"Sarkar" is a golden opportunity wasted. It could have been the greatest Indian gangster film, a title still retained by Mani Ratnam´s classic "Nayakan". Though drawing inspiration from "The Godfather" both films are not wholesomely faithful adaptations of Mario Puzo´s power saga. While Ratnam and Kamal Haasan overwhelmed viewers through their epic-scaled depiction of raw power, Varma´s film ironically does not provide as arresting a sense of Sarkar´s power over his people despite one of Amitabh Bachchan´s most refined performances.

In a rapid-fire first half inspired by "The Godfather" and aspects of "Agneepath" and "Nayakan", Varma sets the story up to perfection through some fine characterization, acting, and his signature music video style editing, sending the audience into the interval on a pulsating cliffhanger. Subhash Nagre (Amitabh Bachchan), the most powerful man in Bombay, the messiah of the helpless struggles against the will of negative forces within and outside his family to maintain order through his parallel government. Conflict of business interests fuels a conspiracy to bring down Sarkar by falsely implicating him in the murder of a benevolent political leader. As the law and his puppet chief minister turn against him, Sarkar becomes a sitting duck for his enemies, locked in prison.

Stylishly shot by Amit Roy, "Sarkar" is a poutpurri of brilliance and amateurism, for the first half showcases Varma´s mastery while the remainder of the film could well have been directed by one of his so-called proteges, paling quite starkly in comparison. The tension and unpredictability are all but lost. The writing mellows, as does Varma´s technique as he rushes through the second and third acts of his narrative in an effort to squeeze in as much plot as he can, failing to develop it well enough to grip the audience.

The transfer of power as Shankar Nagre (Abhishek Bachchan) begins to take over for his ailing father a la Michael Corleone, perhaps the single most powerful part of the story, occurs in the most lukewarm of manners. One only wishes Varma had dedicated as much time to showcase Shankar´s rise to and acquisition of power as much as he did to develop his romantic subplot with Avantika (Tannisha), a character who warrants no place in the screenplay in the first place. Similarly the scene where Sarkar´s enemies find out that he has just survived an attempt on his life, though inspired by a similar scene from "Agneepath", simply fails to showcase the chill Vijay Dinanath Chavan sent down the spine of his enemies. Post-interval, "Sarkar" sorely misses the free flow of its first hour. The remainder of the story is put together choppily, with subtle visual moments being ruined by the continous use of Amar Mohile´s blaring, exaggerated score (Sandeep Chowta, where art thou?).

Despite its shortcomings, "Sarkar" redeems itself to an extent because of phenomenal performances from its talented cast. Amitabh Bachchan in the title role is uncharacteristically restrained, bringing to the forefront a vulnerable side to his character. With his look quite obviously based on infamous Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, Mr. Bachchan´s wardrobe is replete with the loose-hanging kurta, the tilak on his forehead, and the rudraksh mala on his wrist. (The resemblance to Thackeray only gets stronger with the Lexus SUV and a house modeled with more than just a passing resemblance to Matoshree, his infamous Mumbai residence.) Abhishek Bachchan as the brooding, angry, young Shankar mirrors his father´s "angry, young man" image of the seventies. Complementing him with sheer brilliance is Kay Kay Menon as Sarkar´s frustrated and disillusioned elder son. Supriya Pathak as their mother creates the perfect foil to complete Sarkar´s family. Among the rest of the supporting cast, Kota Srinivasa Rao as the deceiving Tamilian gangster Silver Mani provides much of the twisted comic relief, churning out hilarious one-liners that will have you in splits.

Ramgopal Varma may claim that "Sarkar" is his best film to date, but his fans, myself included, will unanimously argue that he has made better films and will continue to do so. With "Sarkar", there seemed to be a digression from the story´s most gripping thematic characteristic - power. Somehow, Varma´s adaptation of "The Godfather" lacks the epic-scale that the theme and story demand, an aspect Mani Ratnam and Mukul Anand hit the bull´s eye with in "Nayakan" and "Agneepath" respectively. "Sarkar" could have been that great epic by India´s finest maker of gangster cinema. Unfortunately it ends up being simply a sleek gangster film that you can enjoy while it lasts, with nothing more to take from as you walk out of the theater.

Watched Sarkar a few days back... haven't watched any of Ramu's other movies, so can't comment... But I thought that it's very well made, with splendid characterization and acting, and some interesting twists.
A cliffhanger, as you say, till the interval... then it all seems to be hurriedly played out. The most powerful man in Mumbai left powerless, and yet the the clinical elimination of his enemies, after complete helplessness, with no build-up. Contrast it with the kill job Al Pacino did in Godfather.
Though I'd almost vowed to avoid the second (nth?) coming of Amitabh Bachchan, I must say that there is nobdoy to match his presence, his aura in Hindi films.
Yes, with this cast, the Big and Small 'B's backed by very good actors, an 'epic' could, should have been created.

