- Direction
- Acting
- Screenplay
- Cinematography
- Music
Of course there will be comparisons. When you’ve delivered a path-breaking masterpiece, audiences and critics will revisit it and weigh it against the follow up. It’s a reference point, the source code after all. But that’s the thing – “Satya 2,” reiterates Ram Gopal Varma, is not a sequel to his mindblowing gangster flick “Satya.”
“Satya 2,” starring Punit Singh Ratn and Anaika Soti is a soch, a metaphor, a thought, a wave, the rise of a system within a system, a parallel invisible government, more like a leveler. You have to give it - RGV’s idea is bang on. It is in sync with today’s anti corruption, anti establishment naarebaazi. He gives us a protagonist, a symbol of change through his new Satya(Ratn). He is reserved, quiet, dresses up neatly, has a lady love, weighs his words, and means business. He does not believe is killing point blank.
Instead, he plans, strategises, crowdsources, and plays a game of chess checkmating every player on the board. Quietly, he cripples the system and raises his Company – everyone is a shareholder, everyone an investor and everyone a benefactor. They all hold this “creative common licence” to act like self-appointed catalysts of change (which has its upside too), and work for an invisible boss, against a corrupt system, targeting the rich and powerful.
This Satya doesn’t believe in ugly show of wealth or insane display of power or lust after a name. No sir. He likes to be in the shadows, striking off top bosses including a corrupt chief minister, media moghul, corporate guru, and a top cop. There is a reason, a method to this madness, and it is revealed in one line – Satya’s Naxalwadi father shot dead by rich man and powerful cop. Satyaprakash fills with vengeance and disappears to take on the world and bring a balance.
The film, like all RGV films, is open ended. It will move forward. Having said that, it will take a lot for RGV to pull in crowd third time over, for “Satya 2″ doesn’t even come close to the explosive treatment of “Satya” or “Sarkar” or “Company” for that matter. Ratn is flat and monotonous while Soti is plain jane with two left feet. Even the ensemble cast that shines in any RGV production is missing in action here. There is no pace or thrill or edge to the film, nothing that would want you to check out the next scene. Here is a gangster who studies from his past mistakes and lays the foundation of a new business of fear and terror.
If it’s a retrospective, then it’s really a sad one for this is no Satya Revolutions or Company Reloaded. This is just a Robin Hood using some seriously wrong tactics to get his way.
