Amar-Akbar-Anthony - Where are you?

The other day I was watching AAA - MKD's cult film that brought the 'lost& found storylines' and AB to the fore. The Mumbai chawl - where both Akbar and Anthony live in perfect harmony with all the Amars....a church and a mosque surviving side by side....a one for all and all for one society - Utopia? Actually no....I was talking to some older folks and they told me that such a world did exist in the chawls of Mumbai. But no one knows when and how the politics of hate destroyed it all. Can a film now happen on these lines anymore? Will we ever again see an Anthony organize an Akbar's marriage? Will we ever see an Amar (a police officer)giving blood to an unknown accident victim? Will we ever again see a Amar Akbar and Anthony singing together? If it is an anhonee then I would pray that ek jagah par jama hokar AAA is anhonee ko honee kar de. Amar,Akbar,Anthony - we need you.

'Sar -father'

Ramu's obsession with the underworld continues.

Sarkar - the latest Mafia flick from the RGV stable is a job well done. Controlled acting, a focused script and a light and shade canvas in most frames makes the film watchable.

But Sarkar is old wine in new bottle. Nothing in this film is 'new'.... from the aggrieved father whose daughter has been raped to a hot headed elder brother, from a younger son who comes in from the 'outside'(complete with a girlfriend in tow) to the 'family chosen' girl who would 'patiently wait', from the hospital sequence to 'the godfather refusing a business opportunity' - nothing is new in the film.

In almost all films made in the lines of the Godfather, we have seen these scenes in some form - Dharmatma, Agneepath, Aatank Hi Aatank (an unknown Aamir Khan film),Zulm Ki Hukumat (an unknown Govinda film),Virasat....the list goes on.

On the acting front, the small B at last gets a role that utilizes his strong & silent acting style. I would even go ahead and commit the heresy of stating that in this film the chote miyan has overshadowed the bade miyan.

Apart from Abhishek, KK once again delivers a powerhouse performance. I think he is one of the best finds of recent times - Deewar, HKA and now Sarkar - he is one actor to watch out for.

The good part of Sarkar is the way in which the director has handled the same story - no glorification, an understated acting style and the use of music.

I think the treatment of the film makes it different from the rest of the films mentioned above - whether it is the scene where Abhishek watches the villain die, or the way in which he talks of him having killed his brother - it is the natural narrative style that makes this film watchable.

The icing on the cake is the last scene - good show!!!