‘Sarkar 3’ Review: Big B not Enough to Salvage a Sloppy Film

The film sets itself up for great highs, but disappoints its viewers with a half-hearted execution.

The film starts with a quote "real power is not about fear, it comes out of respect" followed by the familiar closeup of Amitabh Bachchan's hand waving at his supporters – a rudraksha mala wrapped around his wrist, his slow pauses between sentences lending the words an ominous air. The Sarkar, Subhash Nagre, is still a power to reckon with and Amitabh Bachchan nails it yet again.

Those long slurps of tea from a saucer might make us impatient had it been anyone else, but it's difficult to stay immune to the sorcery of Bachchan's onscreen command.

The proceedings take us through a possible power struggle within the Sarkar household and some sinister threats from those wanting to dislodge him from his thrown. There are moments when we get completely sucked into the narrative with the spell broken only by the jarring “Govinda Govinda” chants .

This is like a regular theme in the film. Ram Gopal Verma does things right only to mess them up later.

For instance Amol Rathod’s cinematography sets the perfect mood, but the bizarre camerawork somehow makes it unwittingly funny – like giving us a closeup of a wooden pug’s face while the meanest lines are being delivered or when the villain bellows revenge and we see his hand massaging a laughing Buddha’s head! Like really?

Miscasting Fails to Make the Most of Great Talent

Still when the relationship dynamics take the forefront, Sarkar 3 has its moments. Amit Sadh plays Shivaji – Sarkar’s grandson (Vishnu’s son) – who returns only to make Gokul, his trusted accomplice (Ronit Roy) a little uncomfortable. The ever-dependable Ronit Roy doesn’t disappoint and Amit Sadh is sincere too, but his suave looks make him a miscast here.

Playing his love interest is Yami Gautam who seems to have read all the anti-fairness cream petitions and never stops growling! The biggest disservice that has been done is to Manoj Bajpayee.

He plays a political adversary with malevolent intentions and it’s a fact that he has the acting ability to hold his own despite being in the same frame with Amitabh Bachchan. Had his character been deftly handled, Sarkar 3 would have been a far better film.

Sadly for us, he gets a shoddy treatment and robs us of some riveting scenes. Instead, Jackie Shroff is touted as the main villain and as we get abrupt sneak peaks into his lascivious thrills with his girlfriend – he is more comic than menacing.

Overall compared to the kind of tweets he writes, RGV has made a far better film. Although nowhere close to the original, it can still be watched if you are in a particularly forgiving mood, and of course for Amitabh Bachchan. 2 quints out of 5.