Raajneeti

Raajneeti () is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language political thriller film co-written, directed and produced by Prakash Jha, with a screenplay by Anjum Rajabali and Prakash Jha. The film depicts an archetypal conflict between rival political families and parties, based on "Mahabharata". The film starred an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Sarah Thompson and Naseeruddin Shah. It was originally produced by Prakash Jha Productions and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures and Walkwater Media. 
It was shot in Bhopal. The title, which translates literally as "Politics" and contextually as "Affairs of State", was promoted with the tag-line "Politics and Beyond..."
Amid much controversy, "Raajneeti" released in theatres worldwide on 4 June 2010, It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics both in India and internationally, received acclaim for acting performances and direction. It became a major commercial success, grossing over worldwide, and was one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2010.
At the 56th Filmfare Awards, "Raajneeti" received 4 nominations – Best Actor (Kapoor) and Best Supporting Actor for Rampal, Bajpayee and Patekar.
Plot.
Bharti Rai, the daughter of Ramnath Rai, an eminent politician, is influenced by rival leftist leader Bhaskar Sanyal. She bears an illicit son from Bhaskar, who is abandoned in a boat by Brij Gopal, Bharti's 'rakhi' brother. Bharti is later married to Chandra Pratap, the younger brother of Bhanu Pratap, who leads the "Rashtrawadi" party.
The minority state government collapses, when Rashtrawadi party withdraws its support. On his birthday gathering, Bhanu Pratap suffers a stroke and hands over power to his younger brother Chandra Pratap. Chandra's elder son, Prithvi Pratap tries to take advantage of his father's power and starts to impose his own decisions on the party, which results in a clash with his miffed cousin, Veerendra Pratap. Chandra Pratap begins to sideline Veerendra. For the upcoming mid-term polls, Prithvi rejects the nomination of a kabaddi champion and local leader Sooraj Kumar, who is chosen by the common people. However, Sooraj gets Veerendra's support to join the Central Committee of the party. Unknown to all, Sooraj is Bharti's abandoned son, who was found and brought up by the Pratap family's driver Ram Charittra and his wife. When Sooraj demands a candidacy in the elections, Brij Gopal shrewdly nominates his father Ramcharitra from the same seat. Meanwhile, Chandra Pratap's younger son, Samar Pratap, returns from the United States and meets his childhood friend Indu, who loves him. She proposes to him, but he declines.
In order to regain his power within the party and be the chief-ministerial candidate in the state assembly election, Veerendra, with Sooraj's help, has Chandra Pratap assassinated. In an ensuing drama, Prithvi is arrested. SP Sharma, under Veerendra's influence, press rape charges against Prithvi Pratap. In order to bail him out, Samar Pratap promises Veerendra of Prithvi's resignation from the party. However, Samar and Prithvi begin rallying public support. The bed-ridden Bhanu Pratap officially expels Prithvi, who forms the new "Jana Shakti" party, with Brij Gopal as his mentor and Samar as the executive. To raise funds for the new party from Indu's industrialist father, Samar shrewdly ensures Prithvi's marriage to Indu, against her will. Meanwhile, Samar's American girlfriend Sarah arrives in India to meet him.
The battle gets murkier with both sides trying every trick to ensure their victory. Allegations and counter-allegations are made. Subsequently, Samar blackmails and kills Babulal, an old party associate of Bhanu Pratap, after uncovering from him that Sooraj and Veerendra had murdered his father Chandra Pratap. On the other hand, Prithvi kills SP Sharma and a party worker. Meanwhile, Indu slowly falls in love with Prithvi who has been nice and respectful towards her. Sarah realizes that the two brothers are committing political murders, and decide to return to the US, pregnant. Veerendra and Sooraj plan to assassinate Samar by planting a bomb in his car, but it is Prithvi and Sarah who perish in the explosion. Braj Gopal confronts Ramcharitra for Sooraj's misdeeds, when Sooraj is revealed to be the first child of Bharti.
Devastated by the loss of his brother and girlfriend, Samar decides to retaliate. He suggests Indu take the reins of the party and arranges the election campaign single-handedly. Bharti implores Sooraj to join his younger brother Samar. However, Sooraj refuses to part ways with Veerendra who has always supported him. Exit polls predict a victory for Indu's party. On the counting day, Samar lures Veerendra and Sooraj to an unused factory by spreading a rumour. They fall into the trap, and Veerendra gets shot by Samar and his men. Sooraj gets an opportunity to shoot Samar, but cannot bring himself to do it since he knows Samar is his brother. Sooraj requests Samar to spare him and Veerendra till they reach the hospital, but Veerendra dies on the way. Gopal prompts Samar to shoot Sooraj who questions the morality of the act, but Brij Gopal convinces him to take revenge for the destruction of his family. Samar, not aware of his relationship with Sooraj, shoots him.
The election results are declared. "Jan Shakti" Party emerges with a majority and Indu becomes the CM. Samar and Indu mend their differences. Indu is pregnant with Prithvi's child, while Samar leaves India to look after Sarah's mother.
Reception.
Critical reception.
