Mala Chakravorty has a Ph.D. in
American Women's
fiction from I.I.T. Delhi, and Master's degrees in English and American
Studies from Delhi University and Smith College, Massachusetts. She has
worked in the School of Women's Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata,
and Women's Studies Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa,
Honolulu. She switched from academics to Information Technology in
1999, and is currently working as Marketing Manager with NIIT
Technologies, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia. Apart from her academic articles,
Mala's short stories have been published in Sulekha.com and BAGA annual
magazines.
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Screenplay: Manish Gupta
Cinematography: Amit Roy
Editing: Nipun Gupta and Amit Parmar
Art Direction: Sunil Nigvekar
Music: Amar Mohile.
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kay Kay Menon, Supriya Pathak, Rukshar, Katrina Kaif, Anupam Kher, Tanisha, Jeeva, Kota Srinivas, Veerendra
Saxena.
The film poignantly depicts how the desire for power and personal gain can erode family relationships and personal trusts that need to be nurtured. What also makes this film special are the compelling performances Varma has extracted from his cast, especially from Amitabh
Bachchan...
Sarkar opens with the statement, “When A System Fails, A Power Will Rise”. Credited as being inspired by The Godfather, Ram Gopal Varma’s much awaited film starring Amitabh and Abhishekh
Bachchan, centers around power and the abuse of power in the criminal scenario that rules contemporary India.
Sarkar is the story of Mumbai don, Subhash Nagare, who runs an undeclared parallel government, doing what he feels is right, regardless of law or order. Referred to as Sarkar by his followers, Nagare lives in a fort protected by an army of his own. We aren’t told much about him -- there are no accounts of how he became
Sarkar. All we are shown is Nagare listening to appeals, and following his self-proclaimed dictum of ‘there’s no right or wrong, there’s only power’ to take up the causes he feels to be just. He is impervious to threats or bribes, and amasses tremendous respect and fear from the mass he nurtures. He advocates his own brand of justice and morality, taking pride in the fact that he does not harm the innocent or permit anyone else to harm them. Surrounded by a loving family and dependents, one thorn on his side is his rebellious elder son, who unleashes his own reign of terror, vehemently flouting his father’s strictures against abuse of power.
Plot wise Sarkar is quite simple. It is about a man who has acquired unparalleled power that threatens politicians, the police force and the underworld, and his enemies who form a nexus and conspire to eliminate him and his
sarkar. It is also the story of his two sons. The elder, Vishnu, loses his father’s support when he commits a heinous crime, and is befriended by the enemies who see in him a Trojan horse.
The younger, Shankar, vindicates his father by destroying all his enemies and eventually takes over the mantle of power. The film ends with a weeping woman addressing Shankar as Sarkar as she appeals to him for justice while Nagare plays with his grandson. Á la The Godfather, a new Sarkar is born.
We have seen several underworld movies before, and the story of the parent with the bad son and good son is quite common in Bollywood filmography. So what makes this film special? The fact that it is made by Ram Gopal Varma who is a maestro when it comes to depicting the underworld as it really is, gritty and stark and brutally violent. As is the trademark of Varma, the black and white lines of conventional mob films are dulled to various shades of grey in this allegory of a battle between trust and betrayal, responsibility and lawlessness, morality and ruthless ambition. The film poignantly depicts how the desire for power and personal gain can erode family relationships and personal trusts that need to be nurtured. What also makes this film special are the compelling performances Varma has extracted from his cast, especially from Amitabh
Bachchan.
Here we have Mr.
Bachchan, who is ubiquitous these days, having appeared in about seven movies since December, playing a don all over again. However, in this film he is modeled on the persona of Shiv Sena Supremo Bal
Thakeray, more than on the mafia bosses he played in films like
Deewar, Adalat, Don or Agnipath. He doesn’t resort to any gimmicks, there are no guttural monologues, exaggerated dialects or overstated mannerisms to portray the Messiah Subhas
Nagare.
