Unfortunately, the movie did not quite rise to my expectations and I came away with a view that it could have been so much better. The movie attempts to show the 'realities' of Politics (Rajneeti is the Hindi word for Politics) in India and the single minded pursuit of power that drives politicians (and in particular dynastic politics). In that premise, it succeeds well, however a patchy script and some flawed casting/acting do much to reduce the overall impact.
For the overall cast and story, you can go to Rajneet on imdb
The story starts off from the Mahabharat, however at some point it schizophrenically shifts into Godfather mode. Thus there are important episodes from both which are included and end up burdening the overall narrative and script. With the need to be a big budget blockbuster, the established actors have relatively less screen time than the 'stars'. Of all the actors, Ajay Devgn strikes the right notes, Manoj Bajpai gives the most laboured performance (he is good in the early stages but in the latter stages is reduced to a caricature), Nana Patekar is dependable without being exceptional, Ranbir Kapoor gets the maximum screen time, however his motivation is never clear (though his scheming is very transparent). Katrina Kaif is ok, too much has been made of her transformation at the end as the widow assuming the mantle of leading the party, etc.
The script which is mostly tight, is inexcusably shoddy in some situations (the dialogue between Sooraj and his mother is unintentionally hilarious - when it is supposed to be the primary denouement of the story) - did I imagine it or was Nana Patekar cringing in the background when the dialogue was being delivered ! One other sore point, Ranbir Kapoor's American girlfriend seems to have been introduced solely so that the Godfather episode of the blowing up of the car could be included in the movie.
Overall then it is just about worth your time and money when it could have so easily resulted in being one of the movies of the year.
6 comments:
Nicely written.... Any movie which comes out with a tag "could have been better" should be watched at least once right ?..
Glad to see 'food' at the end of your blogtag.
Definitely worth watching .. As for food, watch this space :)
I have another take on Sara Thomsons presence...she is the token Firang to connect with the NRI audience...almost like Danny Boyle inserted the Taj Mahal in Slumdog though movie was in Mumbai..Taj= India.
All these movies only take me back to Dr Jabbar Patels Simhasan, now that was a flawless movie
"...Dr Jabbar Patels Simhasan, now that was a flawless movie..."
Yup, you said it so rightly. Sometime 'classic master pieces' are still unrivaled.
Agree with you 100%, Nilesh. It seems the scriptwriters had a list of "favourite episodes of Mahabharat" and "favourite scenes from Godfather" and were hell bent on exhausting that list. I felt it was extremely abrupt and often unconvincing and "un"gripping (by the time you could immerse yourself in scene, it would abruptly change).
***MINOR SPOILER BEGIN
BTW, I think yours truly has recognised yet another favourite scene of the director/scriptwriter. Remember Robert De Niro? In Untouchables? Doesn't he attack somebody with a baseball bat? (And what's a baseball bat doing in a farmhouse in MP/UP/Bihar?)
****MINOR SPOILER ENDS
@Varsha - I agree with the baseball bat, was planning to put it in the review, but stopped myself as the movie had just come out and didn't want to add a spoiler caveat. Good catch about the Untouchables, yes it was indeed De Niro as Al Capone with a baseball bat.
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