Mayank Shekhar of "Hindustan Times" rated it 3/5 and criticized saying, "There's a reason Mahabharat was a television series. Shyam Benegal could brilliantly adapt it around India’s corporate boardroom, only for his contained minimalism ("Kalyug", 1981). What you sense here instead then is an over-dramatic, over-written screenplay: an over-boiled egg." He said that the sub-plots of various characters have an awkward conclusions. He compared Jha's earlier films "Gangaajal" (2003) and "Apaharan" (2005) and remarked that they are "finely focused works" in comparison to "Raajneeti". Nikhat Kazmi of "The Times of India" rated it 4/5 and said, "The film basically anchors its plot in two classic tales — The Mahabharata and "The Godfather" (1972) — to create an engrossing diatribe on India's political system where democracy may prevail, but not in its purest form." Anupama Chopra of "NDTV" rated it 3/5 and said "Jha creates a real sense of the machinations and sordid deals that fuel politics but then hobbles it with outlandish twists and some decidedly 'filmy' moments".
Rajeev Masand of "CNN-IBN" rated it 3.5/5 and said, "In the end, "Raajneeti" is thrilling and gripping for the most part, even though it does lose steam in its final act. And as far as politics goes, it doesn't tell you very much more than you didn't already know." He continued, "For the superb acting, and for the exciting dramatic highs, it's a film I recommend you do not miss." Raja Sen of "Rediff.com" gave a 1.5 out of 5 star rating explaining that it is "essentially "Sarkar Raj" (2008) minus Amitabh Bachchan, is a hyperactive drama given to much yelling and little thought. The screenplay is weak, manipulative and every possible kind of lazy, with an omniscient narrator who vanishes after a while, a slew of unbelievably one-note characters, clunky dialogue that often lapses into something from period cinema, and bloody deaths thrown in every few scenes to kickstart the drama in this exhausting 3-hour film."
Rachel Saltz of "The New York Times" said, ""Raajneeti", with its large cast of characters and wealth of subplots, is often a mess, but an interesting one." She also said, "The film – full of romance, intrigue and fraternal strife – is too diffuse to score political points. Or to have much impact." Robert Abele of the "Los Angeles Times" found that while it aimed "for something trenchant about thwarted destiny and ugly ambition in modern Indian democracy", it "mostly winds up with a convoluted and tonally awkward "Godfather" rehash, with nary a character worth rooting for" and that "Kapoor's performance is stony rather than calculating..." Frank Lovece of "Film Journal International" said, "More pulpy than political, this "Godfather"-ripoff Hindi electoral drama is a candidate for oblivion in U.S. theatres. ... It all eventually becomes so ridiculous and over-the-top violent that there is nobody, nobody, to root for."
Box office.
"Rajneeti" grossed worldwide and was declared a blockbuster at the box office.
India.
"Raajneeti" recorded an opening of nearly 10 crore net on its first day. It had the second highest Friday opening in India after "3 Idiots" and the highest Friday opening in the first half of the year, surpassing "Kites". It collected 34 crore at the end of the weekend and set a record for biggest weekend in the first half of the year, surpassing "Housefull". It showed no major decline in business on Tuesday and collected Rs. 5.85 crore. At the end of the first week, the film collected Rs. 54.75 crore and set a record for biggest week in the first half of the year beating "Housefull". "Raajneeti" sustained well in the second weekend and collected 16.25 crore. Rajneeti nett grossed in India with a distributor share of . It was the tenth highest grossing Bollywood film until it was surpassed by Salman Khan starrer Kick. It was declared a blockbuster.
Overseas.
Overseas, the film opened to weekend business of $2.25 million. In the U.S., "Raajneeti" played well for a limited release, noted Ray Subers of BoxOfficeMojo.com, grossing $850,244 on 124 screens its opening weekend, "which was good for first among limited releases and 11th place on the overall weekend chart." He specified that "Raajneeti" "became the third Bollywood movie this year to lead all limited releases in its first weekend," following "My Name is Khan" and "Kites". In Australia and New Zealand, "Raajneeti" surpassed the opening weekend record set by "3 Idiots".
Awards and nominations.
6th Apsara Film &amp; Television Producers Guild Awards(2010).
Won
Nominated
2011 Zee Cine Awards.
Won
Nominated
3rd Mirchi Music Awards.
Nominated
Controversy.
"Raajneeti" was first denied a certificate by the censor board of India for their thought that the lead character played by Katrina Kaif is inspired fully or partially by the Congress Party's chief Sonia Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal's chief Rabri Devi. Director Prakash Jha dismissed this allegation, saying his only inspiration was "Mahabharata", an epic from ancient India. References to electronic voting machines and parts of the film suggesting that women have to compromise to get ahead in politics, crude dialogues about the Muslim community and some intimate scenes and excessive violence were removed before giving the film a U/A censor certificate.
Soundtrack.
The score was composed by Wayne Sharpe while the soundtrack was composed by Wayne Sharpe, Pritam, Aadesh Shrivastava and Shantanu Moitra. The lyrics were written by Irshad Kamil, Gulzar, Sameer and Swanand Kirkire. The soundtrack consists of five original songs and four remixes. It was released on 14 May 2010. The songs "Mora Piya" and "Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si" went on to be chartbusters of 2010.