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Sarkar film series
Directed by Ram Gopal Varma
Written by Manish Gupta
(Sarkar)
Prashant Pandey
(Sarkar Raj)
P. Jaya Kumar
Nilesh Girkar
(Sarkar 3)
Screenplay byRam Gopal Varma
Produced byRam Gopal Varma
Parag Sanghvi
(Sarkar)
Praveen Nischol
(Sarkar Raj)
Rahul Mittra
Anand Pandit
Gopal Shivram Dalvi
Krishan Choudhary
WeOne
(Sarkar 3)
Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Supriya Pathak
Jackie Shroff
Manoj Bajpayee
Yami Gautam
CinematographyAmit Roy
Amol Rathod
(Sarkar 3)
Edited byAmit Parmar
Nitin Gupta
(Sarkar)
Nipun Ashok Gupta
(Sarkar Raj)
Anwar Ali
(Sarkar 3)
Music by Amar Mohile
Bapi-Tutul
Ravi Shankar
(Sarkar 3)
Production
companies
Alumbra Entertainment
Wave Cinemas
Company Product
AB Corp Ltd
Distributed by K Sera Sera
Sahara One
(Sarkar)
Showman Pictures
Balaji Motion Pictures
(Sarkar Raj)
Eros International
(Sarkar 3)
Release dates
1: 1 July 2005 (2005-07-01)
2: 6 June 2008 (2008-06-06)
3: 12 May 2017 (2017-05-12)
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget41 crore (US$5.1 million)
(Two films)
Box office100 crore (US$13 million)
(Two films)

Sarkar is a series of Indian political crime thriller films set in the world of Marathi politics and crime, co-produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The first part Sarkar released in 2005, the second part Sarkar Raj in 2008, [1] [2] [3] and the third installment Sarkar 3 in 2017. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Overview

Sarkar (2005)

Subhash Nagre ( Amitabh Bachchan), known to his followers as Sarkar, lives in Mumbai. The opening scenes show a rape victim's father ( Veerendra Saxena) approaching Sarkar for justice (which the corrupt law and order system has failed to deliver) which Sarkar promptly establishes by having the rapist beaten up by his henchmen. His son, Vishnu ( Kay Kay Menon), plays a sleazy producer who is more interested in the film actress Sapna ( Nisha Kothari) than his wife Amrita (Rukhsar). Sarkar's other, more upright son, Shankar ( Abhishek Bachchan), returns from the United States with his love Pooja ( Katrina Kaif) after completing his education there. Pooja's doubts about Sarkar's image cause Shankar, who firmly believes in his father's righteousness, to break up with her later in the movie.

One day, a Dubai-based don, Rasheed ( Zakir Hussain) tries to strike a deal with Sarkar; he promptly refuses on moral grounds and also forbids him from doing it himself. Rasheed tries to eliminate Sarkar's supremacy with the help of Selvar Mani ( Kota Srinivasa Rao), Sarkar's former associate, Vishram Bhagat and Swami Virendra ( Jeeva). Meanwhile, they trap Sarkar by assassinating a righteous, upright, Ahimsa political leader and an outspoken critic of Sarkar, Motilal Khurana ( Anupam Kher). Everyone, including Vishnu believe that Sarkar is guilty but Shankar has deep faith in his father. Sarkar gets arrested. Shankar now takes over the position of Sarkar temporarily. On learning of a plot to murder his father in prison, he approaches the police commissioner (Anant Jog) who mocks him and his father besides not providing protection. By the time he reaches the prison and appropriate action is taken, the attempt on Sarkar's life is already made. Sarkar is later acquitted. He remains bedridden as Shankar takes on Sarkar's enemies.

Meanwhile, Selvar Mani, Swami, Vishram and Rasheed try to convince Vishnu to murder Sarkar. Vishnu was previously thrown out of Sarkar's house because he had murdered the actor who was having an affair with Sapna. Vishnu returns home pretending to have repented. When he approaches Sarkar in the dark of the night with the intent of murdering him, Shankar foils his plan and later kills him (establishing justice by the way of his father). Shankar eliminates Rasheed, Vishram and Selvar Mani. He also succeeds in making Swami his puppet. Shankar has also realised that Chief Minister Madan Rathore ( Deepak Shirke) also has a part in the attempt to end Sarkar and his rule. This results in legal action against the Chief Minister. The closing scenes show people approaching Shankar for justice and his father apparently retired.

