Indu Sarkar

One of the darkest periods of the country - the 1975 emergency - is the milieu for this political flick from Madhur Bhandarkar. Though the film falls short of expectations and hype garnered pre-release, there are some very good performances (in spite of a wasted presence of Anupam Kher) and of course the political observations on the infamous human rights violations and censorship carried out by the power-hungry Gandhi dynasty. That said, Neil Nithin Mukesh stands out exceptionally compared to the titular Indu Sarkar in his brilliantly etched out persona of Former MP Sanjay Gandhi, the ruthless executioner of ridiculous emergency decrees by his mummy in the 19 months of emergency! Incidents like the forced sterilization campaign of '76, Turkman gate demolition and rioting in Delhi, Former PM IK Gujral's fallout with Sanjay Gandhi over the formers bid to control All India Radio and the ban on Kishore Kumar songs in radio (over his refusal to perform on one of congress rallies in Mumbai) find their way into the major unfolding of events, but still the film loses its plot halfway ending up into an average screenplay of sorts - rather focusing on the lead Indu Sarkar's transformation from a meek stammering housewife to an activist during emergency period against the government, fuelled by her first hand experience during the Turkman gate incident. The relevance of such movies might be the screen time worth it imparts to the new age audience on the ugly face of dynasty politics, shrewdly criticized all over the flick with its take on Indira Gandhi's 20 point program or the mass arrest without trial of journalists, RSS members and communist activists in a massive crackdown on civil liberties and political opposition in the name of internal security. It is paradoxical to the say the least that the same party is trying to put up a pseudo-democratic front and playing the caste and religion trump card at the slightest pretext even today, projecting the same family member decade after decade as their leader (this in spite of the numerous other eligible personalities to take up the same role, but alas not from the same family) It is no wonder that there was a stiff opposition from Congress circles in some places ahead of the movies screening , given the kind of incidents it reminds the people of. All said and done, Indu Sarkar is definitely an interesting watch for those interested in politics , partly because of the timeline of events it traces to the ultimate fall of Gandhi dynasty in 1977 and the rise of Janata party which ultimately paved the way for non congress parties to come in power !

It's is the best film in my life .which showed me the dirt in the emergency period & the absence of a good philanthropist in govt .

A lot could have been shown of the Emergency Period.

I was very excited after watching the promos of Indu Sarkar. Subsequently watching the movie, I felt frustrated. This movie does not explore the fanaticism and the profundity of Emergency, the darkest period in India post-Independence. Madhur Bhandarkar falls in a cliché, showing the protagonist Kirti Kulhari as Indu Sarkar who is a casualty of the Emergency. The movie straight away goes in the mode of a female victim against the government as shown in lots of women oriented potboilers in the past.

Indu Sarkar do start by pouring the annoyances that were the highlights during the emergency like "Nasbandi" . Thereafter, goes to show the democratic suppression by the formerly govt.(No points for guessing that right). But do not explore anything substantial during that period.

OK, we do have Turkman Gate instance, a funny guy who resembles Jagdish Tytler. Chief is exactly a replica of Sanjay Gandhi played by Neil Nitin Mukesh. Nothing more to add to it. Such movies should serve as an information for the generation born after the most darkest era post-Independence. Flick is merely reduced to a below average Hindi movie that has an army of bad guys and people opposing him.

Indu Sarkar created much hype prior release. The then in power Congress opposed the movie mentioning this a propaganda movie and shows Gandhi family in bad light. Even with Hysteria surrounding this flick it still tumbles flat. The resemblance of a few characters in the film is reduced just to narrative which is also a disclaimer towards the start.

Direction, Editing and Cinematography are below average. The biggest let down is the screenplay which do not help Indu Sarkar and the most important the punch and the characters of Emergency are not developed.

I will urge the audience to watch " Hazar Khwaeshein Aisi" which displays the poignancy and the destruction during the competently that Indu Sarkar bombs at.

Madhur Bandharkar is one of the most under rated directors. He does not make great films like Anurag Kashyap or Vishal Bhardwaj however most of his movies have good story, the story will keep you engaged till the end. The best part about his movies is the way he uses the music helps in taking the story forward. Coming to Indu sarkar, it is a good movie about emergency. There are some decent acting performance Altough the ending was need really good but overall it was a good movie. I'll recommend you to watch the movie atleast once.