MartinHafer "Sarkar" is a re-working of the Hollywood film "The Godfather". However, unlike many Indian remakes of American films, the filmmaker, Ram Gopal Varma, acknowledges this in the introduction...crediting the Copolla film for his inspiration for this movie.When the film begins, you meet Sarkar (Amitabh Bachchan). He's the local godfather but unlike the Marlon Brando version, he's basically an honest guy--less a traditional mobster and more a 'fixer' who is very powerful and works for his own moral code. However, there are two huge problems looming- -his one son, Vishnu (Kay Kay Menon) is an unstable hot-head and the other is that another mobster has decided to destroy Sarkar (Vishnu is like Sonny and Fredo from "The Godfather" combined into one character). So, after Vishnu is disowned by Sarkar for murdering an innocent man, Sarkar finds himself accused of murder...the murder of an honest politician. But the plan isn't just this...it's to murder Sarkar when he's in police custody. The only one who can stop all this and MIGHT be able to defeat Sarkar's enemies is his other son, Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan's real life son, Abishek Bachchan).In many ways this is like a modern and very sped up version of "The Godfather". While the American film was really, really long and involved, this Indian picture is amazingly short. While 3-4 hour films are the norm for Bollywood films, "Sarkar" is only two hours long...and this makes this otherwise excellent film seem a tad rushed. Still, despite this, it's an exciting and well made film that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Avinash Patalay The opening credit clearly puts a disclaimer that like many, he is inspired by Puzo/ Copolla' "The Godfather". The very first scene reminds you of the opening of "The Godfather". What follows next is an engaging and captivating tale though remaining within the basic framework of "The Godfather". Too many close-up shots puts immense pressure on the actors when the camera begins to roll. And guess what barring a few, everyone delivers. ۞ Big B:: RGV's dream come true first outing. Its a tailor-made role for him. Fans both RGV's and Big B's would have been satiated at this deadly combo, and it worked very both for both. ۞ Kay Kay:: After Big B, this movie will be remembered only for Kay Kay. He stands tall opposite Big B and leaves a tremendous impact (to an extent that he topples Big B with his towering performance). ۞ Aby Baby:: Silent, resilient performance start to flesh out in the second half of the movie. He does it quite effectively. The stubble and the introvert character suits him actually.۞ Kota:: You will love to hate this character called Selva Mani. ۞ Supriya Pathak:: Authentic performance.۞ Tanisha:: Weakest link.۞ Katrina:: Extended special appearance. RGV fans will get their quota of unconventional camera angles and violence. The chantings of "Govinda Govinda" could have been little more subdued. Otherwise the background music is engaging. Sarkar is no-nonsense narrative with practically zero relief moments. Its gritty, and fast, so the viewer has to concentrate. The sepia colour adds to the rustic/ raw look. It ensures to leaves an impact, to the extent that you would love to watch it again to catch those finer nuances which you would have missed in the first instance. PS: Don't forget to the sequel which propels "Sarkar" to a different level altogether.

Huzefa Akhter If you mention the Bollywood standards of acting and the art of story telling, there is no doubt with the matter of fact that Sarkar turned out to be of much much higher standards then one would normally expect.Acting was marvelous no wonder Mr. Amitab Bachchan is one of the best the industry has ever produced. Apart from that Abhishek was also exceptionally eye catching. The music was also good. Overall it was a great movie to watch.There are some heavy scenes in the movie, I like the one when Sarkar returns from the hospital and waves his hand out of his car before he himself steps out.However despite of all facts and figures the basic truth is its a copied movie. It does have it own flavor but the basic ingredients are copied."Enhancing an idea is much much simpler than actually coming up with one." If it was something directly out of the Director's brain I would have rated it 9, may be better.

Jan van Steenbergen (ijzeren_jan) An interesting movie. I like it, not only because of the excellent work of the actors, but also for the music. However, is has a few minuses.First of all, for a "hommage" to Godfather, it looks pretty much like an ordinary remake. Not that I have a problem with remakes, au contraire, but the whole story, including the minor characters, were copied almost literally. And in comparison to the original Godfather, Sarkar surely won't hold. Secondly, I'm not quite sure what kind of a criminal Sarkar really is. Amitabh Bachchan played his role wonderfully, for which he deserves to be praised, but as a mafioso the Sarkar character does not convince me at all. What on Earth are the crimes he has committed? Sure, his cronies beat up a boy, who had brutally raped a girl and gone unpunished for that because of a corrupt police. He might have had him killed! And what else? Sarkar has his gang and his own private army, but keeps far from murders, drug trade, probably also from arms trade... in other words, what crimes does he really commit? Smuggling teddy-bears? What money does he pay his people from? No, in Sarkar the Godfather is portrayed as a people's hero, who is about as dangerous as Mickey Mouse. I like the political dimension of the movie, but in my opinion it would have been more effective if Sarkar had been the leader of a more obviously criminal organisation. From this point of view, the original Godfather did a better job.