Sarkar Raj

The sequel to his own hit Sarkar (2005), a reworking of THE GODFATHER relocated to India, Ram Gopal Varma's crime thriller delivers the casting coup of Bollywood's royal family – Amitabh Bachhan, his son, Abhishek, and Abhishek's wife, Aishwarya Ray – onscreen together for the first time. But despite Varma's willingness to tackle serious issues like entrenched corruption and cozy relationships between government officials and unelected ward bosses, the result is overwrought and cliched.

Anglo-Indian developer Mike Rajan (Victor Banerjee) wants to build a power plant in a poor, rural part of Maharashta state, and hires shady fixer Hassan Qazi (Govind N...