It is only on rare occasions that you see the sequel to a known film does so well. Ram Gopal Varma sure does know his art and he is determined not to repeat the mistake he did with his try to redo Sholay but while keeping the setting same as Sarkar, he weaves the story of Sarkar Raj with master craftsmanship.
Rating: 3.25/5
The fact that most of the sequels fail is that it becomes very jittery to put a stronger script and recreate the original setting simultaneously. Living and breathing the old film, the new film has to be created, which is not an easy thing. It is much more than just dicey. That too when the previous film has been much talked about and the audience know in and out of it!
No two art pieces can be accurately similar, and moreover it take one to get hold of the minutest of details to recreate a close resemblance and that is when one tends to falter and comparisons surface. As an able film maker Varma is not naïve about this and he proves that a stronger script would keep the comparisons at bay.
To keep the father and son duo again in a film without one overshadowing the other is again something that gets Varma one more point.
Amitabh Bachchan is a powerful performer and you can never really stop him from outrunning the other performances and when you have younger players against this veteran master performer, things might go haywire without realizing it. The fact that the film shows the father and son compliment each other rather than compete with one another is something to watch to realize.
Aishwarya is more subtle than the two. Her task was not easy to remain unperturbed by the power play of the other two characters. She stays a mere spectator who does have her outbursts but that has nothing to do with the whole thing.
An old-timer Sarkar or one can read the power stations of the society and the younger and more ambitious tribe clash in Sarkar Raj. The fight is however not between the old and the new ideologies but about the good and the evil. The fight is between a visionary and the socially blinding power lords.
This is no doubt a script that deserved an skilled hand which Varma provides with an awe. The political intrigue has nothing to do with politics, which is very ironical and what we are fighting here is not bad politicians but corrupted brains, the ones that try to ignore development due to mental blockage.
Sarkar Raj shows you right from where it was left. Sarkar (Amitabh Bachchan) is still living as he was in the previous part. Everything is same like the cloths he used to wear to the typical tilak. He has one trusted associate Chander (Ravi Kale) who takes care of everything, right from Shankar’s appointments to his security.
However, now Sarkar is happy at the clever handling of the business by his son and seems to be very proud of his son like any other father. After showing the old atmosphere and when you get acquainted to the setting, Varma goes on to unveil the plot.
Here comes two evil minds deputy Chief Minister Kanga (Shayaji Shinde) and Hassan Qazi (Govind Namdeo) who want to end the regime of Sarkar. The new entrants to the scenario are Anita (Aishwarya), the business tycoon from London who is the CEO of the Sephards Power Plant with her father Mike (Victor Banerjee).
Anita wants to set up a power plant in Maharastra (does that ring a bell! exactly Enron). She hopes to set it up in the Thakarwadi village, which happens to be the village of Sarkar’s mentor and guru in the trade Rao Saab (Dilip Prabhavalkar).
It becomes evident that a verdict from Sarkar is needed for the further proceedings of the plant. Sarkar however dismisses the plant thinking about the 40,000 houses that will have to be demolished for the project.
Shankar who is more forward-looking and ambitious shows him the farsighted scenario behind it. The plant would definitely help the economic development of his people. Sarkar finally takes a back seat and give the all desired nod.
Now, Anita and Shankar visit the village and when things seem to be falling in track, Sanjay Somji (Rajesh Shringapure) the grandson of Rao Saab who doesn’t approve of the idea and tries to instigate the villagers to protest the plant. There happens a blast in Shankar’s car and Sarkar dismisses his trusted Chander, and a new character enters in the form of Kaanti Laal (Upendra Limaye) who replaces Shankar in the project.
Whether Shankar dies in the blast, what happens to the project, what steps Sarkar took, all this needs to be discovered in the film itself.
The film shows some superb performances from not only the main leads like Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan but all the supporting cast as well. The chemistry between the father and son duo is seen to be believed. Their performances separately as well as collectively give one of the most intense performances ever.
The supporting characters like Dilip Prabhawalkar, Govind Namdev, Sayaji Shinde, Ravi Kale and Supriya Pathak are up to the mark and at times they even do the unthinkable.
Varma’s story telling is backed by Prashant Pandey’s powerful script, the background score from Amar Mohile and the superb camera angles by Amit Roy.
Over all a good watch!
Rating: 3.25/5
