Sarkar Raj

<p>The sequel is chronologically set two years after the original film.<br /> Anita Rajan ( ), is the CEO of Shepard Power Plant based in London, holds a meeting with Mike Rajan ( ), her chairman father, and Hassan Qazi ( ), as a seemingly shady business adviser and facilitator; regarding an ambitious proposal to set up a multibillion-dollar power plant in rural parts of the state of in India. Qazi states that this project will be impossible due to possible political entanglements. When Anita asks him for a solution, Qazi states that enlisting the support of Subhash Nagre ( ) (commonly referred to by his title of Sarkar), who he describes as a criminal in the garb of a popular and influential political leader, might help their cause. Along with the of Maharashtra, Shinde ( ), they approach Sarkar with the idea of this project, who refutes the idea, due to the fact that the power plant will be built in various villages, affecting the livelihood of 40,000 people. However, when Shankar ( ) convinces him of the benefits of the project to the state, Sarkar agrees to the proposal. Shankar advises Anita to stay away from Qazi, as he is not trustworthy. Qazi joins hands with Kaanga ( ), who wants to become the Chief Minister of but could not as Sarkar is the overlord for Shinde’s political party. Shankar and Anita begin campaigning in Thackerwadi to gain support of local public for the project. During their chat Shankar mentions that his toughest decision of life was to kill his own elder brother Vishnu, Anita tells that her father never saw her as a daughter and was her boss. Sanjay Somji ( ), leader of farmer’s association is shown to be protesting the Nagre’s. Meanwhile, Avantika, now Shankar’s wife reveals to him that she is two months pregnant, Shankar also has growing friction in relationship with old family aid Chander ( ). On the other hand, Shankar’s wife Avantika’s car is bombed within the premises of Sarkar’s villa, and Avantika is killed, Sarkar who is shaken suffers a shock and is admitted to a hospital. Shankar replaces Bala ( ) as head over Chander ( ), and asks him to quickly find out who was behind this brutal attack. Kantilal Vohra ( ) come to Sarkar requesting him to shift the project to . As Sarkar refuses, Vohra, Kaanga, Qazi, are shown together hatching a plan. Chander calls up Shankar telling Qazi was behind the blast, Shankar shoots Qazi in his house. Mike comes to and is seen to be meeting Vohra discussing about eliminating Shankar as, they both want only profit and Shankar aims for development for 40,000 villagers living in Thackerwadi also. Vohra and Kaanga now hire a hit-man to kill Shankar for 5-Crore. While, Shankar and Anita are on a holiday, Anita cautions Shankar about an impending attack on them, a sniper shoots at Shankar six bullets, who later succumbs to his injuries in hospital. A furious Subash suspecting Vohra kidnaps him. Sarkar tells Anita that his men have killed-Kaanga, Chander, Vohra and her father who was in as revenge. He also tells her that these people were just pawns and the mastermind behind all this was his own guru, Rao Sahab ( ) who wanted his grandson Somji to take over Shankar. His guru comes to home to pay tributes to Shankar, where Sarkar shows him his dead grandson. The film ends with Anita becoming Shankar’s replacement. The film mostly garnered a positive critical reception. Critic from gave the film four stars out of five and noted “Besides its strong content, Sarkar Raj has been filmed exceptionally well with superb performances. , expectedly, comes up with a terrific performance. He’s as ferocious as a wounded tiger in the finale and takes the film to great heights. is cast opposite the finest actor of this country, yet he sparkles in every sequence. is fabulous and delivers her career-best performance.” gave a two-star rating and said, “The only reason you might want to catch this is the performance level and the relatively good ending. Amitabh Bachchan is dependably good. Abhishek holds his own, though with a more filled-out character, he could have taken it to another level. Aishwarya is superb in the emotional scenes, but again, is let down by the unforgivably simplistic character sketching.” which also gave a two-star rating noted “This is a watchable”. gave a three star rating out of five and said “Sarkar Raj clearly gains major marks for its clever culmination, which was so much lacking from recent RGV products. The considerately and crisply penned dialogues by Prashant Pandey add a lot of insight to the scenes and depth to the characterizations.” from stated “What works here are the performances. The Bachchans-all three of them are in fine form. Despite wonderful performances and nicely done dramatic moments, Sarkar Raj doesn’t pack the visceral punch of Sarkar”. of rated the film with three and a half stars and applauded the lead performances saying “This film carries the sequel forward without losing out on the gritty feel and retains the charisma of the central characters”. Critic Nathan Southern of gave four stars citing that “Sarkar Raj thrives on its narrative cliffhangers, that the film never once fails to engage the audience; the premise and its characters are rock-solid, its dialogue convincing, and its suspense palpable. Varma and scriptwriter Prashant Pandey pack such unusual twists and double-crosses into the tale that even the most hardened and seasoned moviegoer will find the conclusion impossible to foresee”. grossed almost 340 million in India and over $1 million in the USA. The Magazine (August 2008 issue) and other media declared it to be among the only four hits in the first half of 2008 (along with , and ). The producers reported that the movie had earned more than the entire grossings of its hit prequel in its first two weeks itself. According to the year end report of , was the seventh highest all-India grosser of the year after (in order) , , , , and . The trade magazine also reported high international collections. It was declared an average grosser at the box office with noted film journal Film Information mentioning that although the film was a profitable venture for its producers, the distributors outside of Bombay circuit stood to lose. The music is composed by Bapi and Tutul. Lyrics are penned by and . Debutante Rajesh Shringarpore’s character of Sanjay Somji was also reportedly based on , the estranged nephew of political leader ; thus furthering the general viewpoint that the series is based on and his family. Apparently had even shown Raj Thackeray rushes of the film to allay his fears of being wrongly portrayed. In 2009 Ram Gopal Verma stated that he had no plans finalised for the third instalment in the series and shelved . However, in 2012 it was reported that the sequel would go ahead once again and currently is in the stage where the script is being written. The film is expected to go on floors at the end of 2013, primarily with the same cast of and although his character dies at the end of this film and also is to be left out. In August, 2016 director Ram Gopal Varma confirmed . He told on his Twitter that Abhishek and Aishwarya will not be a part of the third installment.</p>