Director: Prakash Jha 

Star Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Bajpai, Sarah Thompson, Nikhila Tirkha

 

Prakash Jha’s ‘Raajneeti’ as the name implies is a political drama and a fight for power. It is a modern day replication of Mahabharata where swords, bows and arrows are replaced with ballot war and lot of bloodshed. In the movie it is shown that how politics is not about running the country but it’s a thirsty war for power. Politicians are the people who run the government of the country and decide the good and bad of the country but, what they actually do is fight for the throne and battle for power.  

 

Jha beautifully compared each character in the movie with that of Mahabharat characters. It is the dark side of democratic India. It has depicted ‘Raajneeti’ i.e. Politics as Pandava-Kauravas conflict where Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) is represented as Arjun and Nana Patekar is represented as Krishna. Samar has a strong and significant personal life also. He has two women in his life, one is his childhood friend Indu(Katrina Kaif) and an American girlfriend Sara (Sara Thompson). On the other hand, Manoj Bajpai is depicted as the Duryodhan and Ajay Devgan is the modern day Karna.

 

Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) has a strong role in the movie. After the assassination of his father, Samar who was unaware of this world had to jump into the politics whirlpool. Samar had been pursuing a PhD in Victorian literature and enters the political legacy fight as a fresher. Ranbir kapoor’s elder brother in the movie is Arjun Rampal who plays the role of an unpredictable, angry young man whose ego gets hurt very soon and who is completely submerged in the family’s dark trade.

 

The general picture of the story is- Manoj Bajpayee was the son of an esteemed politician. But, things change when his father passes away and his uncle takes over the power. Manoj Bajpayee depicted as Duryodhan starts feeling neglected because his uncle’s sons Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor becomes the next heir to the power-throne. So, Manoj Bajpayee join hands with Ajay Devgan who is a Dalit youth leader and also the step brother of Arjun and Ranbir which gets revealed later.  Ajay Devgan can be depicted as Karan from Mahabharat who gets used by Duryodhan.

 

However, the magnetic character of the movie is Ranbir kapoor whose entry as Samar Pratap Singh brings a twist in the movie. Nana Patekar plays Samir’s ally and guide who knows how to solve complex political mathematics readily.

 

It’s a serious movie full of thrills and it needs to be watched very carefully to understand the concept. Acting wise, the movie tops because all of the actors seems to have poured their bests. From Katrina Kaif to Ranbir Kapoor and Nana Patekar everyone seems to have entered the character’s skin. One of the lines spoken by Nana Patekar is worth mentioning he said, “Faisle sahi ya ghalat nahin hote. Unka mol toh maksad poora karne ke liye hota hai. Chahe jaise bhi ho. (Decisions are never correct or wrong. Their worth is restricted to meeting the goal let it be by hook or by crook).”

 

Verdict: Raajneeti is a must watch for people who love watching meaty plots and excellent acting. It’s a not one of the run-of-the-mill movies and It is worth the money so go for it!