Raajneeti Review

The most sought after youth icon, Ranbir Kapoor, is all set to break away from his lover boy image with a serious role in his forthcoming Raajneeti. But he got his first break with the deeply romantic Saawariya.

“When I went up to Sanjay Leela Bhansali to assist him in Black, I had an agenda. At that time I was getting offers from different people but I was a big fan of Sanjay Bhansali and he was not offering me a film. So I thought maybe he doesn’t know I exist. So I went to him with the intention to draw his attention so he would cast me in his next film. That’s what happened! My dream came true,” says Ranbir.

“After that, we prepared for this role for two-and-a-half years. He explained so many things about the character and taught me how to pronounce words and modulate my voice. He is a perfectionist. Though he would scream at Sonam and me at times, at the end of the day, he was doing it to better our performance,” he adds.

Being a Kapoor is a privelege for this young lad. He says, “I just looked at the Kapoor legacy I have to carry forward as a responsibility given to me. I feel privileged to be part of the Kapoors. I don’t get scared of the comparisons. After the shooting for Saawariya was over, Mr Bhansali said: ‘You are the true successor of Raj Kapoor’. That is the best compliment.”

PERFORMANCE

Ranbir Kapoor, the handsome hunk of bollywood who plays the character of Samar Pratap in the film, comes out with a brilliant performance. Even before such veterans as Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, etc, Ranbir is able to hold his own and comes out a winner. His transformation from apolitical to master of the political warfare is praiseworthy. He enacts the whole thing so smoothly that it’s unbelievable.

Arjun Rampal, who plays the elder brother of Ranbir Kapoor, comes out with a winning performance and the filmmakers should give him more meaty roles now onwards. After his superb performance in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ (though negative), here once again Arjun excels. Manoj Bajpai, who plays the negative character of Veerendra Pratap and cousin to Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun, has come out with rare Nana Patekar, who plays the character of Brij Gopal, looks perfect in the mentoring role of Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. He is sharp and curt in his dialogues. He lives up to expectations of the audiences. Naseeruddin Shah, as usual, is brilliant in his small appearance in the film.

Ajay Devgn, who plays the character of Sooraj, is good in the first half. In the second hour of the film, Ajay’s character seems to have been forced to go on the backburner by the director Prakash Jha despite of their excellent working relationship.
 

Katrina Kaif, the sizzling hot sexy siren of bollywood, is a surprise packet in the film by adopting a deglamorised avatar. However, the beautiful lass has come out with an honest performance in the film and lives her role well. Others provide able support to the main cast of the film.

 The direction of Prakash Jha is superb. The director has handled a large number of biggies with ease and extracted out of them the best for the flick. His expert knowledge on the electoral polities of Bihar and other north Indian states must have helped him in this venture.

The unpredictability and constant twist and turn in the story line are its USP and Prakash Jha must be credited for it. In fact, the long movie of three hours does not bore due to these twists and turns and the audience remain interested till the last.

The number ‘Mora Piya’ is already popular with the audiences. Dialogues, especially those delivered by Nana Patekar, are superb. The cinematography tries to capture every important moment of this political drama efficiently. Other production values are also good.

STORY

The plot of the flick has a very large canvas involving a large number of characters much like epic ‘Mahabharata’, and if you want you can easily compare them with contemporary personalities shown in the movie. This all begins with Bhasker Sanyal(Naseeruddin Shah), who is a fiery left leader with a clear conscience and impeccable political integrity.

However, one mistake forces him into self- exile as well as birth of Sooraj(Ajay Devgn). Sooraj grows up in a backward community home and gradually rises to become a fiery political leader much like Bhaskar.

But the problem with Sooraj is the same as was with Karna in ‘Mahabharata’. Sooraj’s loyalty to his friend Veerendra Pratap(Manoj Bajpai)goes against his own real family, and the man is torn between two divided loyalties and continues to fight whole of life with it.

Then there is another character of Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar), who never ran after power in politics and left everything. However, he did not run away from his familial responsibilities and continues to mentor the younger political leaders—Prithvi(Arjun Rampal) and Samar(Ranbir).

Another character in this political drama is that of Prithvi Pratap (Arjun Rampal), who is heir to a powerful political family, but his passions are uncontrollable. Though he has a very good heart but his method is all brawn and this creates problems for him as well as others.

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