Satta

"Satta" can be watched from two different perspectives. On one side, the film advocates the woman empowerment through the story of Raveena Tandon, a newly wedded bride to a rich political family, where the stand of a woman is not more than that of a house-wife. She refuses to be intimidated by anyone and raises voice against his abusive husband and in-laws. The other and the major part of the film deals with the dirty politics, where the politicians are indulged in every ugly crime like smuggling, murders, and corruption. The film portrays how politicians befit and betray anyone for the sake of power.

Madhur Bhandarkar, known for making movies on relevant subjects, chooses the dirty politics this time. It views politics as a dirty game to secure power and position on which few politicians fulfill their personal ambitions. Well, the film starts with a common canvass and shows all the familiar glitches; but still the film remains pretty interesting to its tight screenplay. The role of Raveena Tandon is the major strength of this film for which the film remains watchable and adds a dimension to a familiar subject. Not to a surprise, this film remains the best one yet to be delivered by Raveena Tandon. Regarding the subject or script, the film is not weaker to Bhandarkar's other movies. But the presentation and other technical aspects like music, score, pictuarisation, characters are a bit weak comparing to Bhandarkar's later movies like "Corporate," "Traffic Signal" or "Fashion." Its pretty low production values and rugged look of Raveena Tandon may keep the viewers aside from this movies for a while; but overall, the film if you watch will hold you due to the subject it chooses which is still remains a common scenario. Just one last point to mention is its muddled end which goes for an incompleteness and glibness.

Resting: 2 stars out of 4

I started watching Traffic Signal and had my doubts, so I switched over to this film, which is by the same director and said to be better. The reason I've only given it a 5 is that the camera work, look and feel were very often just like a soap opera. And the acting was very often soap opera style, too.

Although Satta seemed a little confusing at first regarding the roles and positions of various political/criminal elements, everything began to fall into place and developed into a riveting tale of character development and intrigue which ingeniously captures the political and emotional growth of the Anuradha, played to perfection by Raveena Tandon.

The direction, acting, dialogue, sets, and writing are all top notch. There were only three songs but they were all woven well into the fabric of the story. The background music added to the scope and tension of the film. Everything was believable and Reveena Tandon was convincing throughout. Subtitles were relatively easy to follow.

Bhandarkar tells the story of a career focused Anuradha, who's life initially revolves around her friends and work. She has a close bond with her mother. Having no interest in politics, she unexpectedly gets involved with politician Vivek and they eventually get married. From here life has something else planned for Anuradha and she gets heavily involved in something she had never been interested in.

Bhandarkar tells his story in a coherent fashion that keeps the viewers engaged. However, there are some exaggerated (and clichéd) moments which could have easily been toned down. Anuradha's in-laws are caricatures. I also did not like how he used the Jessica Lal murder-case as a side-subplot. Does Bhandarkar have a thing for item numbers? Sorry, but I don't think such garbage is necessary for this kind of film. The songs are nice but they do tend to distract.

Now to the performances. Atul Kulkarni is very good. Newcomer Sameer Dharmadikari is alright (he does ham in some scenes). However, 'Satta' belongs to Raveena Tandon all the way. After Daman, she finally gets another full fledged role to prove that she's an actress of substance. She breathes into Anuradha as she becomes her on screen. Though this is somewhat of a departure from her glamorous image, she still looks great and at the same time looks the part. Hats off to her for her wonderful performance.

What you'll get from watching 'Satta' is the compelling story of a woman, who used to be ignorant towards politics until circumstances force her to make important choices. Through it all she maintains her dignity and stands strong. In addition to that there's the fantastic performance by Ms. Tandon.

A great movie by any standards. Songs were not required at all. Raveena Tandon is at her best and has proved that she can do any role, not necessarily glamorous ones. Atul Kulkarni, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Manoj Joshi, Hemendra Bhatia and Anju Mahendru all did justfy the confidence the director had reposed in all of them. The role of politicians played by some of the actors was very realistic. Madhur Bhandarkar has once again proved that he is one of the top directors in the country. The only other movie by Bhandarkar I have seen and liked was Page 3 and I look forward to viewing all his movies. Keep it up Madhur. I strongly recommend this movie for every one to view. Best of luck.