Raajneeti Movie Reviews

The Hindu epic Mahabharata and the American film classic 'The Godfather'--both gripping stories about corrupt family dynasties and the power struggles within them--are the basis for 'Raajneeti,' a thriller about down-and-dirty regional Indian politics. The film is not about political views or agendas, but rather, behind-the-scenes jockeying for control of a political party. And oh, is it cynical. While the film succeeds at turning something as plodding as political maneuverings--even lurid ones--into a dramatic epic, the characters are largely too despicable and unsympathetic for audiences to care who wins. The actors make them riveting villains at least.

The story follows the Pratap family and begins with Bharti, a high-ranking mainstream politician's daughter, who joins a leftist group led by Bhaskar Sanyal (Naseeruddin Shah), with whom she has an affair. After Bhaskar vanishes, she gives birth to his son, Sooraj, who is taken from her by her brother Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar). Bharti marries into the Pratap family and has two more sons: Prithvi (Arjun Rampal) and Samar (Ranbir Kapoor). Unbeknownst to anyone, Sooraj is raised by none other than the Pratap family's chauffeur. Once he reaches adulthood, Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) challenges the Prataps for leadership while their party is in disarray, going up against Prithvi and taking sides with Prithvi's wronged cousin Veerendra (Manoj Bajpai).

If anyone thought Rampal's impressive performance in 'Rock On!!' (2008), which earned the model-turned-actor a prestigious National Film Award, was a fluke, his turn here as the ruthless Prithvi puts those doubts to rest. Prithvi is the dashing and explosive foil to his younger brother Samar, a Michael Corleone-type character who has just finished his dissertation on Victorian poetry at an American university. Samar's sweet, innocent girlfriend Sarah (played by American actress Sarah Thompson) follows him to India, where he turns into a lethal political operative for Prithvi following the murder of their father. But we don't get a rehash of Pacino's cold, calculating performance--Kapoor's character maintains the façade of his former self--a gentle, bespectacled student--while he murders opponents and lies to two women he doesn't love--Sarah and his childhood friend, Indu (Katrina Kaif). We only see the real Samar when he's alone, dragging on crackling cigarettes with the smoke swirling in his evil eyes.

Indu is the most challenging character Kaif has tackled to date, and she convincingly pulls off Indu's compelling development from silly girl to scorned lover, reluctant bride to devoted wife, and finally into a noble widow who finds her life's purpose. (Although the director Prakash Jha has denied that Kaif's character was inspired by Sonia Gandhi, Indu is strikingly similar to the Congress party president nonetheless.) Indu is the only character who remains uncompromised, and in fact, her climb to power makes her more righteous, not less. While she's ultimately the redeemer of the fallen Pratap family, and thus the hero of the story, she's relegated to the background for too much of it.

Soundtrack

 The background score of the film was composed by Wayne Sharpe while the soundtrack was composed by Wayne Sharpe, Pritam, Aadesh Shrivastava and Shantanu Moitra. The lyrics were penned by Irshad Kamil, Gulzar, Sameer and Swanand Kirkire. The soundtrack consists of four original songs and four remixes.

Track	Song	Artist(s)	Composer	Lyricists
1	Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si	Mohit Chauhan,Antara Mitra	Pritam	Irshad Kamil
2	Mora Piya	Aadesh Shrivastava, Shashi, Rosalie Nicholson	Aadesh Shrivastava	Sameer
3	Ishq Barse	Pronob Biswas,Apurba Iyer,Swanand Kirkire	Shantanu Moitra	Swanand Kirkire
4	Dhan Dhan Dharti	Shankar Mahadevan	Wayne Sharpe	Gulzar
5	Mora Piya (Trance Mix)	Kavita Seth	Aadesh Shrivastava	Sameer
6	Ishq Barse (The Bombay Bounce Club Mix)	Pronob Biswas,Hamsika Iyer,Swanand Kirkire	Shantanu Moitra	Swanand Kirkire
7	Mora Piya (Twilight Mix)	Aadesh Shrivastava, Sachin Pandit and Shashi	Aadesh Shrivastava	Sameer
8	Dhan Dhan Dharti (Call of the Soul)	Sonu Nigam	Wayne Sharpe	Gulzar

Reception

In India, Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times rated it 3/5 and said, "None of the actors assembled on stage let him (the director) down; right from an unusually inspired Rampal to his powerful, polar opposite Bajpayee". Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India rated it 4/5 and said, "The film basically anchors its plot in two classic tales — The Mahabharata and The Godfather — to create an engrossing diatribe on India's political system where democracy may prevail, but not in its purest form." Anupama Chopra of NDTV rated it 3/5 and said "Jha creates a real sense of the machinations and sordid deals that fuel politics but then hobbles it with outlandish twists and some decidedly 'filmy' moments". Rajeev Masand of IBN said, "Raajneeti is thrilling and gripping for the most part, even though it does lose steam in its final act. For the superb acting, and for the exciting dramatic highs, it's a film I recommend you do not miss."
In the U.S., Rachel Saltz of The New York Times said, "The film – full of romance, intrigue and fraternal strife – is too diffuse to score political points. Or to have much impact." Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times found that while it aimed "for something trenchant about thwarted destiny and ugly ambition in modern Indian democracy", it "mostly winds up with a convoluted and tonally awkward Godfather rehash, with nary a character worth rooting for," and that "Kapoor's performance is stony rather than calculating...." Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, "More pulpy than political, this Godfather-ripoff Hindi electoral drama is a candidate for oblivion in U.S. theatres.... It all eventually becomes so ridiculous and over-the-top violent that there is nobody, nobody, to root for."

Box Office Performance

Raajneeti recorded an opening of nearly  10.50 crore net on its first day. It had the second highest Friday opening in India after 3 Idiots, and the highest Friday opening in the first half of the year, surpassing Kites. It collected  34 crore at the end of the weekend and set a record for biggest weekend in the first half of the year, surpassing Housefull. It showed no major decline in business on Tuesday and collected Rs. 5.85 crore. At the end of the first week, the film collected Rs. 54.75 crore and set a record for biggest week in the first half of the year beating Housefull. Raajneeti sustained well in the second weekend and collected  16.25 crore. Rajneeti nett grossed 929.3 million(s) (US$17 million) in India with a distributor share of 487.2 million(s) (US$8.9 million). It is currently the tenth highest grossing Bollywood film.
Overseas, the film opened to weekend business of $2.25 million. In the U.S., the film played well for a limited release, noted Ray Subers of BoxOfficeMojo.com, grossing $850,244 on 124 screens its opening weekend, "which was good for first among limited releases and 11th place on the overall weekend chart." He specified that Raajneeti "became the third Bollywood movie this year to lead all limited releases in its first weekend," following My Name is Khan and Kites. In Australia and New Zealand, Raajneeti surpassed the opening weekend record set by 3 Idiots.