First of all to put an end to the never ending debate to the Sarkar Vs Godfather, this is NOT a Godfather and can never be one, thanks to it's over-hyped characterisation, thin plot & most importantly an underplayed protagonist. When you see a director of the class of RGV making statements like "I wanted to make this movie from 25 yrs ... This is my best movie so far ..."., your clinical analysis should be prefect. Read this review & you will appreciate why I've said so, without any prejudice.
First of all, why do you think Godfather is bible for many young directors? Put it simply, its characterisation, its drama & powerful dialogues set amidst a realistically paced screenplay. Of course we need not copy Godfather but what we need to understand is the essence of film-making taken from the Godfather saga. RGV himself has attributed his inspiration from this film by which I will assume he does justice to its style of film-making. Unfortunately he disappoints in many sectors.
1) The PLOT
The whole plot of the movie is about two things - killing Sarkar & taking revenge on Sarkar's assassination attempt. This is where the film fails to justify its protagonist's role. Where have you seen Sarkar;s character growing.., sharing his principles with the family, where did you see Sarkar's treatment of the business, where is it captured the nuances of the character building?
In fact the first 15 mins is the only place where Sarkar has been portrayed well. The rest just sidelines the main theme - SARKAR to a mere revenge, plot killing saga of hero vs villain.
2) Too many villains.
This is a conventional storyline with too many caricatures throwing in as Goons. OK., now for comparison with Godfather(mind you this is just the style of film-making & not the actual film), have you seen a single villain glorified in the whole trilogy? The whole crux was on Godfather & his son, how they manage the business. SIMPLE. You don't throw in loud music, lots of characters to over emphasise a bad guy. This is absolute cliché. Too many reels wasted on showing the bad guys when its not so important to show them.
3) Too loud music.
Whatever happened with RGV, he seems to be choosing the wrong person for BG score these days. Amar Mohile is annoying and irritating most of the times. He doesn't know that adding music for every scene actually spoils the impact & effect. Besides if you notice, there are 4-5 instruments used in the same scene ( Sitar, classical, dhol, violin. synths .., which change the mood of the film in seconds). For a dark movie, you only need violin & bass. or else no music. Perhaps ar rahman or Sandeep Chowta are the only ones who know the basics in this dept.
4) Underplayed characters.
As mentioned, Sarkar is underplayed. There is not much scope or role for him after 45 mins of the movie. & for all those who are praising AB's acting skills., they need to justify the same. There isn't much scope for him in this. I don't remember a single powerful, yet subtle dialogue from him in this movie. It's a shame that a protagonist himself is underplayed. The only person who exemplified in acting in this movie was Kay Kay. Absolutely brilliant !!! But unfortunately we don't see much of his character being built up after the interval which is bad. There could have been so much scope to his dark shaded side. Abhishek is good, nothing extra ordinary again. (Yuva has much larger scope & its still his best)
There was so much talk about Sarkar's "power". Unfortunaltey Amitabh looks helpless, throughout the movie. He seems to be dependent on his sons & associates & post interval is a mere waste for his role. This is where RGV loses balance & focus. This movie is all about SARKAR & his power (Remember Satya?) not his chamchas, not the villains, not his sons., not the plot. So bingo ! You are lost again.
5) Ending.
A shabby ending which sounds quite banal. Son kills goons., takes over & he is now the DON. In fact they waste 30 mins of reel (in the 120 mins) just to show the chasing, revenge killing which was all unnecessary. (could have done in 5 mins)
The bottomline is RGV like many others fail to understand why Godfather is such a prodigy in film-making. In an attempt to make an adaptation they only take the principle characters & leave behind the characterisation & the plot. But yes, there are a few good moments in the film which deserver an applause, for ex., Abhisheks reaction when he kills his bro etc. The cinematography is brilliant with it's black n grey shades.
Talking of adaptations., "Nayakan" is a far better adaptation than Sarkar. In fact you will be taken aback by the power, performance, story & direction of that movie. Sarkar doesn't even come close to it. Sarkar fails on both the grounds - Godfather adaptation as well as RGV's capability (Just to mention, Satya still is a cult movie & remains his best direction till date). RGV probably is suffering from a post satya syndrome where he is self assuming his films to be near perfection, sadly they are lost in the pipeline.
