Critics’ Verdict: ‘Sarkar 3’ Is a Big Disappointment

Check out what critics have to say about Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sarkar 3’.

Film: Sarkar 3
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Ronit Roy, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, Supriya Pathak and Yami Gautam

Excerpts from reviews of Sarkar 3:

When the climax of the first film in your series packs the punch that Sarkar’s ending did in 2005, be aware that each sequel is a potential victim of the “can it throw up a surprise to match that one?” syndrome. Chances are, viewers have spent your entire film guessing 10 likely twists in the finale. The only way you can live up to expectations then, is to think up an 11th option no one else could possibly envision. The novelty of hearing Bachchan speak in that gravelly-voiced rumble is now past. The clash between Deshpande and Nagre turns out to be a damp squib. And the bombastic conversations written by Ram Kumar Singh are poor cousins of the seeti-worthy dialoguebaazi we Bollywood buffs have grown up on – you can either go the natural way, as many films have since the 1990s, or go the whole hog in the opposite direction to revive memories of grandiose 1970s-’80s Hindi cinema that Bachchan was so much a part of. Sarkar 3 tries to be the latter, but cannot pull it off.

Anna MM Vetticad (FirstPost)

Subhash Nagre is a lonely don. He’s lost sons Vishnu (Kay Kay Menon, a fine Sonny Corleone in the first film) and Shankar (Abhishek Bachchan, a scowling version of Michael), and all decent lines of dialogue. The writing is excruciating - this is a film where mothers of murdered politicians announce, with much import, that “This is a political murder” - and Amitabh Bachchan, who plays Nagre, is further handicapped by extreme grizzliness and long, seemingly mistimed pauses: Vijay Dinanath Chauhan by way of Atal Behari Vajpayee. Bachchan briefly transcends the material in a scene lamenting his helplessness, but the film doesn’t allow him to turn the rasping Nagre into a real character. It doesn’t help that he sits across from a stone bulldog and strokes his own knee. 

Raja Sen (NDTV)

In Ram Gopal Varma’s inevitable biopic about Ram Gopal Varma, Sarkar 3 will mark a crucial stage of the narrative. It is potentially the dramatic part where the universe conspires to resurrect the broken underdog. A maverick filmmaker takes the country by storm, he changes the face of Hindi cinema, he loves and is loved by his leading ladies. Deafening Govinda-Govinda chants fill the humid Mumbai air. He is the undisputed king. And then he discovers Twitter. And a DSLR camera. The downfall is swift; he becomes a parody of himself. He literally forgets how to make films. No stars want to work with him again. He becomes a cynical and bitter man. He offends every important person. Everyone abandons him. We see him in deep introspection from different camera angles: from in between chairs, from behind translucent curtains and golden busts of his favourite actresses, and from the bottom of whiskey glasses. 

Rahul Desai (Film Companion)