Sarkar Raj (2008)

The sequel is chronologically set two years after the first film. Anita Rajan ( Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), CEO of an international electrical power firm based in London, holds a meeting with Mike Rajan ( Victor Banerjee), her father and boss and Hassan Qazi, as a seemingly shady adviser and facilitator; regarding an ambitious proposal to set up a multimillion-dollar power plant in rural parts of the state of Maharashtra 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 ( Amitabh Bachchan) (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. The resulting socio-political drama forms the crux of the story.

Sarkar 3 (2017)

In 2009 Ram Gopal Verma stated that he had no plans finalised for the third instalment in the series and shelved Sarkar 3. [8] However, in 2012 it was reported that the sequel would go ahead once again and currently is in the pre production 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 Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan although his character dies at the end of this film and also Aishwarya Rai is to be left out. [9] [10]

In August, 2016 director Ram Gopal Varma confirmed Sarkar 3. [11] He told on his Twitter that Abhishek and Aishwarya will not be a part of the third installment. [7]

Cast and characters

Character Film
Sarkar
(2005)
Sarkar Raj
(2008)
Sarkar 3
(2017)
Subhash Nagre
Sarkar
Amitabh Bachchan
Pushpa Nagre Supriya Pathak
Shankar Nagre Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan
(Archived footage)
Avantika Tanisha Mukherjee
Chander Ravi Kale
Vishnu Nagre Kay Kay Menon Kay Kay Menon
(Archived footage)
Pooja Katrina Kaif
Motilal Khuana Anupam Kher
Amrita Rukhsaar Rehman
Khan Saab Ishrat Ali
Vishram Bhagat Raju Mavani
Rashid Zakir Hussain
Selver Mani Kota Srinivasa Rao
Girl's father Virendra Saxena
Police Commissioner Anant Jog
Chief Minister Madan Rathod Deepak Shirke
Hero in Vishnu's film Carran Kapoor
Heroine in Vishnu's film Nisha Kothari
Virendra Swami Jeeva
Shobha Mangal Kenkre
Pooja's father Saurabh Dubey
Anita Rajan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Hassan Qazi Govind Namdeo
Mike Rajan Victor Banerjee
Karunesh Kaanga Sayaji Shinde
Rao Saab Dilip Prabhavalkar
Bala Sumeet Nijhawan
Kantilal Vora Upendra Limaye
Sanjay Somji Rajesh Sringarpure
Chief Minister Sunil Shinde Shishir Sharma
Negi
(the mystery man)
Javed Ansari
Shivaji "Cheeku" Nagre Chintan Atul Shah Amit Sadh
Annu Karkare Yami Gautam
Govind Deshpande Manoj Bajpayee
Gokul Satam Ronit Roy
Michael Vallya (Sir) Jackie Shroff
Raman Guru Parag Tyagi
Gorakh Rampur Bharat Dhabolkar
Rukku Bai Devi Rohini Hattangadi

Crew

Occupation Film
Sarkar
(2005)
Sarkar Raj
(2008)
Sarkar 3
(2017)
Director Ram Gopal Varma
Producer(s) Ram Gopal Varma
Parag Sanghvi
Ram Gopal Varma
Praveen Nischol
Rahul Mittra
Anand Pandit
Gopal Shivram Dalvi
Krishan Choudhary
WeOne
Screenplay Manish Gupta
Ram Gopal Varma
Prashant Pandey
Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma
P. Jaya Kumar
Story Manish Gupta
Ram Gopal Varma
Prashant Pandey
Ram Gopal Varma
Nilesh Girkar
Ram Gopal Varma
Composer(s) Amar Mohile
Bapi-Tutul
Ravi Shankar
Cinematography Amit Roy Amol Rathod
Editor Amit Parmar
Nitin Gupta
Amit Parmar
Nipun Ashok Gupta
Anwar Ali

Production

The first film, Sarkar (2005), is often said to be a remake of The Godfather (1972).

