Sunday, June 06, 2010

The Mark of a Craftsman-Rajneeti

For the various political campaigns and social activities that Prakash Jha has veen involved earlier in Bihar, this film comes straight from his heart. You know when there is a National Award winning director delivering a hard-hitting political drama, he inserts his personal ifs and bits of political experiences into the reel. And, that is exactly what Prakash Jha does in his characters. 



Yes, Rajneeti' story is set in the backdrop of epic Mahabharata. Prakash Jha has tried to make us realise how the Mahabharata is relevant today in the political dynasty. The Indian political clan is more or less starts with the Gandhi parivar and he tried to show the same with the Pratap familiy. The Pandavas and Kauravas confrontation were to be constantly seen amongst Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor. Lord Krishna as Nana Patekar  and Karan as Ajay Devgan lends power to the show.

This is not a song-and-dance movie, so you are for some real acting. You have some intense actors like Ajay, Manoj, Nana Patekar and they exactly played their parts to the core. Ajay has played off shaded characters such as this in Yuva so the Dalit hero character suited him pretty well. Ranbir and Arjun are brillaint in their performances.

What do I take from this movie? I see and get glimpses of how Indian party elections are run, how tickets are provided, how you get the vote banks and so on. It is a common truth that politics is dirty and its not for us.But, politics is interesting and needs young people to cleanse it.

Rajneeti is a good movie, but if someone asked me would I ever decide to contest elections or get into politics. My answer is NO. It is indeed a difficult arena where you have to think miles ahead before you consider taking any decision. Prakash Jha-right from DAMUL to RAJNEET you have the 'master of a craftsman' written all over.