Sarkaar

Since, my emotions have now ebbed having seen the movie nearly 3-4 days ago, I'll not be as eloquent/scathing as I am generally prone to be ;-) Here, I'll generally list down certain facts that occured to me during the movie.

Firstly, I found the movie underdeveloped. By that I mean a movie that promises more when it starts but delivers considerably less when finished. Considering that Ram Gopal Verma (referred to as RGV henceforth as done by my fellow bloggers) attributes this as his greatest effort till date, it whimpers more than it roars. Not that the movie is bad. Rather, the movie is just not good enough. Satya and Company were far more assertive and assured in their makeup. Sarkaar, on the other hand ends up a bit too restrained. Probably, the expectation of emulating the cult series "The Godfather" proved a bit too much.

Let me try other explanations.

The movie didn't had much weight. I wanted to get consumed by the movie. I wan't.

Mere staring and no speaking leads to a movie in depth leaking. All great movies have great dialogues. Or, great dialogues make great actors. On the other hand, Great actors can not necessarily make dialogues sound great. In this case, I was left remembering only a couple of dialogues, one of which is (prominently) "Maira style south but operation complete naarth" delivered by the villain and (a very subdued) "Main tujhe marte hue dekhne ka mazaa nahin khona chahta tha" by mikee, er..Aby's baby. The movie didn't have any great lines for the king of dialogue delivery, Amitabh Bachchan. And that too, in a role tailormade for Him. What a shame!

The characterisation is very fast forward. The movie assumes that you know the characters. Which is a completely wrong assumption. I might read Puzo's The Godfather
or seen the ensuing movies, but I would like to judge Sarkaar own its own merits. I would have liked to see how Amitabh performs when given enough time and space to make me understand the complexities of his character. Instead, all I know is that He is a don kindish character with big political connections, not caring a hoot for them, ensuring justice by his own methods. I donn kinow what kind of business he allows and what he doesn't. Why is he so opposed to Rashid. Rashid has a stylish entry and then he goes mute and stares. The only redeeming thing is Sonny style Kay Kay's character. (Anybody noticed that he looks like the guy who played Sonny in the Godfather in some side shots of his face). It has been given enuf attention to let us understand him. And Kay Kay shines. His best scene is when someone asks him about the heroine of the film he is producing and has ambitions for. One single expression tells you what kind are we dealing with here. Brilliant.

Apart from Kay Kay, Amitabh has given a very seasoned performance. But there wasn't anything for him that he can't do or be challenged in the least (thats why I liked him Black). Abhishek, I thought, seemed a bit bogged down. But he did justice to whatever he was offered. The more I see him, the more I lament the fact that he can't reach the astronomical heights of his legendary parents. He also seems a wee bit irritated in some scenes. Unintentional of course, but he should learn to wipe that expression off his face (anybody out there with my eyes ;-)). I also liked Mrs. Sarkaar (forgot her name :-( ).

The villains provided comic relief.

In summary, RGV should have spent more time to develop the movie. I wouldn't mind an extra 40 minutes at the theatre. But I want the promise delivered.

Recommended. But not whole heartedly.