Sarkar Raj'
Ruling of the Government

Overall Impressions:
As most people know this is a sequel to the 2005 film Sarkar, which in turn was a re-imagination & official tribute to The Godfather. I say re-imagination because though they almost run in parallel, there are some fundamental changes that pretty much ensure that the same sequel can't happen. Its no spoiler in saying the man they refer to as Sarkar (leader, a personal representation of the government, played by Amitabh Bachchan) is alive as he is credited here as one of the 3 lead roles.

Sarkar (the 1st one) in my opinion was awesome. For me it surpassed The Godfather which may seem like a bold statement, but to be honest I think the original had some serious issues with pace that were here rectified. So, having established that this is a sequel to a re-imagining of The Godfather that isn't based on The Godfather Part II, *breathe* .. mention I shall that it's another chapter of the story of 'the family' of the Nagres else it wouldn't really be a sequel would it?

I should point out that it's a film by Ram Gopal Varma who has brought us numerous great films & a number of duds too. RGV's Aag being used in reviews as a benchmark specimen as one of the worst Bollywood films of all time. (I back that statement, I believe even he does looking back from what I've read.) So as you can imagine I went into this rather hopeful, with much reserved thoughts, partially ready to neglect this film as yet another dud.

Boy was I wrong! This film has the 'wow' factor that films lack these days. It's an oddity but my sentiments towards this film during my first viewing fluctuated through it's duration. At the beginning I was just dubious of the whole venture, too many Bachchans' for one film perhaps?! By intermission, I was convinced that this wasn't bad, it had surpassed mediocrity, half way through the second half, I felt the pace was dropping and my grown warmth towards it was dropping back to the average "it's okay"point & then the last 20 minutes or so of pre-climax had me dropping my jaw to the ground. The whole journey had been manipulating me just as intended. Amazing.

When a fellow blogger (MovieMoxie) asked me whether they could see this without having seen the first film, I had think about it hard & strong. In the end I came to the conclusion that, yes, you could see this as a standalone film, and it is still strong, 'but' ... I do feel it wouldn't be doing it full justice. Though nothing in the first film happens that isn't explained here, the growth of the characters and knowing their history really does amplify the magnitude of the events that unfold & if I were you, I wouldn't really want to miss that chill down your spine.

Giving you any details would be unfair, but I will say there is a steady progression between the 2 films here and the underlying message to me as quite profound. Simple but so true & this is what I took away & thought about for days after the show. Films that do that are hard to come by & hold my respect.

Definitely one to see. Not a cinema must, except for wanting to see it in a hurry, but ideally, grab both Sarkar and this on DVD. If you've got preconceptions of Bollywood films being all-fluff, these are ones that'll slap you back into reality.