with substance. Its got your abuses, gruesome action scenes, a couple of lovemaking scenes put in here and there, a few songs in the background, nasty cops, hot Indian summer, everything that you need to enjoy your 3 hours in an air conditioned theatre! 7/10

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

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