SARKAR RAJ - Only Innovative Camera Angles and Lighting doesn't mean an entertaining movie. (Movie Review By Bobby Sing)

A huge sea of expectations was on high tides before the release of “Sarkar Raj” and many RGV fans were sure of a grand comeback by the master film-maker. But I had my doubts with me as I entered the cinema.

Sometimes a period of lazy creativeness is seen in the works of the masters. I noticed this kind of phase in the life span of many creative geniuses who made some not so good movies in the middle of their careers. And later came back with some greater masterpieces even better than their first ones. As I see it RGV also seems to be going through that phase in his life. He is no doubt a self-made genius of his own kind but sadly couldn’t make an impressive comeback with Sarkar Raj.

The movie is dark, slow and the only knock out moment in the movie is in the last 20 minutes as the mystery unfolds and the real culprit comes out of the curtain. What I found most displeasing in the movie is the overuse of innovative camera angles and the excess of dark lighting in the whole movie. The subject no doubt needed this kind of treatment but it goes over the limits as you watch this sequel of Sarkar. It’s an intense crime drama with powerful performances but unfortunately the script is not able to entertain the viewers with its content.

The story is quite predictable from the very first scene and therefore the viewer keeps waiting for something new on the screen, which only comes in the climax. Surely the first attempt by RGV was much better than this. Sarkar Raj lacks the grip and is not able to entertain enough. Though technically and creatively its superb, but that’s not what the majority of people are paying for.

Performance wise two people top the list, Amitabh Bachhan (though he has less scenes this time) and Dilip Prabhawalkar. Their scenes together are superbly shot and RGV genius shows in these few moments. In fact these are the only worth watching scenes in the movie not to be missed at any cost. Truly speaking Amitabh is the only active actor who could do justice to the character of the GODFATHER and he lives his part fantastically. The last scenes of the movie show his inimitable class and equally competent is Dilip Prabhawalkar in their confrontation scene.

The rest of the cast is just fine. Abhishek looks intense in his silence and Aishwarya looks sober. The sad point is that apart from Amitabh and Dilip no one else adds anything to the movie. Everyone else is just enacting their parts and only these two characters stand tall. The part of an unknown killer was very childish to use by a man of high standards named RGV.

Musically, Sarkar Raj is many steps behind the original Sarkar. You don’t remember any chants walking out of the cinema and also the background music is not able to grab attention.The audience in the cinema was quite restless while watching it as they all were expecting much better stuff from Ram Gopal Verma.

The movie is not as expected but it has its moments not to be missed which have the stamp of a master film-maker. But the conclusion is that RGV needs to get over his trademarks and has to reinvent himself urgently. May be his next film on one of his favorite topic, Phoonk (Based on Black Magic) gives us our good old RGV back in form.

Rating : 2.5 / 5