Madhur Bhandarkar is not exactly biting his nails. His third film, SATTA ­ THE GAME OF POWER, is ready for release and he's anxious, though not overly so. After all he is the director of CHANDNI BAR, a film that broke rules, tackled a realistic subject, proved a winner and shot up the confidence quotient of the young director. "Please don't compare SATTA ­ THE GAME OF POWER with CHANDNI BAR," he states.

Over to Madhur:

"I am aware that people in the industry do expect more from me, especially after CHANDNI BAR and there are bound to be comparisons, but I would like to tell them that the two films are completely different. The protagonists are different, their backgrounds, their beliefs, their personalities are different.

"If Mumtaz from CHANDNI BAR took life as it came, Anuradha in SATTA ­ THE GAME OF POWER won't take things lying down. Mumtaz accepted everything that happened to her, but Anuradha is not a passive spectator. There are huge personality differences between the two ­ Mumtaz came from a small town, whereas Anuradha is an urban, middle class girl. Mumtaz resigns herself to life, while Anuradha battles on.

"I think Raveena has surpassed my expectations. It would be clicheéd to say that her potential is largely untapped. I know for sure that Raveena would walk away with the best actress award.

"After CHANDNI BAR, producers were willing to give Tabu and me great money to make CHANDNI BAR II. I couldn't have made it. I would have only repeated myself. I didn't want to cash in on the success of CHANDNI BAR. I had to move on and wait for a subject that would charge me and Tabu enough to work again."

The synopsis ­

SATTA ­ THE GAME OF POWER is a gripping tale of a fiercely spirited woman, Anuradha [Raveena Tandon], with middle class roots and a dazzling ambition to make it big.

Her life takes a dramatic turn when she marries Vivek Chauhan [Sameer Dharmadhikari], a rich and a powerful brat whose reckless and overwhelming life confines her to a neglected and self-sacrificed housewife.

Fate trusts her into the murky world of active politics, a power-driven world of betrayal and survival, where no one can be trusted. Her world is encompassed with characters around her constantly casting their influences and changing her course of life.

But Anuradha fights back, evolving into a stronger individual ready to take on the challenge that life throws upon her.

She is put in a rut of selfish motives, where, instead of giving in to circumstances, she takes on the system, eventually succeeding in cleaning up the murk around her.

The team ­

Banner: Metalight Productions P. Ltd.; Story-direction: Madhur Bhandarkar; Music: Raju Singh; Lyrics: Javed Akhtar; Screenplay: Manoj Tyagi; Dialogue: Manoj Tyagi, Madhur Bhandarkar; Cinematography: Madhu S. Rao; Action: Harish Shetty; Choreography: Kishore Oraskar, Longiness Fernandes; Art: Yashwant Patil, Prasanna Karkhanis; Editing: Deepak Y. Wirkud, Vilas Ranade, Arun Naik.

Cast:- Raveena Tandon, Atul Kulkarni, Vallabh Vyas, Govind Namdeo and Sameer Dharmadhikari.