Film: “Raagdesh”; Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia; Cast: Kunal Kapoor, Mohit Marwah, Amit Sadh, Kanwaljit Singh, Kenneth Desai, Mrudula Murali and Kenny Basumatary.

Rating: ***

A historic period film by director Tigmanshu Dhulia, one goes expecting a lot out of “Raagdesh”, but unfortunately, this film — steeped in facts and robust performances — fails to make an impact owing to its slow pace and tedious narrative.

It is a tale about three Indian National Army (INA) soldiers — Captain Shah Nawaz Khan (Kunal Kapoor), Captain Gurbaksh Dhillon (Amit Sadh) and Captain P.K. Sahgal (Mohit Marwah) — who are court martialled and their subsequent trial at the Red Fort. The film is set in 1945, when they join Netaji Subhas Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj to liberate India from the British and fight the war in Burma.

True to its genre and in his inimitable style, Dhulia recreates the war era with utmost accuracy.

The film is packed with facts and well-researched. Be it the war scenes or the court room drama, the sepia tones, languages spoken, get-up of the characters, are all precise and honestly portrayed, but somewhere, the film suffers from information overload causing fatigue to set in for the viewer. It is interesting, but not engrossing. Completely devoid of entertainment, it has a limited appeal for lovers of history only. In parts, it also appears to be an underlying propaganda film.

The screenplay, which recourses to flashback while in the courtroom, apprising viewers with what happened at the war front in Burma, is a tad lengthy and confusing as one loses the thread.

On the performance front, all the three lead actors render realistic performances — right from their body language to their diction, conveying their patriotism and emotional struggle with conviction. Amit Sadh, however, shines as the feisty and dauntless, Gurbaksh Dhillon.

Mohit Marwah too makes an impact with his strong portrayal of a brave soldier and a gentle lover. Mrudula Murali, a southern actor, in her debut Hindi film as Captain Lakshmi is effervescent and has a striking screen presence. She essays her character with realism and takes it a few notches above the script.

Kenneth Desai as lawyer Bhulabhai Desai, who defends the trio, is eloquent and powerful in the courtroom scenes. Kanwaljit Singh as P.K. Sahgal’s distraught father is his usual self but charismatic. Kenny Basumatary is every inch Bose in his physical demeanour and oratory, making the character come alive on screen.

The film expectedly boasts of good production values and takes you into that period effortlessly. Cinematographer Rishi Punjabi captures the war scenes through his lens with exactness and succeeds in repulsing the viewer with the raw bloodshed and gore.

The music helps in creating the mood and “Hawaaon mein woh aag hai” is soulful, and of course “Kadam kadam badhaye ja” is skilfully used to stir patriotism.

Overall, this film although well-made, fails to evoke patriotism and obviously does not even attempt to entertain.

Also Read: ‘Mubarakan’: Strong performance uplift this comedy (Review)

Also Read: ‘Indu Sarkar’: An astutely mounted propaganda film (Review)

By Troy Ribeiro

Film: “Sarkar 3”; Director: Ram Gopal Varma; Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Manoj Bajpai, Ronit Roy, Yami Gautam; Rating: ****

It is easy to see the third instalment of Ram Gopal Varma’s “Sarkar” franchise as an unnecessary carryover of a saga that has lost its relevance and sheen. But “Sarkar 3” rises far above the wasteland of a stagnant crime-drama to give us an insight into a life of outlawry that is richly layered with blood and drama.

Bal Thackeray is dead. Long live Bal Thackeray. In Amitabh Bachchan’s persona –steely, gritty, imperturbable, granite-hard and yet malleable and vulnerable — the Thackeray doppelganger is uncanny. The walk, the talk and the ability to walk that talk to places where the dialogue writer would never have imagined. Take a bow, Mr B. They don’t make em like you anymore.

