‘Sarkar’ is strictly for fans of Vijay

Sarkar(Tamil)

Starring Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

Directed by A  R Murugadoss

Rating: * ½

Sarkar has no relevance to Ram Gopal Varma’s Hindi film of the same title where Amitabh Bachchan  played a wily politician modeled on Maharashtra’s iconic Balasaheb Thackeray.

The wannabe nattily attired neta that Vijay plays in the new Sarkar seems  modeled on no Indian politician, living or dead, that I’ve  come across. Although the opening  credits have shots of Mahatma Gandhi  and Subhas Chandra Bose I am pretty sure they would be as baffled by Vijay’s brand  of braindead politics as I was.

The film is ostensibly a comment on the Indian citizen’s right to vote. But the democratic right to freedom is denied by Sarkar which smothers us in hero-worship of  the most fawning variety.

Let’s just say this is the superstar Vijay’s brand of politicking  where  Tamil nadu’s Chief Minister and  his brother (nepotism , reloaded) are shown as glorified goons. Or maybe  not even glorified. The first time the political brothers are shown on screen they have three large suitcases in front of them. One of them contains the writhing  half-dead head of an enemy. At this point, the head is presumably attached to the torso although we see only the  bloodied head peeping out of the suitcase.

That’s the typical brand of brutality  director Murugadoss specializes  in.Remember Asin’s  bludgeoned head in  Ghajini? Rest assured,  the rest of the lengthy rambling  film is not a gore fest at all. Why  antagonize Vijay’s younger fans. Why give them ache when they ask for bread?  The film offends no one except politicians in Tamil Nadu who are shown as snarling smirking morons smarting for a fight.

And boy, does our hero give it to them! Every 15 minutes there is a fight break where Vijay smashes the opposition with his hands, feet, head, planks, bricks and any  object he can lay his hands on. The  action is  performed in the spirit of a carnivalesque carnage. The brawls are shot with swings of mischief and swigs of humour where  Vijay, playing  NRI ‘corporate monster’ Sundar  all but winks at us to remind us that under all the  braggadocio, amplified heroism, machismo, deification and mythologicization , Vijay is just one of the masses.

Sarkar  stresses, empahasises and punctuates the hero’s mass appeal to an excruciating level of obsequiousness. It is never a good idea for a director to be in awe of his leading man. Murugadoss seems to love Vijay’s every slo-mo gesture, every shift of the wrist and blink of the eye. The camera caresses the contours of the Superstar’s  star-power with religious fervor. Little wonder, then, if chunks of  the  uneven jerky bumpy film feels like  prolonged religious satsangs where the Godman holds thousands in a thrall.

By the time Vijay makes his last political speech we know the film’s not-so-hidden agenda is  to build  the  star as a  formidable political figure. Would Sarkar catapult  Vijay to  political stardom? I seriously doubt even the  star’s staunchest fans  can take the  pulpit propaganda seriously. There are emotionally manipulative episodes showing  women wailing, men shrieking and  one particularly distasteful episode  of  a badly-burnt child  being mollycoddled  by Vijay like Salman Khan’s well-publicized visits to orphanages and hospitals.

Minus Vijay, Sarkar has nothing to offer his fans. The supporting cast is  unabashedly  peripheral. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s character of the CM’s contumacious daughter has potential. But all she does is snarl into her cellphone pretending she is abroad(4-5  blondes in the background to prove it). It’s a pity to see the pretty Keerthy Suresh reduced to a mere hanger-on to her leading man. Patriarchy is ok as long as the hero behaves himself.

As for AR  Rahman’s music and songs, time for a break, perhaps?

The songs and  the carefully choreographed dances have no relevance to the plot. One sincerely hopes the same to be true apropos Vijay’s relevance to politics. He should do himself a favour.  Just concentrate on being a matinee idol.