Review : Raajneeti

Raajneeti

Director : Prakash Jha

Writing Credits : Anjum Rajabali, Prakash Jha

Music : Wayne Sharp, Shantanu Moitra, Pritam, Adesh Srivastava

Cast : Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif

What goes for the film : Some gritty performances, a few whistle-worthy moments

What goes against the audience : Overdoses of everything

Cinemaa Opinion : Not bad for a watch-it-and-forget-it experience, but a huge disappointment overall. Scroll down for a detailed review.

Big budget Politics…Filmy politics

Ever been to one of those “fill your plate at one go” salad bars? Its funny seeing how people struggle to heap up their plates with two times the max that can fit in. And in 7 cases out of 10, a cucumber slice or a lettuce shred or even a dollop of dressing ends up falling on the floor. People tend to forget that its meant to fill your plate at one go…not your tummy. Similarly, the ever-so-reliable Prakash Jha seems to have forgotten one of his own cardinal rules – the economy of filmmaking…and I’m not referring to economy in the monetary sense here. Jha’s earlier films were ascetically frugal from a cinematic standpoint, and that counted for a lot in making him the auteur that he is. So far, all his films have maintained an actuary’s economy in their focal issues, characters, script & pitch. In his most ambitious project however, Jha seems like Charlie in the chocolate factory, and without any of its mysteries, just lots of chocolate. He indulges like any kid would and Raajneeti is weighed down by the sheer weight of its over-indulgence.

Politics is a cracker of a subject for a film…especially an Indian film. Our politics might’ve lost its romantic intrigue in high circles, hitting below the belt being the norm these days, but it hasn’t lost any of its opportunist chutzpah. A million tales about our politics are waiting in the wings to be told and Jha has become somewhat of an expert with these tales. So far, he has held up a mirror to the society, showing its shortcomings in the stark manner that they deserve. But the most striking thing about Raajneeti is how it tends to deviate from reality and at the same time, claims to be a reflection of the times. It refrains from touching, or in some cases, just symbolically touches upon some of the most glaring issues in our polity like corruption, nepotism, vote-bank politics, the criminal-politician-corporate nexus and the like. Instead, it spends its entire runtime of almost 3 hours on dynastic politics. The economy of script is a complete fail.

Dynastic politics was a given though, since the film was based on the Mahabharat. And I’m not saying that focussing solely on just this one aspect was a bad choice. What went wrong though, was that even this one aspect isn’t exploited properly in the film. The characters hardly bear any resemblance to their counterparts from the epic. At least nothing beyond their names and the relationships between the characters. Krishna is more of a Shakuni, Shakuni is more of a Shikhandi, Duryodhan is just a whiny baby and the list goes on. And as if half-baked references to the Mahabharat weren’t enough, Jha nods like Rizwan Khan at The Godfather as well. Again, half-baked. As a result, Yudhisthir ends up more in the Sonny Corleone mode while Arjun eats up precious screen time, sitting alone in a room, brooding and smoking the customary cigarette, ala Michael Corleone. There goes the economy of characterisation for a toss.

Its been ages since I saw an F-1 race, but one can never forget the difference between how a Michael Schumacher and a Takuma Sato would handle tricky tracks. Jha’s filmmaking style has never been that of an F-1 racer…he’s more of a steeplechase runner – slow but confident and steady…making a measured impact with each stride, unlike the F-1 tearaways. Put him on the wheel of a Ferrari 56 and all he’ll do is cartwheel. Raajneeti is akin to a ferrari, with every single scene taking the plot forward, sadly, most of them counter-productive. And by the time we reach mid-way, the only motion we see is cartwheels. The second half gets more heady than 2 hours non-stop on a roller-coaster and the climax – the singular laugh out loud moment in the film. Aspirin please, for the economy of the plot is absent.

Surprisingly, for a political drama, some of the weakest parts of the film are potentially its strongest – the political speeches. Every speech is a repeat of the first one – begging for sympathy votes perhaps being the only way of canvassing that the writers knew of. And each repeat comes across watered down from the previous one. By the time we get to the main event (what a bad choice on who’d deliver the “knock-out punch” speech, Katrina Kaif’s Priyanka Gandhi avatar), it’s diluted to laughable levels. Which brings us to the larger picture from the dialogue standpoint. I fail to understand how the jarring shifts in the accents got past a veteran like Jha – Arjun Rampal & Ranbir Kapoor being the biggest culprits. And I also fail to understand the rationale behind having some long dialogues in classical hindi, which sounds extremely cheesy in the given setting. The economy of dialogues takes a vacation.

Economics aside, what really disappointed me about Raajneeti is the stand it takes vis-a-vis the two groups at war in the film. Prakash Jha has been a filmmaker I’ve always admired for his convictions. He has never hesitated from taking a stand, however radical or sensitive it may be. In the days when even a career in cricket wasn’t lucrative, he implored parents to open up to lesser sports. His Damul was a cry of help on behalf of the bonded labourer. Mrityudand spoke up against the fuedal system prevalent in Bihar where women are reduced to pieces of furniture. He exposed the high-handedness of the police in Bihar through Gangaajal and his innately entertaining Apaharan was a sharp comment on the kidnapping mafia of Bihar. In Raajneeti though, Jha throws up a lot of muck on his own illustrious career by sacrificing his moral integrity. Both groups are equally unscrupulous, brutal and power-hungry. Sadly, Jha puts one side on a pedestal higher than the other, thus giving its actions a sense of legitimacy. Even more sadly, as far as I can reason, this business of taking sides comes from commercial compulsions rather than as a creative statement (Which producer in his right mind would want to show the hottest off-screen couple of the day as negative characters?). And that’s where Raajneeti fails for me completely.

The performances were the only thing that could make the film bearable to an extent. Manoj Bajpai stands out as Veerendra Pratap, the Duryodhan of this saga. Its a pleasure to see him back in rip-roaring form. Ajay Devgn combines the angst of his Michael Mukherjee from Yuva with the understated menace of Omkara’s Omi to come up with a simmering Suraj, Veerendra’s loyal ally and the Karna of the film. Ranbir Kapoor as Samar (Arjun) also proves his mettle once again by deftly handling one of the better written characters. Between these three, there are a few clap-worthy moments that the film can brag about. However, Nana Patekar puts in a disappointing & insipid performance as Brij Gopal (Krishna). Naseer has just but a guest appearance. The Dhritarashtra of the film is a painful assault on our senses whenever he comes on screen. The less said about the female cast, the better. And a heartfelt request to filmmakers…please don’t ever give a role to Katrina that requires her to wear a sari…her discomfort in the costume shows. One puzzle that still baffles me though, is how people see Arjun Rampal as even a half-decent performer. For me, he’s just graduated from a jagged log to a carved arch, but he remains a piece of wood nonetheless.

This was THE most eagerly awaited film of the year in my books. And the stream of duds that we’ve been subjected to over the last few weeks added on to the sense of urgency in the wait. However, the wait seems to show no signs of abating this time around. For Raajneeti, despite its immense potential in terms of content & presentation, just about manages to pass muster, and I’m being extremely lenient here. Not bad for a watch given the even lesser tripe that’s being churned out week after week, but surely not the powerhouse I was expecting. And as I write this, things don’t look all that well. We’re almost half-way through the year, and so far, I can count just 2 films…3 if I count a good, but not very good Ishqiya…that would qualify in a countdown of the best films of this year. A dreadful thought, for sure.