Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Nana Patekar, Sarah Thompson
Genre: Drama
Direction: Prakash Jha
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
Ratings-4.5/5.
Language-Hindi.
Pros-Powerful acting and a superb thrilling-like narration. Cons-Gets a little confusing in the beginning. Introduction-Prakash Jha’s new Hindi film, Raajneeti, takes a hard-hitting and no non sense view of Indian politics. We all know how dirty, cruel and ruthless politics can be and Jha has managed to impress us with his accurate portrayal of engaging situations and characters which often crosses the thin line between the good and the evil. Even though there have been speculations that the movie is loosely based on the life of Sonia Gandhi, Jha seems to have based his film on two main sources-Godfather and our very own epic Mahabharata. Well people might cry hoarse how Jha took inspiration, but we don’t really mind it, simply because we loved getting engrossed in the ruthless battle for power and victory. Plot- Cousins Veerendra Pratap Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) and Prithvi Pratap Singh(Arjun Rampal) play heirs of a powerful political part and when Prithvi is given greater responsibility, Veerendra gets offended. To take revenge, a he joins hand with backward class leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan).His motive is to evict Prithvi from the party at any cost. Meanwhile Prithvi’s younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) is happy leading a quiet and peaceful life abroad. However change of circumstances brings him back to his roots and thereafter he starts getting more and more entangled in this complex war for power. Thereafter he learns rules of the game pretty fast and has got senior party and family member Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) to guide him. He takes charge of the messy political condition of the state and makes Prithvi contest against Veerendra.
The battle then shifts to the election grounds and this is what forms of the crux of the film. General Reviews-All the actors have given power packed and compelling performances. While Ranbir and Arjun are brilliant in their respective roles, Katrina has given her heart and soul in this role. She is extremely convincing, so much so that it makes you wonder what made Ranbir choose a thanda foreigner over this spunky woman. Manoj Bajpayee shines once again in this role and it makes you remember his brilliant performances in films like Satya and Zubeida. Ajay Devgan returns once again to his angry-man avatar and we are absolutely mesmerized by his brooding and intense character. The script does not undermine the intelligence of the audience and the narration is extremely fast. Though it’s a little confusing in the beginning, but soon we find ourselves getting sucked into this drama more and more. Conclusion-We would say go for it. If you have become bored these days watching mindless comedies or scripts that fail to provide any logic, it’s time you experience the magic of a brilliant story coming alive before your eyes.