Sarkar

In case you didn’t know, this is Ram Gopal Verma’s tribute to Godfather. Its gripping, its intense (no songs), it transfers quite masterfully the Italian tour-de-force to Indian (Mumbai’s) shores. Amitabh was good in the lead role, the supporting cast (specially KK Menon) were excellent, but for me Abhishek stole the show – he was outstanding in his rendition of Michael Coreleone, impish and relaxed on one hand and serious, very much the ‘its business, not personal’ kind of guy on the other.

However, unlike the book and to an extent even the English movie, somethings are not explained that well – for example the rise of Sarkar, how / why, his style of working and why he is a darling of the masses, Abhishek’s entry into the business / his thought process. And of course the end – in Godfather, there is a neatness about the end which is lacking here…its kind of there but not quite….The direction / cinematography is very good, the movie is a bit too dark though…its deliberate and I guess helps maintain the intensity of the movie, but it does also not make you feel you know any of the characters well enough, gives the movie a claustrophobic air. I also lamented how unrecognizable Supriya Pathak had become – from being the doe-eyed sultry siren of my adolescent years, she really does seem to have let go, I couldn’t believe it was her !

If you haven’t seen Godfather or read the book, you’re going to love it. If you have, you’ll probably just settle for ‘it’s a very good movie’.