Effectively underplaying emotionalism and using silence as a tool of communication, Mr. Bachchan conveys the entire gamut of feelings through expressions and gestures -- rage, frustration, grief, disappointment, tenderness are all depicted through a piercing stare, a raising of the eyebrow, a nod of the head, a small movement of the hand, an indulgent smile, a hand on someone’s head, a tear rolling down. One more feather in his well-adorned cap, Mr. Bachchan plays Subhash Nagare with such conviction that we don't realize it is really the Aby Baby we are watching. Instead, we see a lean and frail old man with drooping shoulders, deep lines etched on his face, a string of rudraksha beads wrapped around his hand, forehead marked with a
vermilion tilak, sipping tea from a saucer, chatting with his family members and staff. We also see him offering tea to a drug dealer while unambiguously rejecting an offer for a lucrative deal, and sense the extent of his overpowering menace. It is not the brooding intensity that simmered within the Amitabh persona of Zanjeer or
Deewar, but it does bring back to memories of that era to every filmgoer who has been a fan of the phenomenon called Amitabh
Bachchan.
Abhishek in a supportive role, matches his legendary father, portraying Shankar’s unquestioning faith and zealous loyalty for his father and what he represents with sincerity and emotion. Having come a long way from the gawky romantic ingénues he played in earlier films, Abhishekh gives a mature and intense performance.
However, compared to the role his character is based on, there is little of the conflict that gave depth and irony to Michael Corleone’s transition from war hero to a ruthless mafia don. It could also be a narrative directive to focus more on the father than on the sons. Of the two sons,
Shankar, the carefree NRI who becomes his father’s heir, is somewhat one-dimensional, lacking the anguish and anger that epitomizes the quick-tempered, power-hungry, foul-mouthed Vishnu, played with searing intensity and manic energy by Kay Kay
Menon, an actor to look out for.
As for the rest of the cast, Supriya Pathak as Nagare’s wife and Rukhsar as Vishnu’s wife are good. Katrina Kaif as Shankar’s NRI girlfriend and Tanisha as the third angle in this triangle, seem to be gratuitous additions to give the plot a pinch of romance. Anupam Kher is effective in a brief cameo. The people who form the world of
Sarkar, played by little known faces are excellent, including secretary Ishrat Ali, consiglieri
Chandar, South India counterpart Silver Mani, Chief Minister friend Deepak
Shirke, politician Raju Mavani, drug peddler Rashid and the Chandraswami 'look-alike'
Virendraswami.
The presentation is inimitable Ram Gopal Verma. The narrative is taut, with a tight script that consistently maintains its relentless pace. The menace of violence simmers beneath the surface, even though the actual depiction of blood is muted. The opening sequence with the voice-over narration of the first mission we see Nagare taking on, the confrontations between Vishnu and
Nagare, Shankar’s vendetta culminating in the killing of Rashid and entrapment of
Virendraswami, the closing scene with Shankar assuming his father’s role, are stylishly shot. There are no excesses of dialogue; close-ups of facial expressions often replace narration. The cinematography is excellent, coloring the whole film in monochromatic sepia tones, giving it a documentary-like realism without taking away from the drama of the narrative. Mumbai streets and alleys come to pulsating life with a frightening reality. Nagare’s home is constructed with meticulous attention paid to details -- his wife offering tea to the guests, the maid cleaning in the background, the grandchild cycling in the lobby. Adding to the intensity is the powerful music score, though the oft-repeated chants of
Govinda, Govinda can get a bit jarring. Thankfully, the predictable item number is missing in this song-less film.
If I had any problem at all with the film, it is the close resemblance to The Godfather in framing of scenes, plot, characterization and overall feel. To Varma’s credit, he has done a remarkable job of indigenizing Coppola’s mob masterpiece and giving it a Maharashtrian flavor. He has also given his don a charisma and mass popularity that is definitely inspired by homegrown sources, but a remake is a remake is a remake and to me, usually falls short of the original. That is my personal peeve. I also have a feeling that minus the expected masala ingredients, it may not be too popular amongst those who like to wallow in the tears and laughter invoked by feel-good family fares with Mr. Bachchan (more often than not) dancing to catchy Sudesh Bhosle numbers or even those who like crime thrillers with blood splattered action sequences and item numbers.
That apart, once the deadly combination of Varma and Bachchan-Bachchan draws us into the theatre, and we set The Godfather aside, we get an excellent film, dark, intense and powerful, not to be missed by an cinema lovers who enjoy movies that step out of the boundaries of conventional Bollywood formula.
