Prakash Jha's RAAJNEETI is not a great film, but surely the best film of 2010 among the ones released so far. Thankfully, it also turned out to be the top BO grosser of the current year so far, and is a far cry from the mushy romances that we get to see now and then.
Though, using the old tale of Mahabharata with a dose of Godfather series thrown in between and crafting a drama of conflict for one man up ship in same political family is not refreshing but yes, intriguing. It is not very unusual in its plot, treatment or narrative, rather it followed old school of film making with a voice over going on at times. But due to that, the director cut short some running time and continued the quick pace and the racy drama with a thrill element and able to hold attention, which is the biggest prerequisite for the success of any film. The film has a strong definite storyline and that string together the whole structure. There are pluses and minuses. It sticks to one-track, with lot of characters and lot of dialogs as well as lot of drama, which with some clever treatment saved it from becoming melodramatic, tragic stuff. Few things that worked in the favor of film are -PJ did not kept it realistic and issue based which was not the requirement but kept it like the fable. Secondly, rather than planting his story in the heartland of Bihar, he based it in a general Hindi belt and that saved it from becoming region specific. For political rallies and crowd filled sequences, the effective usage of outdoor locales of Bhopal, instead of staging them at the Film city, that any normal "dumb" maker of bollywood would have done, Jha managed to give a right ambiance to the plot. Production values are high. Background score is good, Screenplay crisp and dialogs are sharp. All this finally results in audience not getting the chance to think and thus film maintains its grip, an old trick in bollywood textbooks.
The story has a flow and unfolds like a game of chess. Characters are well placed with each one getting substantial screen presence. All actors have performed well though Ranbir Kapoor emerged as a highlight in the story as well as in performance. Fresh actors like Sarah Thompson, Nikhila Trikha and Shruti Seth too have given good performances. As far as, Katrina is concerned, she didn't need to act. Just her presence won her accolades from her admirers. Here most of her scenes are kept in groups, thankfully. In her few of small solo scenes such as Political rallies and all, well, that comes towards end and therefore does not matter much.
Now there are some low points. Subtlety is lost in excessive verboseness. Ongoing gets repetitive after a point. Film is a bit long. The romantic triangle in the film slightly distracts the flow. Whole tone of film is serious and dark/ depressing, with no scope of any lighter moments. Good that PJ has overlooked all this and made the kind of film he wanted to. Since the film has so many high dramatic points that climax has not been able to make its impact. It should have been slightly unconventional, rather than predictable. Better if it is kept open.
This again is a film that falls under unconventional category therefore not meant for those who are on a look out for their regular popcorn entertainers (foreign locales, songs/dances et all). There is an age-old saying in filmdom that if you can identify with the characters of a film, only then you can make connect with the story, and that only is a recipe for success. But here surprisingly, all characters are dark in some way or other, and one can't generally identify with any of them. Oh, my God! , another "bloody" myth gets shattered. What are you doing trade experts?
I am not a film trade expert yet, to me, the "Neeti" (Strategy) here is correct so no doubt it is doing "Raaj" (Ruling) at the box office. Congrats!
Though, using the old tale of Mahabharata with a dose of Godfather series thrown in between and crafting a drama of conflict for one man up ship in same political family is not refreshing but yes, intriguing. It is not very unusual in its plot, treatment or narrative, rather it followed old school of film making with a voice over going on at times. But due to that, the director cut short some running time and continued the quick pace and the racy drama with a thrill element and able to hold attention, which is the biggest prerequisite for the success of any film. The film has a strong definite storyline and that string together the whole structure. There are pluses and minuses. It sticks to one-track, with lot of characters and lot of dialogs as well as lot of drama, which with some clever treatment saved it from becoming melodramatic, tragic stuff. Few things that worked in the favor of film are -PJ did not kept it realistic and issue based which was not the requirement but kept it like the fable. Secondly, rather than planting his story in the heartland of Bihar, he based it in a general Hindi belt and that saved it from becoming region specific. For political rallies and crowd filled sequences, the effective usage of outdoor locales of Bhopal, instead of staging them at the Film city, that any normal "dumb" maker of bollywood would have done, Jha managed to give a right ambiance to the plot. Production values are high. Background score is good, Screenplay crisp and dialogs are sharp. All this finally results in audience not getting the chance to think and thus film maintains its grip, an old trick in bollywood textbooks.
The story has a flow and unfolds like a game of chess. Characters are well placed with each one getting substantial screen presence. All actors have performed well though Ranbir Kapoor emerged as a highlight in the story as well as in performance. Fresh actors like Sarah Thompson, Nikhila Trikha and Shruti Seth too have given good performances. As far as, Katrina is concerned, she didn't need to act. Just her presence won her accolades from her admirers. Here most of her scenes are kept in groups, thankfully. In her few of small solo scenes such as Political rallies and all, well, that comes towards end and therefore does not matter much.
Now there are some low points. Subtlety is lost in excessive verboseness. Ongoing gets repetitive after a point. Film is a bit long. The romantic triangle in the film slightly distracts the flow. Whole tone of film is serious and dark/ depressing, with no scope of any lighter moments. Good that PJ has overlooked all this and made the kind of film he wanted to. Since the film has so many high dramatic points that climax has not been able to make its impact. It should have been slightly unconventional, rather than predictable. Better if it is kept open.
This again is a film that falls under unconventional category therefore not meant for those who are on a look out for their regular popcorn entertainers (foreign locales, songs/dances et all). There is an age-old saying in filmdom that if you can identify with the characters of a film, only then you can make connect with the story, and that only is a recipe for success. But here surprisingly, all characters are dark in some way or other, and one can't generally identify with any of them. Oh, my God! , another "bloody" myth gets shattered. What are you doing trade experts?
I am not a film trade expert yet, to me, the "Neeti" (Strategy) here is correct so no doubt it is doing "Raaj" (Ruling) at the box office. Congrats!