Politics is a game of power. It is practiced to gain power and stick to it. Since the political arena contains a lot of power, politics in that field is also more extensive and more complicated. Indian politics is no different. Since decades, we have been watching how numbers are gained (because numbers only matter to gain a majority in some house for the sake of gaining power in a democratic set-up) by hook or by crook by the shrewd politicians and how people switch their loyalties for the sake of sharing the pie of power. The ultimate loser in such games is only the common public, i.e., the voters who only vote the politicians to power. And that's the irony of (Indian) politics.
Director Madhur Bhandarkar has been touching various issues prevailing in India in his movies. He has touched the politics of India in his movie Satta (2003). He has shown through the story of a housewife who has to enter politics, how power is snatched from others and then kept in own hands without allowing the grip on it to loosen. He has also shown that the political power can be used to do wrong things (to grind own axe or harm others) but it can also be used to do good things when the intention of the power-holder is pious. The movie shows how females of political families are used as puppets and compelled to join politics when the males, due to some reason, are not able to fight election. Political families do so because they consider legislative seats as their fiefdom. Plus their patriarchal mindset also instigates them to use the females of their family as puppets only having no say in any matter of the family but do whatever asked for to do.
Satta (power / rule) is the story of Anuradha Sehgal (Raveena Tandon) who gets married to Vivek (Sameer Dharmadhikari) who belongs to a political family having a patriarchal set-up and mentality. That patriarchal treatment meted out to her in that family turns her into a rebel. When suddenly Vivek gets caught in a murder case and sent to the prison, the in-laws of Anuradha compel her to fight election in place of him. She wins and quite reluctantly joins politics. She gets a mentor in the form of Yashwant (Atul Kulkarni) and gradually she not only witnesses (and understands) the nexus between the politicians, businessmen, cops and the underworld but also learns the tricks of the trade. She also learns that in politics, (almost) everybody is selfish and nobody can be fully trusted and hence there can be no permanent friends or foes in this field. However she is able to save herself from getting fully corrupted and spoiled. She ensures that her inner self remains pure only despite playing the dirty game of politics which has been imposed on her. Finally, she captures the complete power of the state (the chair of the chief minister) but instead of keeping it with her, hands it over to a politician she believes to be deserving for it.
Well, this Satta or power is not firm but shaken in this movie because Madhur Bhandarkar has abstained from making a completely realistic movie and has made a formula-based masala flick to please all kinds of audience - from the audience of the balcony to the audience of the gallery. The movie is fast paced and thoroughly engrossing. There is not a single moment of boredom in the movie. The idealist heroine of this movie remains an idealist only despite going through the highs and lows of politics. Through her character only, the director has presented an idealistic definition of Satta (power) to the viewers of this movie. The essence of the movie is contained in a dialogue spoken by Yashwant - 'There's nothing like favour in politics'. The narrative flows very well and keeps the spectators glued to their chairs. The final 30 minutes of the movie form the best part of it when Anuradha plays mind games with her opponents and thereby turns the tables on them. Every character of the story is able to maintain his / her unique identity in the movie which is the characteristic of a good movie.
All the technical aspects of the movie - background score, cinematography, art direction and editing in are in order. It's a crisp movie with no dragging of the story at any place. Music of Raju Singh is so-so. Madhur Bhandarkar's direction is good. However in this film, realism has taken a back seat and entertainment has become prime.
Raveena Tandon has done a terrific job in the pivotal role. She was a strong contender for the national award for the best actress for her performance in this movie. From helplessness and reluctance to self-confidence and putting her best foot forward, she has mesmerized the audience by her performance as Anuradha Sehgal. Atul Kulkarni has, like always, done an admirable job. Other actors have also fitted the bill for their respective roles as the director has successfully extracted good performance from the complete cast.
Satta isn't a hard-hitting political drama. It's an entertaining movie though which should be watched for the sake of entertainment only.
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