Yesterday I happened to watch the download. Probably a 3 hour movie was brought down to 1.5 hrs with no songs. Amitabh as usual with his splendid performance steals the show. And what is this? Anupam Kher has fallen short of roles? I fail to understand Avantika's and Katrina's role. They did not have much to do in it. In the mid way I assumed that probably avantika or Katrina or both may be kidnapped and the emotional saga would overshadow the Sarkaar ki soch. But nothing of that sort happened? Abhishek was so-so. Hope he gets better role. The movie is one time watch sort.

Yes, Anupam Kher seems to be out of work, or perhaps he was enticed by Ramu's big banner movie, and some cool money for doing nothing, except uttering some platitudes and getting shot in the forehead.
There's a dedication to the Godfather at the start of the movie, so that explains Katrina, as the 'other woman from the past'. However, Ramu should have realized that he was wasting precious movie time (in a short movie!) building plots around the two girls who are totally wasted. Instead he could have done some build-up of Abhishek's coming to power (as the reviewer says too).
And I thought Abhishek was OK, and Kay Kay was great, as was Amitabh's bald henchman, whose name I failed to catch.
Yes, a one-time watch.

Pradeep....you said you watched the "Download"??? From where did you get to download it??? Plss share the source...

Well....I did get to see the movie...I agree with all u ppl have said.....Amitabh's great .....Brilliant....as usual.....though I felt it was sort of an 'underplayed' performance by him......KayKay Menon....was simply gr888.......loved his realistic performance throughout the film......Abhishek as you said, was OK.....could have done a much better job.......The supporting cast......such as Jeeva (the Sadhu) and that south-Indian guy......were truly great to watch.... Adding some bit of humour to an otherwise serious film....

Yes......the girls Katrina and Tannisha Mukherjee were hopeless.....no acting...worth to have casted them...or even better.....those characters itself looked wasted in the film.....definitely could have devoted that time to some better make-up on the plots, story, and covering other loop-holes like....Abhishek's sudden rise to power......and a barrage of killings...etc....

Anupam Kher must've done that film for some TP or making a quick buck.....Can't really justify in any other way..... And Supriya Pathak, again, looked like somewhat 'wasted' (in terms of her acting capabilities).....Not much of a role at all.....Just 'occupying' some screen space in many shots....and looking at others....not much of a dialogue given to her either..I mean.....ANY other lady could have done that role........Definitely a good actress wasted.....on her comeback.....

But apart from all these..the film definitely has its share of PRO's...all that have been mentioned above.....though not much in detail......but definitely worth a watch....

Wonder whether this is the place for such a comment, but still:

Anupam Kher gets shot in the middle of the forehead, and still manages to stay alive till he gets into the car...

Is that a feat? No wonder they say 'Politicians are "never say die" creatures'

Hindi movies never cease to amaze me

N

Downloaded the movie from a torrent file. The movie quality is so-so.

http://www.torrentspy.com/download.asp?id=348342

Dekhna hai, never seen Amitabh & Abhishek together

You can see the baap-bete in Bunty & Babli also.

Hey Pradeep.....thanks for that link......But can you please explain how to download a movie from a "Torrent" file? I don't have much idea about "torrent" files.....Can you explain a bit about that too???
(Thanks again for that!!! )

If you are new to torrents, you might not like it. Anywayz here is some discussion on it.

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...3366&hl=torrent

LOL. I'm sure that Mario Puzo must be turning in his grave and dont even want to know what Coppola with all his ego will make of this.

However, time back, I heard that bollywood made a film called Godmother. Anyone seen that? how was it?

Yes Yes watched that... It was based on real life story of Santokben Jadeja, a don from Porbandar. This city in Saurashtra region of Gujarat is famous for many a things ranging from Gandhiji's birthplace to Godmother...

Coming back to movie, I found it very well made. Shabana Azmi as Godmother played the role very well...

Cheers,

I'm quite impresed withAbhishek Bachchan's Performance. He has been quite impressive in his last 3 movies 'Dhoom, Yuva and Banti Aur Babli' , and he keeps giving such performances as in 'Sarkaar'.
I see him as the superstar of the future. I wish him a very good luck for the future.

About Amitabh Bachchan I dont have to say anything. He is always at his best.

But In the film I didnt find anything interesting, and especially the first half was boring. In the second half things went very fast but....

Overally it looked the same old story with some modern effects.