Sarkar 4.5/5

"Subhash Nagre ek aadmi hai. Sarkar ek soch hai"

The only emotion that lingers in your mind after you come out of the theatre (for full impact a theatre is a must) watching Ram Gopal Varma's 'Sarkar' is immense satisfaction along with a rise smile on your lips. A genuine tribute is offered to Coppola's Godfather through RGV's Sarkar. So what is different in this RGV film from his previous ones? - of course apart from this being a Godfather version. This film further uplifts the technical front in Hindi movies by a scale. Camerawork, background score, dialogues, screenplay, acting and casting all are touched and improved. This film shows how an intelligent thought process can shape a film's story inspite of it being a version of one of the most known and revered films in the world. How an interesting (and already known) plot can be made even more interesting!

RGV and Amitabh Bachchan form a formidable team. A team to watch out for in future. The very way directors like Yash Chopra or Ramesh Sippy handled the young Amitabh perfectly, for the first time, it seems that a director has handled the old Amitabh likewise by keeping the "anger" content in this angry old man present but subdued and dormant. The screen presence AB Sr already generates makes itself genuinely felt in this tower called Sarkar. For Al Pacino Abhishek it is a different path tread. And with top notch results! It again shows how an actor becomes a directors actor and shows the world what he has in him and that which never came out before. Or rather nobody could get it out of AB Jr before! AB Jr gives a knockout performance abundant with emotions - the right ones at the perfect time. Due credit to RGV for that. The support provided by the regular character actors from the RGV factory - the Jagga, the Guru Narayan of Satya, the Corporator Velankar of Ab Tak Chhappan in their respective roles are amazing. The reel Rashid is a revelation. Kudos to RGV for unearthing this talent. With minimal dialogues Rashid speaks through his eyes and eyes only. The background score by Bipin-Tutul and Amar Mohile - especially the "Govinda" track - is another absolute character in the film, one who props up only to culminate in the scenes. Family members in Supriya Pathak, Rukhsar and Tanisha are good. Katrina Kaif looks good too. The screenplay and dialogues are so taut that many scenes create a permanent impression. The violence has been innovatively portrayed with murders in temples, murders by family members et al.

Sticking loyally to the overall Godfather theme, RGV has made intelligent modifications to suit the Indian familial and system settings. Meticulous attention has been paid to the look and feel of the characters in the film with subtle modifications as the story progresses. This film has the 'righteous' feel to it without being sanctimonious

Yet another feather in RGV's cap. Another leap for progressive Hindi cinema.