If Ram Gopal Verma totally lost it with Aag—his arrogant remake of Sholay, then Sarkar Raj goes on to prove that he has a long way to go in order to get his groove back. The root cause is simple—he’s making films just for the heck of it.
Sarkar Raj has nothing motivating it other than the Big Idea of putting the three Bachchans—senior, junior and the bahu—on a common platform. But there’s not a single moment in the film when this togetherness creates any frisson, in the way a song like Kajra Re could do with its utterly electric and enduring raunchiness.
RGV is in obvious awe of the khandaan, especially the ever-proficient Bachchan senior. So he decides to just bank on their charisma and foregoes any thought on the writing, character delineation and plot. The premise (inspired by the Enron controversy), about the politics of setting up a power plant in the interiors of Maharashtra, has enough drama but gets bogged down by predictability and a manufactured intensity. The power politics and the development-versus-exploitation debate is facile and has no fresh dimensions, only what we have already been exposed to and are aware of. It doesn’t tingle with politics even though every second dialogue has this word thrown in.
Similarly, the characters, including the towering patriarch, and their motivations, are not defined. The relationships, specially the Ash-Abhishek one, are just about hinted at. Verma is obsessed with terseness, even the way he pans out the scenes and the underlying emotional nuances are cut and dried, a fine mode as opposed to the melodramatic conventions, but it never quite takes off on screen.
The support cast is nothing more than a gallery of caricatures complete with a gloved hand killer straight from the Hollywood slasher films. What was the need to have him there? It’s such gimmickry that irritates. Specially in Verma’s stylistic and technical flourishes. Extreme close-ups, angular shots, monochromatic palette, loud background score, deliberately smart lines, wordplay, the constant confrontations and tension—he goes on an overkill with it all. A lovely Mumbai slang that aptly describes the film—thakeli. It’s deadbeat, dull and dreary.
High Fives
Bollywood
1. Sarkar Raj
2. Jannat
3. Indiana Jones (dubbed)
4. Woodstock Villa
5. Bhoothnath
Hollywood
1. Kung Fu Panda
2. You Don’t Mess With Zohan
3. Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull
4. Sex and the City
5. The Strangers
Jazz Albums
1. River: The Joni Letters (Hancock)
2. Remixed 4 (Various Artists)
3. Rhythm & Romance (Kenny G)
4. Esperanza (Esperanza Spalding)
5. Bring Back the Funk (Culbertson)
Courtesy: Film Information
