Divvy Kant Upadhyay, Manipal
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Jun 10: It is always easy to sit and comment on other’s work, but as a movie buff in cinema crazy ‘democratic’ India we have the right to voice our opinion, don’t we ?
Two reasons why films are made the world over, especially in India – are to Entertain and/or inform. The movies either make you laugh, cry, feel scared or they try and show glimpses of the real world out there. Rajneeti is a political and family drama that mirrored facets of three very famous stories – The Godfather, The Mahabharat and as rumoured, close resemblances to what is better known as India’s first family.
In an effort to combine facets of these three stories, somewhere along the line the trademark Prakash Jha film-making we saw in Gangaajal and Apharan was lost. Perhaps other than the hype that surrounded the release of the film, people had high expectations from the director who brought the hard hitting rustic realities of the in-lands of UP and Bihar to mainstream Bollywood.
It is true that criminalization of politics has made life cheap – but to think of party leaders planning and executing bond-style assassination attempts themselves rather than their henchmen becomes too unrealistic to digest. Ranbir appears fine when shown infront of a laptop and with a cigarette in hand – hurt, anguished and scheming to avenge the loss to his family, but he loses the appeal when you see him using Bluetooth and his own Gun to co-ordinate the murder of his rival –on the day of the election results – that too when he is on the verge of defeating him. This was such a major anti-climax, as one commentator put it.
Too many murders, car bombs and shades of Micheal and Sunny Corleone later, a regular movie buff is bound to compare it with Sarkar, or better still with the original – Godfather. The faltering storyline or adaptations disappointed.
We all have heard jokes about how India’s beds are more fertile than the fields – but to see so many conceptions in the two and half hour film does pull the film further away from the touch of much-needed reality.
The sad part of the movie was seeing Naseeruddin Shah being wasted and Nana Patekar not being used to the full. The fun part was seeing the red-flag-bearing communist role being reduced to a mere few minutes – that too – only to portray a blunder being made. Ajay Devgan was tremendous in Gangajal and Apharan. Rajneeti is a forgettable role for him. Ranbir continues to impress with the attitude that he wears around himself in every movie. Katrina’s charm works. Arjun Rampal’s character on screen had extremities from enjoying the pleasures of the flesh in his backoffice to sleeping away from his wife thanks to her feelings for his brother. Manoj Bajpai could have acted or been portrayed shrewder rather than just plain desperate.
The movie did get its round of publicity and the good ratings as is evident. Infact Director Prakash Jha did confess on TV that movie-making is after all a business for them – they need to add all the spices to cater to all crowds – and after that they need to get returns on their investment as well. In the entire process, we movie-goers lost the chance to see a hard hitting movie on Politics – the one thing that unimaginably drives so much of our country. Sometimes I wonder how easily we take it in our stride, movie after movie, when our institutions like the Police Force and the Media are branded spineless and conniving. It is perhaps to some extent reality itself. The only take-home message in this movie was life is cheap and power blinds the soul. India as a nation breathes politics. We all know how stinking dirty it gets. That’s why we needed a film that connected to the masses – even if it was fictional – especially if it was named Raajneeti !