It takes courage to build one more plot around that formidable and imposing figure from Maharashtra’s politics who rewrote the rules of politics and who gave political arrogance a sexy edge. The last Sarkar film came 9 years ago. And the figure of Subhash Nagre is now threatened with obsolescence, if not complete irrelevance.

Also Watch: Super Singh Official Trailer I Diljit Dosanjh I Sonam Bajwa I

Also Watch: Raftaar says ‘Baby Marvake Maanegi’ with Nora Fatehi

And yet here lies Varma’s triumph. He manufactures a compelling if somewhat cramped and at times campy yarn of a wizened but still-spirited political outlaw who has no appetite for betrayal and disloyalty.
“In order to understand politics you first need to get a hang of the politics in the family. It’s called Palace politics,” says Subhash Nagre, slurping tea out of the plate while, please note, the grandson Shivaji (Amit Sadh in engaging form) also slurps over his cuppa.

Lineage, continuity and perpetuity are big in “Sarkar 3”. Outsiders are seen as traitors and marauders. In fact the film makes a pitch for nepotism in crime and politics arguing that absolute loyalty can only be traced in the bloodline. In blueprinting this genealogical fact of clannish life, the narrative stretches the tendons of its muscular drama into scenes that are constructed robustly and at times with enrapturing vividness.

There are some terrific shootouts in this film reminiscent of episodes from Ram Gopal Varma’s best gangster films in the past. Parking lots are a favourite haunt for violence in this film. Ram Gopal Varma seems to tell us there’s more to cars than Rohit Shetty. Indeed “Sarkar 3” marks the return to form for the long-disoriented filmmaker. He cuts and shoots the scenes in long shots and breathless pauseless frames that cover the dramatic tension without toppling over into overstatements.

Manoj Bajpai joins the gang-war somewhere in the preamble and opts out too soon. He has some of the best lines on the criminalization of politics. Sadly the script doesn’t listen to Bajpai’s harangue, busy as it is hero-worshipping the outlawed aging hero. Bajpai’s one sequence with Mr. Bachchan where Bajpai’s character Govind Deshpande mocks Mr. Bachchan’s Nagre from a public podium for subverting Gandhian ideals is worth its weight in gold.

Of course Varma being Varma he does like shooting his actors from odd angles, like Yami Gautam, who has never looked more seductive, captured from inside the handle of a teacup. Tea-hee.

The women, Gautam, Supriya Pathak and Rohini Hattangadi get little space in this predominantly masculine war of supremacy. And that one scene where Hattangadi blows a kiss at her screen son would have you whistling in excitement.

The background score didn’t have to be persuasive, though. We get the point without the over-punctuation.

Strangely very few people get killed in the course of the storytelling although the body count seems a lot higher. And when archvillain Jackie Shroff, swimming and sexing in Dubai, dies at the end “that’s not a spoiler, it’s nemesis”, we feel a surge of empathy for the Nagre family that has lost a lot of blood, but never in vain.

Watch “Sarkar 3” for the way Varma frames the familial feud in flames of fury. The performances are largely effective specially those by Ronit Roy and Amit Sadh. The latter comes into his own as Mr Bachchan’s uncontrollable grandson. But above all, this is one more triumphant celluloid outing for Amitabh Bachchan who invests his role of the aging tiger-neta with a kind of cosmic resonance that goes way beyond that famous baritone.

Yup, they don’t make star-actors like Amitabh Bachchan any more. Ram Gopal Varma reminds us of the Bachchan charisma in ways that are deeply nostalgic and exceedingly provocative.

By Subhash K Jha

IANS

Tigmanshu Dhulia launched his new film Raag Desh. The historical period drama is based on Subhash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army trials. Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh and Mohit Marwah are playing three main characters in the films. Tigmanshu also cut his birthday cake at the launch of the movie attended by renowned directors like Raj Kumar Santoshi, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ketan Mehta, Shaad Ali and Sudhir Mishra. Rajya sabha TV CEO Gurdeep Singh Sapal is producing the movie.