Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Nana Patekar, Sarah Thompson
Genre: Drama
Direction: Prakash Jha
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
Rating : 4/5


One of the most powerful and pertinent political parables in India undoubtedly happens to be Mahabharat where brothers fought against each other to gain ultimate power. Prakash Jha employs the same politics of power in his contemporary adaptation of Mahabharat, deriving its primary plot and central characters from the epic. Raajneeti has a touch of Hollywood flick Godfather too.

Amidst continual character introductions, technical political procedures and several subplots, it takes a while for you to grasp the scheme of things in the initial reels. Here’s an attempt to summarize the multilayered story in the most elementary manner.

Plot

Cousins Veerendra Pratap Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) and Prithvi Pratap Singh (Arjun Rampal) are heirs of a powerful political party. When Prithvi gets to take the lead, Veerendra teams up with a backward class leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) to plot against Prithvi and evict him from the party.

Prithvi’s younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) who is studying abroad and has no political aspirations gets sucked into the political rivalry between the families. Under the mentoring of senior party and family member Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar), Samar takes charge of the conniving affairs of state to start their own political party, gather funds and get Prithvi contest against Veerendra.

What Worked :

Raajneeti keeps the viewers glued to the goings-on for start to end. Anjum Rajabali and Prakash Jha's screenplay brings to the fore the ugly face of democracy most realistically and convincingly. With the premise that politics corrupts every soul, almost every central character in the film is sketched with shades of grey. So much so that till a point you are puzzled on who’s the protagonist and who’s the antagonist.

The Hindi heart-belt dialogues and political jargons add authenticity to the film. Nevertheless his storytelling is simple, effective and gripping never letting you lose the film for any moment.

Also while having a star-studded cast, at no point does Prakash Jha exploit the heroism of his stars but focuses only on the performance of his actors. There are no snazzy entries, starry songs or heroic action sequences.

The constant twists-n-turns in the story, the characters who change colours faster than chameleons and the blood-bath they indulge in are the highpoints of this film.

What didn’t worked :

When Ranbir stays back in India to win over his father’s lost empire, the film shifts track from a political saga to being a regular revenge drama. (Ranbir) entire quest to find his father’s murderer seems frail since the assassin’s identity is obvious with no other character left to gain the benefit of doubt.

Arjun Rampal’s arrest in the first half seems as forced as Naseeruddin Shah’s presence in the film’s prologue.

What does the film in is the sheer commercial relentlessness of its drama.

A senior actor like Naseer is wasted.

Performance - Raajneeti is an absolutely performance driven film and Jha has only extracted excellent performances from his cast but has also balanced each role so that no actor overshadows the other.

Ranbir Kapoor stands out from the towering cast with the most poised performance of his career so far. Manoj Bajpayee is in superb form and delivers a vicious negative act. Nana Patekar as the silent spectator and guide is so effective that despite taking a backseat his screen-presence is never diluted. Ajay Devgan speaks through the intensity of his eyes and is remarkable. Arjun is a revelation. Katrina Kaif is first-rate. She sheds her glam doll image and transforms into an actor with this film. Naseeruddin Shah, in a brief role, does well. Sarah is good. Nikhila Tirkha as Ranbir’s mother is impressive. Shruti Seth is effective in her two-scene slattern act.


Verdict : Raajneeti is wonderfully packaged film. Must Watch