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Raajneeti Box Office – Total Gross Less than Kites

If you are familiar with the story of the Hollywood flick Godfather and the Indian epic Mahabharat, voila, then you know the story of Prakash Jha’s new film Raajneeti.

Just take the key characters from Godfather and Mahabharat, change the setting to the current political times in a North Indian city and there you have Raajneeti.

Well, no one ever accused Indians of being the most original folks on Planet Earth when it comes to making movies.

High Expectations but…..
Expectations are always higher from Prakash Jha compared to the bozos like David Dhawan, Ram Gopal Varma et al.

So, does Jha fulfill the high hopes from the film?

No and Yes.

No, because if you are familiar with the Godfather and Mahabharat you can guess how things are going to play out in large part.

Also disappointing is the multiple instances of borrowing from Godfather like the car-blast killing the girl-friend, the hot-headed older brother (Sonny Corleone?), the cool, calculating younger brother (Michael Corleone??) and a body on the bed to compel a reluctant foe to come to terms.

Yes, because the borrowing from the aforesaid Hollywood film or Mahabharat  notwithstanding the execution is slick and the acting with few exceptions decent.

With a decent ensemble comprising of Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah (short role), Ranbhir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai,  Ajay Devgan and Arjun Rampal, Jha delivers a watchable film in the 2-hrs 50-min long Raajneeti.

Mahabharat, Redux
A la the Mahabharat epic, Raajneeti is also the story of political feuding between the children of two brothers Bhanu Pratap (Dhritharashtra?) and Chandra Pratap (Pandu?) for the spoils of the kingdom political office.

Just as victory appears imminent in the upcoming elections, Bhanu Pratap is incapacitated by a stroke setting in motion a bitter, violent conflict between the cousins Prithvi (Arjun Rampal), his U.S. returned brother Samar (Ranbhir Kapoor) and their Machiavellian uncle Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) on one side and Veerender (Manoj Bajpai) on the other side for political supremacy.

If you want the details, Samar is on a holiday from the U.S., where he’s pursuing a Ph.D on Victorian poetry.

Veerender is assisted by a young firebrand Dalit (lower caste) leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan).

The verbal conflict quickly turns violent with the two sides not hesitating to knock off family members of the other side in the relentless fight for power in this lengthy Kurukshetra of a film.

Katrina – Ranbhir’s Aunt or Elder Sister?
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