Raajneeti - the review.

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that told me things I already knew and still left me considerably shaken.

Being Indian, we aren’t novices to the political circus; the subterfuges and the backstabbing are common headlines to which we hardly pay any attention these days. And I think this lack of attention is what Prakash Jha wants to change with Raajneeti.

Raajneeti takes you to the halls of power.  Not to the viewing gallery, no for the writer knows that’s where we’ve all been. He puts you bang in the middle of it - a very powerful political family where the seeds of a feud are starting to germinate. From there on, plays the saga of a modern Mahabharata. Brothers go to war with each other, conniving uncles rub their hands in glee, the females let their inner vixens out, bastard children refuse to identify their mothers, the streets run red, and money sets out to buy every virtue that is not for sale.  As an intricate game of chess unfolds, the audience discover the forethought of the opening game. And just so that you dare not say that there’s nothing new to the story, Mr Jha keeps hitting you again and again, harder every time, stripping the same characters turning them more vicious than you dared to imagine, sticking them on you face with a “now see this” tone.

And if the story wasn’t good enough for you, the starcast leaves you stuck to the seats right till the last of the credits have rolled out. Ranbir Kapoor has done justice to his family name and has proven once again that it’s not just a nice face that makes you an actor. Manoj Bajpai as always is a pleasure to watch and Ajay Devgan cast in a role that is his by right makes the screen explode with anger. Katrina Kaif shows signs of life in her face and actually manages to move those muscles. She has silenced those who thought that she would be the one who’d sink the movie; the movie can actually be called her best so far. Nana Patekar cannot be praised enough, he slips into the role so naturally that you actually have to remind yourself that he is acting. Arjun Rampal has made a surprising comeback, and if we are to go by this performance, he might actually manage to stay around this time.  But what made the movie a treat to watch was the way the small roles were handled – accomplished actors summing up all their skills for very brief but important appearances on screen.  This is just a fraction of the sense of detail that Mr Jha has, from the party symbols to the mass rallies, things were beautifully planned and executed.

The best part is that this is not an agenda movie, poking you to get out on the streets and change the world, it does not address the youth nor does it question your moral sensibilities.  There are many beautiful facets to the story, but I guess I’ll leave them for you to discover.

Go watch it.