{"id":980,"date":"2016-06-08T22:25:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T22:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=980"},"modified":"2016-06-08T22:25:18","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T22:25:18","slug":"sarkar-3-review-amitabh-bachchan-ram-gopal-varma-rgv-bollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=980","title":{"rendered":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">I<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>n 2005, Ram Gopal Varma went against conventional wisdom of remaking a seminal film and pulled off the unthinkable: A searing adaptation of Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s <em>The Godfather.<\/em> Not only did he succeed at indigenising the magic of the classic, RGV also displayed his superiority as an astute filmmaker by layering his Indian adaptation with a distinctly relevant political angle.\n\nIn the film, Amitabh Bachchan played the eponymous Sarkar, bringing to life an influential figure working above the law in the world of both politics and the criminal underworld. Subhash Nagre was modelled on Don Vito Corleone, but his iconic status came from the real-life undertones that RGV wrote into the character: Bachchan played a thinly veiled version of Bal Thackeray.\n\nAll it took was 12 years and two sequels to shatter the idol.\n\nAs Subhash \u201cSarkar\u201d Nagre, the ageing patriarch, Bachchan brought equal parts vulnerability and intimidation to his performance, looking every bit like the spitting image of Bal Thackeray with his contrasting white beard, the saffron tikka, rudraksh beads, and flowy black robes. Like, Thackeray, Subhash Nagre too ran a parallel government.\n\nBoth <em>The Godfather<\/em> and <em>Sarkar <\/em>opened with a similar scene of a helpless father asking the patriarch to punish the men responsible for raping his daughter. In <em>Sarkar<\/em>, Subhash Nagre immediately orders his goons to beat up the rapists, setting the tone for his character. \u201cMujhe jo sahi lagta hai main karta hoon\u2026 woh chahe bhagwan ke khilaaf ho, samaj ke khilaaf ho, police, kanoon ya phir poore system ke khilaaf kyun na ho,\u201d echoes Sarkar, amidst musical chants of \u201cGovinda, Govinda, Govinda\u201d (a reference to Lord Vishnu, the protector). You\u2019re transfixed, watching the deadly overlord rule undisputed.\n\nSubhash Nagre isn\u2019t merely a Mafioso with political power; he is an idea, a man whose unpredictability and notion of mob justice kept you on edge throughout the film. Of course, all of this was amplified by the film\u2019s dark colour palette, amid which, Sarkar\u2019s ruthless eyes do the talking. The steady close-up shots of the patriarch instantly evoked fear and the background music heightened the mood.\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>There are zero layers to the character and we are fed no new information about Subhash Nagre, whose every move is predictable. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe Subhash Nagre we meet in <em>Sarkar 3<\/em> may be deadly, but he is no longer able to hold the weight of his character, falling prey to a severe case of sequelitis. The movie is the pinnacle of trademark RGV-grade filmmaking. Think random thigh shots, Jackie Shroff hanging out with a girl clad in a bikini feeding dolphins, a wasted ensemble cast, bizarre camera angles and inexplicable shots of animal figurines thrown throughout the film.\n\nSubhash Nagre is a shadow of the man he used to be. He still calls the shots, but RGV\u2019s obsession with making him win at any cost ensures that he is given no worthy opponent or a semblance of a plot. The movie\u2019s reliance on the usual dark shots of a glaring Bachchan don\u2019t seem as novel as they did 12 years ago: Now they are just grating. The shots get darker, and the proceedings progressively sillier.\n\nIt is as if Bachchan\u2019s character has received no directorial update. He still refuses to participate in an illegal business deal, just like the first film, resulting in his enemies conspiring against him. He is still protecting his turf, except this time, he\u2019s aided by his grandson Sivaji Nagre instead of his son. What\u2019s worse than a film \u201cinspired\u201d by an international one? One that looks to its own prequels for inspiration. Storyline and themes are repeated generously, giving <em>Sarkar 3<\/em> no reason to exist. There are zero layers to the character and we are fed no new information about Subhash Nagre, whose every move is predictable. The complex underbelly of politics is reduced to bland exchanges with clich\u00e9d one-liners and random gunfights that result in characters dropping dead the very moment they start getting interesting.\n\nWhat is most galling perhaps, is that the movie\u2019s conflicts fail to be relevant to its setting. <em>Sarkar 3<\/em> is set in modern-day Mumbai, but by the looks of it, it might as well be 10 years ago.\n\nI couldn\u2019t help but be reminded of Richard Linklater\u2019s series of Before Sunrise films that are set years apart (although, not to compare the two filmmakers.) The trilogy revolves around Jesse and Celine, but during different stages of their life. We know everything about these two characters, and yet with every film, we learn something new about them, see them handling challenges they had not the last time around. The beauty of this well-loved trilogy lies not merely in the lovely conversations and the consistency of the narrative, but in the layers that a viewer gets to unravel in the two protagonists.\n\nBy contrast, the only consistent thing about Sarkar is that we see him sipping tea in all the three iterations of the film. In <em>Sarkar 3 <\/em><spoiler alert> RGV ensures that there is no way Subhash Nagre gets to live. And with it, he takes away the memory of an iconic character.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[702,141,1760,1761,1774,1775],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-amitabh-bachchan","tag-bollywood","tag-ram-gopal-varma","tag-rgv","tag-sarkar","tag-sarkar-3-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Poulomi Das\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Poulomi Das\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Poulomi Das\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\"},\"headline\":\"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980\"},\"wordCount\":864,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1494598477.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Amitabh Bachchan\",\"bollywood\",\"Ram Gopal Varma\",\"RGV\",\"Sarkar\",\"Sarkar 3 review\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pop Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980\",\"name\":\"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1494598477.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\"},\"description\":\"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1494598477.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1494598477.jpg\",\"width\":2375,\"height\":1406},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=980#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\",\"name\":\"Poulomi Das\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Poulomi Das\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=103\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon","description":"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon","og_description":"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2375,"height":1406,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Poulomi Das","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon","twitter_description":"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Poulomi Das","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980"},"author":{"name":"Poulomi Das","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679"},"headline":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon","datePublished":"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980"},"wordCount":864,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","keywords":["Amitabh Bachchan","bollywood","Ram Gopal Varma","RGV","Sarkar","Sarkar 3 review"],"articleSection":["Pop Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980","name":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-08T22:25:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679"},"description":"It took Ram Gopal Varma 12 years and three films to erode the memory of Sarkar, one of the most formidable protagonists to emerge out of Bollywood in recent times.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","width":2375,"height":1406},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=980#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sarkar 3 and the Death of an Icon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679","name":"Poulomi Das","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Poulomi Das"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=103"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1494598477.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}