Raajneeti

Raajneeti
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Prakash Jha
Produced by	Prakash Jha
Written by	Prakash Jha (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	Anjum Rajabali Prakash Jha
Story by	Prakash Jha
Starring	Ajay Devgn Nana Patekar Ranbir Kapoor Katrina Kaif Arjun Rampal Manoj Bajpayee Sarah Thompson Naseeruddin Shah
Music by	Wayne Sharp Pritam Aadesh Shrivastava Shantanu Moitra
Cinematography	Sachin Kumar Krishnan
Edited by	Santosh Mandal
Production company	Prakash Jha Productions Walkwater Media Ltd
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date	4 June 2010 (2010-06-04)
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹60 crore (US$8.9 million)
Box office	₹143.11 crore (US$21 million) (worldwide gross)

Raajneeti (Hindi: राजनीति; Politics), a 2010 Indian political thriller drama film co-written, directed and produced by Prakash Jha, with a screenplay by Anjum Rajabali and Prakash Jha, and starring Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles. It was originally produced by Prakash Jha Productions and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures and Walkwater Media. It was shot in Bhopal. The title translates literally as "Politics" and contextually as "Affairs of State." The draws parallels to the epic Mahabharata where shades of Krishna (Nana Patekar), Arjuna (Ranbir Kapoor), Yudhishthira (Arjun Rampal), Duryodhana (Manoj Bajpai), Karna (Ajay Devgan), and Draupadi (Katrina Kaif) can be seen in the characters portrayed.

Raajneeti was released in theatres worldwide on 4 June 2010, after some controversies regarding similarities between real-life people and the characters in the film, as well as issues about the national anthem. Rajneeti was declared SuperHit by Box Office India. A sequel of Rajneeti has been confirmed by Prakash Jha. The movie cast Katrina Kaif as a powerful politician.

The film begins with the life of Bharti Rai the daughter of chief minister Ramnath Rai. Influenced by leftist ideology, she rebels against her father and joins the rival party of leftist leader Bhaskar Sanyal . Bharti develops an illicit relationship with Bhaskar, who, guilt-ridden over taking advantage of the younger woman, leaves for parts unknown, having unwittingly gotten Bharti pregnant. Upon the child's birth, he is abandoned in a boat by Brij Gopal Bharti's brother. This leaves her devastated. Bharti later marries Chandra Pratap, the younger brother of Bhanu Pratap . Bhanu leads the Rashtrawadi political party. The story tooks a turn, when the state government collapses and Bhanu suffers a stroke. In the hospital, he hands over power to his brother Chandra. Chandra's son, Prithviraj Pratap tries to take advantage of his father's power and starts to impose his own decisions on the party, which results in a clash with Veerendra Pratap. Chandra also take side of his son, sidelining Virendra. When Prithvi rejects the nomination of a local leader, Sooraj Kumar, who is chosen by the common people, Virendra gives his support to Suraj. Unknown to all, Suraj is Bharti's abandoned son, who was found and whose upbringing was done by Pratap's family driver Ram Charittar. Then comes the younger son of Chandra, Samar Pratap from America and meets his childhood friend Indu . Indu loves Samar and thinks he loves her too. When Chandra and Prithvi try to kick Virendra out of his father's party, he ask Sooraj for help. Sooraj ends up assassinating Chandra in his car, while he is returning from the airport after seeing off his younger son, Samar. In an ensuing drama, Prithvi is arrested by police under the influence of Veerendra and put on trial for raping a party worker. Samar comes to the rescue and tricks Veerendra into dropping all charges upon his brother, promising that his brother will resign and that he will move with his family to the U.S. However, Samar does not keep his promise and he, with Prithvi, begins rallying public support. After that Bhanu officially expels Prithvi, the latter splits from the Rashtrawadi party and contests elections under "Jana Shakti party", a new party with Gopal as his mentor and Samar as the executive. Meanwhile, Samar's American girlfriend Sarah (Sarah Thompson) arrives in India to see the situation. To raise funds for the new party, Samar shrewdly ensures Prithvi's marriage to Indu. Though Indu had always loved Samar, Samar only thought of Indu as a friend and loved Sarah.