Raajneeti

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Note 1: I have written positive reviews for movies till now. But, I just had to write this one for Raajneeti.


Note 2: Watch it if you want to, but don't go to watch it because everybody says how "awesome" it is, it is so not.
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The Good...


(1) Ajay Devgan's and Manoj Bajpai's Acting


Ajay Devgan is the only thing that shines in the movie. Manoj Bajpai pulls off a decent performance. Very tastefully does Ajay Devgan portray the dilemma and the conflict faced by Sooraj's character. His controlled acting makes you want his presence on the screen.


(2) Mind-boggling scenes


I don't like Ranbir Kapoor. There is a scene in which Ranbir Kapoor gets slapped so hard, that he rolls turns twice in the air before landing on the ground. Paisa Vasool! I so hope that this scene took atleast 10-15 retakes. :D But keeping personal prejudices aside, he does well. He carries his role gracefully, and you can actually connect his character to some real people in Indian politics today. The scene in which Ranbir Kapoor addresses a political gathering and double-crosses his cousin is one of the best scenes in the movie.


There is a scene in which Ranbir Kapoor's foreigner love-interest, Sarah is out shopping, and some people kidnap a girl right there in the market place. She can't come to believe what just happened, and yells, "Why doesn't anybody do something? Call the police!". It really makes you think how such things have become so common in our country, that we have stopped taking notice, and it doesn't matter to us anymore. "Wake up" is the message, and it hits you hard right at your face.


The Bad...


(3)  Arjun Rampal


For God's sake, somebody please ask him to stop acting. He is SUCH a misfit in this role, it looks as if a cool-dude-guy from Bombay is put right into the heart of dirty politics. He hasn't worked on his accent, has an absolutely shoddy dialogue delivery, and attempts desperately to portray a baahubali, only to result in a huge failure.


(4) Mahabharat


Why did Prakash Jha need to lift 'The Mahabharat' to portray the current state of affairs in Indian politics is something I fail to understand. Does Indian politics lack the so called masala? And lift if he must, why does he have to do it in such a shabby way? That is a plain insult to one of the richest epics in the history of mankind. The scene in which "Kunti" meets "Karna" lacks any emotions in "Kunti", a scene which could have been so emotionally charged and powerful. Dialogues like "jeshth putra" delivered suddenly out of nowhere is amusing to say the least. "Krishna" almost makes a joke out of the "Gita updesh". "Dhritrashtra" looks like a caricature. Only Ajay Devgan and Manoj Bajpai managed to truly bring out the nature of "Karna" and "Duryodhan". The movie is not as gritty as I would have expected it to be, and there almost a feeling of disgust at the end of the movie.


The Ugly...


(5) The Godfather


Lift if he must from Mahabharat, why 'The Godfather' then? The scene where they plant a dead body in Babulal's bed is clearly an attempt to re-create the legendary horse-head scene from the original, without re-creating the same magic. The car bomb-blast scene is also lifted, in a situation where the same could easily have been achieved through an original dramatic instrument. 


(6) Katrina Kaif


This character pained me the most. Because, it had so much potential! But it was dumped into the trashcan. To me, it seemed Katrina Kaif's character had been merely reduced to a sex-starved woman who was forced  into politics under the circumstances. The public rallies shown in the movie were bad, the worst being the one in which Katrina addresses the crowd.   "Abhi humaari haatho ki mehendi ka rang bhi nahi utra tha, aur humaara ghar berehami se ujaad diya"! That too with such a lack of emotions! WTF? Did she even study Priyanka Vadra's appearances, like she said she had in her interviews. My case of putting Katrina at #1 in the list of women I wished were less famous is only stronger now. 


(7) Prakash Jha


Sir, after you have made brilliant movies like 'Apaharan' and 'Gangaajal', why this? Atleast you could have pulled off something original.  I fail to understand what will it take to develop "writing" in India! It is high time that movies focus more on "writing" than anything else. High time! Prakash Jha can take a lesson from Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulaal', which was original and intriguing.


Raajneeti...