Debutante Rajesh Shringarpore's character of Sanjay Somji in its sequel Sarkar Raj (2008) was also reportedly based on Raj Thackeray, the estranged nephew of political leader Bal Thackeray; thus furthering the general viewpoint that the series is based on Bal Thackeray and his family. Apparently Ram Gopal Verma had even shown Raj Thackeray rushes of the film to allay his fears of being wrongly portrayed. [12]

Release and revenue

Film Release date Budget Box office revenue
Sarkar 1 July 2005 130 million (US$1.6 million) [13] 400 million (US$5.0 million) [13]
Sarkar Raj 6 June 2008 280 million (US$3.5 million) 594.6 million (US$7.4 million) [14]
Total 410 million (US$5.1 million)
Two films
994.6 million (US$12 million)
Two films

Awards and nominations

Sarkar

Sarkar Raj

Star Screen Awards

Nominated

  • Screen Award for Best Film (2009)
  • Screen Award for Best Director (2009)- Ram Gopal Varma
  • Screen Award for Best Actor (2009)- Amitabh Bachchan
  • Screen Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (2009)- Abhishek Bachchan
  • Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male/Female) (2009)- Dilip Prabhawalkar
  • Screen Award for Best Background Music (2009)- Amar Mohile

Stardust Awards

Nominated

  • Stardust Award for Star of the Year – Male (2009)- Amitabh Bachchan
  • Stardust Award for The New Menace (2009)- Rajesh Shringapure
  • Stardust Award for Best Director (2009)- Ram Gopal Varma
  • Stardust Award for Star of the Year – Male (2009)- Abhishek Bachchan
  • Stardust Award for Star of the Year – Female (2009)- Aishwarya Rai

Filmfare Awards

Nominated

  • Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Supporting Role (2009)- Abhishek Bachchan

IIFA Awards

Nominated

  • IIFA Award for Best Actor in Supporting Role (2009)- Abhishek Bachchan

Games

A promotional mobile video game based on the Sarkar Raj was released by Mauj Mobile in 2008. [15]

Remake

The Telugu sequel, titled Rowdy, in the backdrop of south Indian factionism, was released on 4 April 2014. Rowdy had also received equally positive reviews from critics but was a moderate commercial success, grossing approximately ₹8 crores in its full run.

References

  1. ^ "Sarkar is just Godfather, dumbed-down". Rediff.
  2. ^ "BBC - Shropshire - Entertainment - Sarkar Raj unveiled at Cannes".
  3. ^ "Bollywood biggies bet big on Cannes". dna. 13 May 2008.
  4. ^ "Sarkar 3 Review {3/5}: Abhishek Bachchan is in top form, mesmerizing you with his grey shades and grey irises". The Times of India.
  5. ^ Jha, Subhash K . (11 May 2017). "Sarkar 3 Movie Review- Watch Sarkaar 3 for the way Varma frames the familial feud in flames of fury! - SKJ Bollywood News".
  6. ^ Reporter, Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Senior (11 May 2017). "'Sarkar 3' film review".{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  7. ^ a b "Ram Gopal Varma on Sarkar 3 - Reports on rest of cast apart from Amitji are wrong". Times of India. 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016.
  8. ^ Iyer, Meena (21 July 2009). "Sarkar 3 shelved!". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Amitabh, Abhishek to star in Sarkar 3". The Times of India. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  10. ^ "'Sarkar 3' on cards, sans Aishwarya: Ram Gopal Varma". IBN Live. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  11. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (22 August 2016). "Ram Gopal Varma announces Sarkar 3 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama.
  12. ^ Shah, Kunal (9 May 2008). "Why Raj wants to see Sarkar..." Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2008.
  13. ^ a b http://ibosnetwork.com/asp/filmbodetails.asp?id=Sarkar
  14. ^ "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide (IND Rs)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  15. ^ Hasan, Sheeba (31 May 2008). "'Sarkar Raj' power play". Masala.

External links