Rajneeti: The Review

The Good:

1. The pace – the movie moves quickly and doesn’t feel dragged except for parts of the second half. Having said that some scenes could be removed and others extended for more impact.
2. Nana Patekar – wish he had some more meaty scenes!! Btw, same goes for Naseeruddin Shah – would have loved to see him as the Shakuni to Nana’s Krishna.
3. No songs – no unnecessary song and dance sequences! Love that. But the background score could have been strengthened.
4. Never thought I would say this in my life, but, Arjun Rampal. He looks good in his role as Sonny Corleone.

The Bad:

1. Copying from the Godfather – Ranbir may be good, but he ain’t no Al Pacino (broken jaw, reluctant mobster, don’t insult my intelligence, etc) or Marlon Brando (the legendary peacemaking scene). Pacino’s character had a lot of conscience even though it turned rouge. In Rajneeti, Ranbir goes from the PhD student to a conniving politician without and guilt whatsoever. Not convincing. Other attempts are bad too – death of Arjun Rampal, etc.
2. Attempts at imitating Mahabhrata – The Ajay Devgn (what the hell is this crap about numerology) angle is useless and only ends up in a pathetic scene with the use of word “Jyest” (sanskrit for eldest). WTF. Who uses the word anyway??
3. Manoj Bajpai – you are better than this dude!

The Ugly:

1. All the women characters in the movie. Under-developed. Horribly played. And total doormats. Katrina’s imitation of Sonia Gandhi for moments is good though.