MLTR - Rajneeti

RAJNEETI REVIEW

Starring:

• Ranbir Kapoor as Samar Pratap
• Arjul Rampal as Prithviraj "Prithvi" Pratap
• Manoj Bajpai as Veerendra Pratap
• Ajay Devagan as Sooraj Kumar
• Katrina Kaif as Indu Pratap
• Nana Patekar as Brij Gopal
• Nikhila Trikha as Bharti Rai
• Naseeruddin Shah as Bhaskar Sanyal

Directer: Prakash Jha,
Music: Wayne Sharpe
Cinematography: Sachin Krishn

A modern re-telling of Mahabharata, Rajneeti has all the ingredients to keep you engrossed throughout the movie. Imagine the role of Chanakya being performed by one of the Pandavas himself, and you got yourself a very interesting storyline. A very vivid portrayal of our country's political affairs, Rajneeti shows how everything is fair in love, war and politics. Bhanu Pratap, the leader of Rashtrawadi political party, suffers from an heart-attack during a crucial moment before an impending state election, leaving him paralyzed and hence, preventing him to continue as the party president. In his absence, he appoints his brother Chandra Pratap and his son  Prithvi Pratap to be in charge for the party affairs. This leaves Veerendra Pratap, son of Bhanu Pratap, furious as Veerendra believes that he is the rightful heir to the party's throne. Veerendra Pratap is at odds with every decision made by his uncle, including the appointment of the party candidate to Azad Nagar constituency, culminating in a friendship between the local dalit leader Sooraj Kumar and Veerendra Pratap. It is told in a flashback that Sooraj Kumar is actually the son of Bharti Rai, wife of Chandra Pratap, and was born out of wedlock when she shared a moment of passion with her political guru and leftist leader Bhaskar Sanyal. Brij Gopal, brother of Bharti, wraps the child in a cloth and abandons him in a boat. This child was found by a Dailt family and is being raised as one of their own. Because of his valor, Sooraj Kumar quickly becomes the favorite of Azad Nagar.

Samar Pratap, the younger brother of Prithvi Pratap, doesn't wish to be a part of the family politics, and hence decides to go back to New York to finish his PhD. After Chandra Pratap sends off Samar at the airport, he is assassinated on the way to his home by an unidentified gunman. This makes Samar to postpone his trip and come back  to be with his family. Prithvi Pratap becomes furious at the lack of security of his father which led to his assassination, and vents his anger at the police officers. Prithvi is then taken into custody, and while in jail, he is also filed under charge of rape on one of his estranged woman party member. Samar understands that these moves against his family are being made by Veerendra and Sooraj. Samar, with the assistance of his uncle Brij Gopal, vows to take revenge. And thus starts the tale of Rajneeti of Samar Pratam.
By meticulous planning, Samar makes all charges against Prithvi Pratap to be dropped, and makes Prithvi the Chief Minister-nominee of the party. However, Veerendra manages to convince his paralyzed father  Bhanu Pratam to sign an edict that dismisses Prithvi Pratap from the party. This is exactly the outcome Samar wanted, and he, along with his brother and his uncle Brij, floats a new party in direct opposition Rashtrawadi political party. However, Samar finds it difficult to garner the required funds to manage the party. He then manages to convince Indu, who has a huge crush on Samar, to marry Prithvi to assure the funding worth 50 crores from Indu's father as Indu's father would only lend his hand to the person who would eventually become the candidate for chief minister.

Exit polls indicate Prithvi to be the forerunner for the chief minister post, and this makes Veerendra angry for not being able to fulfill his dream of becoming a chief minister. Sooraj kumar, unable to see the sorry state of his friend and mentor Veerendra, arranges a successful plot to kill Prithvi in a bomb blast, leaving only Samar and Indu as the heirs of Chandra Pratap's legacy. Samar then convinces Indu to run for the elections as the chief minister nominee, and she is shown to be able to sway the emotions of the mass to her side. Meanwhile, Bharti Rai meets Sooraj Kumar and reveals the true lineage of Sooraj. Sooraj, though moved by his discovery of his real parents and siblings, is still unflinching in his support of Veerendra Pratap.

Samar finally decides to end the family war once and for all, and arranges for a scheme to entice Veerendra Pratap to come to a secluded place without his cohorts. Sooraj is intimated of the sudden departure of Veerendra, and realizing something is amiss, he follows Veerendra. After making Veerendra to come out his car, Samar and his party people try to shoot down Veerendra. Even though Sooraj has a chance to take down Samar, he flinches for a moment perhaps due to his new found brotherhood, and gives a chance for Samar to escape. However, one of the bullets hits Veerendra in his chest, and Sooraj, realizing that the only chance of Veerendra to survive is to immediately take him to hospital, tries to make a deal with Samar wherein Veerendra and Sooraj will relinquish all of their political ambitions in exchange of Veerendra's life. However, Veerendra dies on the arms of Sooraj, and Brij Gopal convinces Samar that the only way to end this feud is to kill Sooraj too. Samar, still unaware that Sooraj is his brother, kills him, hence, bringing this "Kurukshetra" to an end. Indu is shown as becoming the chief minister, and Samar leaves his politics behind to leave to New York.

All of the characters have performed really well, including the perennial underachiever Arjun Rampal. However, the break-out characters out of the ensemble cast are Manoj Bajpai and Ranbir Kapoor. Manoj Bajpai adds his own elements of acting to skillfully portray the ambitious Veerendra Pratap. Ranbir Kapoor, portraying Samar Pratap, gives one of his best performances to this date. In contrast to his chocolate boy image, Ranbir Kapoor is shown as a shrewd mind, and who would go to any extent to protect his family and his party's ambitions. And how can I forget to mention the transformation of Katrina Kaif from an ultra-modern girl to a Sonia Gandhi-esque politician. Overall, I found the movie to be very enjoyable and definitely a paisa vasool.

As mentioned above, the story line is very similar to that of Mahabharata, albeit with few changes. Some similarities and contrasts that I am able to find:
1. The role of Nana Patekar is very similar to that of. Bhishma. However, unlike Bhishma, Nana Patekar is on the side of  Samar Pratap (the Pandavas)
2. Unlike Mahabarata in which there were 100 Gauravas and 5 Pandyas, there is only 1 Gaurava (Manoj Bajpai) and 2 Pandavas (Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor) in Rajneeti
3. Arjun's character resembles to Yudhistra, and Ranbir's that of Arjun. However, I find that Ranbir's character is also show to have the characteristics of Chankya. The absence of a visible Chanakya type character in support of Manoj Bajpai only strengthens my point of view.
4. Ajay Devagan as Sooraj is the modern avatar of Karna. The resemblances are uncanny. For example, Karna's adopted father was a Charioteer, where as Sooraj's adpoted father is a car driver for the Prataps. Also, as Karna's anger against Pandavas gets dissolved when Kunti reveals his true lineage, so does Ajay's anger against Samar Pratam, making Ajay to exhibit reluctance to shoot Samar when he had a choice. While Duryodhana makes Karna the King of Anga, Veerendra Pratap gives Sooraj one of the posts in party high-commission.