Sarkar (film series)

Sarkar film series
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 by	Ram Gopal Varma
Produced by	Ram 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
Cinematography	Amit Roy; Amol Rathod; (Sarkar 3)
Edited by	Amit 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; 2: 6 June 2008; 3: 12 May 2017
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹76 crore (US$9.1 million); (Three films)
Box office	₹100 crore (US$12 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
Character	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
Occupation	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$4.8 million)^[13]
Sarkar Raj	6 June 2008	₹280 million (US$3.4 million)	₹594.6 million (US$7.1 million)^[14]
Sarkar 3	12 May 2017	₹350 million (US$5.4 million) ^[15]	₹99.3 million (US$1.5 million)
Total		₹760 million (US$9.1 million) Three films	₹1.09 billion (US$13 million) Three 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.^[16]

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

^ "Sarkar is just Godfather, dumbed-down". Rediff.
^ "BBC - Shropshire - Entertainment - Sarkar Raj unveiled at Cannes".
^ "Bollywood biggies bet big on Cannes". dna. 13 May 2008.
^ "Sarkar 3 Review {3/5}: Abhishek Bachchan is in top form, mesmerizing you with his grey shades and grey irises". The Times of India.
^ 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".
^ Radhakrishnan, Manjusha (11 May 2017). "'Sarkar 3' film review".
^ ^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.
^ Iyer, Meena (21 July 2009). "Sarkar 3 shelved!". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
^ "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.
^ "'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.
^ Hungama, Bollywood (22 August 2016). "Ram Gopal Varma announces Sarkar 3 : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama.
^ 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.
^ ^a ^b "Unknown". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
^ "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide (IND Rs)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
^ "'Sarkar 3', 'Rangoon', 'Jagga Jasoos': Bollywood films that came, but couldn't conquer the box office". The Economic Times. 21 December 2017. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
^ Hasan, Sheeba (31 May 2008). "'Sarkar Raj' power play". Masala.

External links

Sarkar at IMDb
Sarkar Raj at IMDb

[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] Radhakrishnan, Manjusha (11 May 2017). "'Sarkar 3' film review".

[sarkar3-7] "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.

[adaptation-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.

[sarkar-13] "Unknown". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.

[14] "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide (IND Rs)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2011.

[15] "'Sarkar 3', 'Rangoon', 'Jagga Jasoos': Bollywood films that came, but couldn't conquer the box office". The Economic Times. 21 December 2017. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 27 August 2024.

[16] Hasan, Sheeba (31 May 2008). "'Sarkar Raj' power play". Masala.

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