You are here

Raajneeti – movie review

A political drama on Indian democracy and its ugly underside, and beyond…

  


Raajneeti, movie review

Raajneeti is a story about Indian politics, the democracy and the general elections. It depicts just a few powerful people control the destiny of millions. Master director Prakash Jha who gave us hard hitting films like Apharan and Gangaajal has now come up with the story of people who understand power – and know how to wield it at will. He skillfully portrays their unstoppable ambition, and their bitter and violent battle to achieve it. Raajneeti movie review…

It is a contemporary adaptation of politics of power and deriving its primary plot and central characters from the epic. More somewhat like Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug which had the character of Karna, here we have Sooraj who is trapped terrible dilemma where his loyalty to his friend threatens to destroy his own family. Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) is a leader who rose from the backward classes with anger in his heart and leadership on his mind. And yet, his destiny could never overcome the tragedy of his birth.

Raajneeti begins with happy times with the current leader who has a party at his house. But suddenly, he gets a paralytic attack and is forced to appoint another head for the political party. He chooses Prithvi (Arjun Rampal), the eldest son of his younger brother, instead of his own son Veerendra (Manoj Bajpai) and thus the whole game of politics unfolds hereon.

Veerendra is shunted away from the core of the party and he decides to revolt. A man who believes he was born to rule, and who will now stop at absolutely nothing to claw his way back to the top.

Here everything is fine with Prithvi leading the party elections and he is visited by younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor). A top businessman who funds the party elections has a daughter Indu (Katrina Kaif), who falls in love with Samar and wants to settle down with him.
But Prithvi, the heir to a powerful political legacy and impatient to seize the top position. He is a man with a heart of gold but who is all brawn. A man whose uncontrollable passions bring his family to the brink of political extinction.

The desperate Veerendra teams up with Suraj the leader of oppressed classes and how he manipulates him into everything including assassination of the current favourite leader.

So we have Prithvi contesting the elections in the place of his father. His younger brother Samar is a cool and a very calculative younger dude who plays his cards well and the set out to win the election. Nevertheless, this cool dude, a master of the craft of political warfare witnesses later – the bloodiest of final battles in a war alien to his character.

There is also Bhasker Sanyal (Naseeruddin Shah), the fire-brand leftist leader, as feared for his single-handed ability to challenge the most powerful of leaders as he was respected for his political integrity. Until one private mistake of his hurtled him into a self-imposed exile and spawned a secret consequence that shook the destiny of the political future of the state.
And Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar), who shunned every political ambition even as he continued to mentor and guide the younger generation of leaders while the battle got bloodier by the day.

Rajneeti has an amazing screenplay, airtight script and the array of talented actors has worked together to create a delightful film. There is drama, action, romance and even comedy put across with few memorable songs especially the ‘More piya’ number which is played twice in the film

Marvelous performance, especially from Ranbir Kapoor who apparently has a tailor stitched role for him and he is so impressive as the innocent young boy who maneuvers through the matter with sly connivance. Ajay Devgan speaks a lot through his eyes and has yet delivered a memorable performance in Raajneeti.

Katrina Kaif, Nikhila Trikha and Shruti Sheth are fine, though Nikhila, as the aristocratic lady has a grand screen presence

Nana Patekar and Naseeruddin Shah, the veterans need no praise at all and there is Arjun Rampal the ruggedly handsome guy plays a passionate character and a fuming young man with ease.

Cast of Raajneeti:
Ajay Devgan
Ranbir Kapoor
Katrina Kaif
Arjun Rampal
Manoj Bajpai
Sarah Thompson
Naseeruddin Shah
Nana Patekar
Darshan Jariwala
Shruti Seth
Nikhila Tirkha, Chetan Pandit, Vinay Apte, Kiran Karmarkar, Dayashankar Pandey, Jahangir Khan, Ravi Khemu

Credits & Crew of Raajneeti:
Produced & Directed By Prakash Jha
Screenplay: Anjum Rajabali & Prakash Jha
Music: Wayne Sharpe
Director Of Photography: Sachin Krishn
Associate Director: Alankrita Shrivastava
Editor: Santosh Mandal
Art Director: Jayant Deshmukh
Costumes: Priyanka Mundada
Action Director: Sham Kaushal
General Manager, Productions: K. L. Chhabra
Production Controller: Sudhirbhai Mishra
Raajneeti, movie review