First of all, why do you think Godfather is bible for many young directors? Put it simply, its characterisation, its drama & powerful dialogues set amidst a realistically paced screenplay. Of course we need not copy Godfather but what we need to understand is the essence of film-making taken from the Godfather saga. RGV himself has attributed his inspiration from this film by which I will assume he does justice to its style of film-making. Unfortunately he disappoints in many sectors.
1) The PLOT
The whole plot of the movie is about two things - killing Sarkar & taking revenge on Sarkar's assassination attempt. This is where the film fails to justify its protagonist's role. Where have you seen Sarkar;s character growing.., sharing his principles with the family, where did you see Sarkar's treatment of the business, where is it captured the nuances of the character building?
In fact the first 15 mins is the only place where Sarkar has been portrayed well. The rest just sidelines the main theme - SARKAR to a mere revenge, plot killing saga of hero vs villain.
2) Too many villains.
This is a conventional storyline with too many caricatures throwing in as Goons. OK., now for comparison with Godfather(mind you this is just the style of film-making & not the actual film), have you seen a single villain glorified in the whole trilogy? The whole crux was on Godfather & his son, how they manage the business. SIMPLE. You don't throw in loud music, lots of characters to over emphasise a bad guy. This is absolute cliché. Too many reels wasted on showing the bad guys when its not so important to show them.
3) Too loud music.
Whatever happened with RGV, he seems to be choosing the wrong person for BG score these days. Amar Mohile is annoying and irritating most of the times. He doesn't know that adding music for every scene actually spoils the impact & effect. Besides if you notice, there are 4-5 instruments used in the same scene ( Sitar, classical, dhol, violin. synths .., which change the mood of the film in seconds). For a dark movie, you only need violin & bass. or else no music. Perhaps ar rahman or Sandeep Chowta are the only ones who know the basics in this dept.
4) Underplayed characters.
As mentioned, Sarkar is underplayed. There is not much scope or role for him after 45 mins of the movie. & for all those who are praising AB's acting skills., they need to justify the same. There isn't much scope for him in this. I don't remember a single powerful, yet subtle dialogue from him in this movie. It's a shame that a protagonist himself is underplayed. The only person who exemplified in acting in this movie was Kay Kay. Absolutely brilliant !!! But unfortunately we don't see much of his character being built up after the interval which is bad. There could have been so much scope to his dark shaded side. Abhishek is good, nothing extra ordinary again. (Yuva has much larger scope & its still his best)
There was so much talk about Sarkar's "power". Unfortunaltey Amitabh looks helpless, throughout the movie. He seems to be dependent on his sons & associates & post interval is a mere waste for his role. This is where RGV loses balance & focus. This movie is all about SARKAR & his power (Remember Satya?) not his chamchas, not the villains, not his sons., not the plot. So bingo ! You are lost again.
5) Ending.
A shabby ending which sounds quite banal. Son kills goons., takes over & he is now the DON. In fact they waste 30 mins of reel (in the 120 mins) just to show the chasing, revenge killing which was all unnecessary. (could have done in 5 mins)
The bottomline is RGV like many others fail to understand why Godfather is such a prodigy in film-making. In an attempt to make an adaptation they only take the principle characters & leave behind the characterisation & the plot. But yes, there are a few good moments in the film which deserver an applause, for ex., Abhisheks reaction when he kills his bro etc. The cinematography is brilliant with it's black n grey shades.
Talking of adaptations., "Nayakan" is a far better adaptation than Sarkar. In fact you will be taken aback by the power, performance, story & direction of that movie. Sarkar doesn't even come close to it. Sarkar fails on both the grounds - Godfather adaptation as well as RGV's capability (Just to mention, Satya still is a cult movie & remains his best direction till date). RGV probably is suffering from a post satya syndrome where he is self assuming his films to be near perfection, sadly they are lost in the pipeline.