The crux of the story evolves from ‘The Mahabharata’. And why not? ‘The Mahabharata’ is unarguably one of the greatest political potboilers that has ever surfaced in the face of planet earth and is widely acknowledged as the epic of all times. I saw major glimpses of ‘The Godfather’, especially in the second half where we have a la ‘Al Pacino’ in ‘Ranbir Kapoor’ (A comparison here would be debatable but it’s worth it). So, we are talking about a lethal combination with ingredients such as love, hate, lust, deceit, greed, envy, power and above all, money. Now you know, why ‘Raajneeti’ is so special to the viewers of tinsel town.
The biggest strength of ‘Raajneeti’ is it’s plot and treatment of the script. Even though few of those sequences were inevitably seen by all of us in plethora of classics churned in the elite history of cinema, the way ‘Prakash Jha’ has handled the entire base of the story with elan deserves special mention. And to top it all, he has a cast at his disposal which can give the best in the industry, a run for their money. When ‘Naseer’, ‘Nana‘, ‘Manoj Bajpai’ and ‘Ajay Devgan’ come together, the outcome can only be stupendous. ‘Naseer’ has a special appearance and lives up to it. ‘Nana’ is at his usual effortless self and is outstanding. ‘Ajay’s’ role is different and portrays a brooding character with utmost conviction. ‘Manoj Bajpai’ is terrific as the evil and self proclaimed heir of the dynasty. He comes very close of bettering his exploits as ‘Bhiku’ in ‘Satya’. For me, two actors impressed immensely (as others were expected to be sure shot winners), ‘Arjun Rampal’ as ‘Prithvi’ and ‘Ranbir Kapoor’ as the vivacious yet suave distant son. Both have probably given their best performances till date in their respective careers and this will certainly help them to attain greater heights. ‘Katrina’s’ efforts were explicitly visible and she doesn’t disappoint. I still felt that post-interval could have been 15-20 minutes less than what it was, but then ‘Jha’ was able to sustain and held it all together in what could be termed as one of the finest directorial efforts in the recent past.
‘Raajneeti’ deals with one of the most powerful and intriguing syndrome in the entire system of our country. But seldom has a film reached out to the contemporaries and the critics in such a flamboyant yet hard hitting fashion.
I detest politics but highly recommend ‘Raajneeti’!
@Lifeoholic 