To all those unkind souls who thought that box office death by fire - "Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag" - had a sense of finality about it, the filmmaker has some wisdom to impart. The vicious cycle of violence is never ending, thankfully. Varma's factory is humming again with high-powered equipment - the Family of Bachchan father, son and daughter-in-law in "Sarkar Raj".

Assembly line Varma is back, in the spirit of Luca Brasi in "The Godfather" who says, "Some people in this world are just asking to be killed. Luca Brasi obliges them." It's Ramu's favourite line.

Naturally. For, doesn't his film empire rest on the strong foundation of ever reeling, keeling bullet-ridden bodies?

In the past decade, Varma seems to have wanted to confront the saccharine, 'love your family' Bollywood fare with Family fare of the mafia kind, packaged in dirty realism.

Consider the remakes and re-remakes of the desi gangster formula, inspired by the Godfather theme, following the success of "Satya" (1998) and "Company" (2003) -- many of which had the force of blank cartridges.

"Sarkar" (2005), named after its protagonist, Sarkar, was a hit, fuelling expectations for its sequel, "Sarkar Raj" (2008). Except, with the Sarkar formula, director Varma has copped out of his craft.

No more taut presentations of the underworld lurking in the ordinary world, with clinical goriness. No more following the spiral of crime and violence to the characters' self-destructing end, without taking sides.

A fascination for the cold, metallic feel of a pistol is all right early in one's career. A mature filmmaker must engage with the political philosophy of power and its intricate relationship with violence in what is a dimly recognisable democracy, circa 2008.

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