Raajneeti by Prakash Jha

I recently watched "Raajneeti" - a political thriller- by Prakash Jha.  It was a decent watch but severely compromised.  Here are some of my ruminations...
** **Spoiler Alert ****
I liked the way some of the popular aspects of  the Mahabharata were integrated in the story.  Especially, the blurrier line between the so called "good" (i.e. Pandava camp) and the "evil" (i.e. Kauarava camp).  Also, Nana Patekar's casting as Krishna + Bhishma like character was a good choice.  Ranbir Kapoor was weak in the role of Arjun especially in portraying the internal conflict.  He was unable to show it so he had to explain it verbally as to how he is a misfit for politics although he takes to it like a pro. I guess his research on the 'violence in the poetry of 19th Century Victorian Era'  was helpful ;).

This story could have worked for other non-political background like mafia family (but its done in Godfather and Sarkar) or business (explored with much more nuanced characterizations in Kaliyug).  The political backdrop could have been more nuanced.  It would have been very interesting to explore some of the political angles in more details. For e.g. :
How election agenda is never thought about: The goal is votes and the method is to manipulate the people  which is sadly reflective of current state affair in Indian politics.  Curiously, the only time even a cursory mention to the problem plaguing the country was by a leader (Bhaskar Sanyal) in 70s who ends up renouncing the world for penance for his personal shortcomings.
Political family and how far removed they are from the aam junta: In the beginning of the film, Suraj's character argue in favor of a local leader since an outsider leader would never be able to understand their plight.  But that angle as it turned out was not explored any further as Suraj himself  become like them when given the chance.  There was an opportunity in portraying the internal conflict due to his ideals and his loyalty to Veerendra.

Some other things that could have been edited out or better done are:

Karna-Kunti showdown was a big letdown.  I was expecting it but jayesth putra?... seriously ? 

Samar's love angle was very weak and unnecessary especially the scene where his girlfriend dies (inspired from Godfather) looked forced.  I'm glad that they did not fill the movie with inane number of songs.

One of my favorite blogger Jaiarjun has an essay on this film.  Its an excellent read and he covered most of the points I made here in more lucid manner.