Mardaani

Cast: Rani Mukerji, Tahir Raj Bhasin

Director: Pradeep Sarkar

Producer: Aditya Chopra

Writer: Gopi Puthran

Plot: India is the world’s hub for child sex trafficking… Nearly 40,000 children are abducted every year… Every 8 minutes a girl child goes missing in India!

Meet Shivani Shivaji Roy , Senior Inspector, Crime Branch, Mumbai Police, who sets out to confront the mastermind behind a child trafficking mafia, which makes the mistake of kidnapping and smuggling a teenage girl, Pyari , out of the city.

Pyari is like a daughter to Shivani and her family and in her obsessive hunt for the girl, she stumbles into the world of decadence and debauchery, cruel desires and exploitation and onto a case that will change her life forever.

What follows is a cat and mouse game between a fearless cop and a young and ruthless mafia kingpin in a war which is very personal.

Catch Rani Mukerji in the lead, playing an edge of the seat role of a lifetime, in this raw and gritty film which is a distinct departure from Pradeep Sarkar’s style of filmmaking.

Mardaani 2 Trailer Review: Rani Mukerji’s cop avatar of Shivani Shivaji Roy in Mardaani (2014) was loved by the audience. This acclaim was the reason that the film proved to be a sleeper hit and the makers planned a sequel. Now 5 years after Mardaani, the talented actress is actually coming with Mardaani 2 and it’s less than a month away from the release.

The trailer of Mardaani 2 was released recently and I must say it packs the punch. Last time Shivani Shivaji Roy busted the human trafficking racket and now she is chasing a brutal rape case. Rani Mukerji as Shivani promises equally intense performance and the trailer also promises a hard-hitting drama with realistic but powerful action. If Mardaani had Tahir Raj Bhasin playing an intriguing and powerful villain, this one seems to have got a darker antagonist.

Overall, Mardaani 2’s trailer successfully creates excitement around the upcoming film. Gopi Puthran has replaced Pradeep Sarkar as the director and he seems to have done pretty well. The film is slated to release on Dec 13 and will be eyeing for a decent start at the Box Office.

Produced by YRF, Mardaani 2 has been shot in Rajasthan. Talking about the dangerous societal issue of rape in India, Rani earlier said, “I’m hoping that the entire nation watches this film because it is inspired by some very disturbing true events that have happened around us wherein, crime has been committed by a someone you don’t even expect is capable of hurting anyone. Such crimes committed by juveniles is a reality and it is important for everyone to take note of this because it’s one of the biggest challenges and threats posed to society at large.”

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Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and half stars)

Star cast: Rani Mukerji, Tahir Raj Bhasin

Director: Pradeep Sarkar

What’s Good: Rani Mukerji and the no-nonsense narrative which comes packed with solid punches, perfect thrills and apt dialogues.

What’s Bad: The predictability of the story line and the lack of inventiveness in the film. The melodrama of the climax could have been avoided.

Loo break: Thankfully not many.

Watch or Not?: Mardaani is a movie that despite an unimaginative plot and predictable narrative engrosses you in its fabric. Rani Mukerji is pitch perfect in the role of a super-cop that is rightly hued, far from the floss and swagger of Chulbul Pandey and Singham. She is real, gritty and every bit brilliant. Though the film’s climax loses itself in melodrama, this is a film that has its heart in the right place and tells a pertinent story at a time when it must be heard.

User Rating: 

Shivani Shivaji Roy is a cop in the Mumbai Crime Branch, who lives with her husband and niece. A street urchin Pyaari, whom she had saved from station, is now a part of her family and friend of her niece. All hell breaks loose when Pyaari goes missing. Initially it seems like a case of kidnapping but Shivani soon realizes it is an organized racket functioning, dealing with trafficking of young girls and drugs.

The nexus is not in the police radar and functions rather discreetly. But Shivani is hell bent on getting Pyaari out and destroy the people behind it. Does she succeed in getting to Pyaari or the pimp king (Tahir Bhasin) gets the better out of her is what Mardaani holds for you.

Mardaani Review: Script Analysis

Gopi Puthran has written a very predictable story which loses steam in its second half. The usual stuff is all something you’ll expect and nothing shocks the hell out of you. That is probably the film’s only hitch. The melodrama, the convoluted climax is all a staple affair, something I was expecting. And yet, it is one of those few times, when despite a weak plot a film is winsome. There is something delightful in seeing a pimp getting kicked in the nuts by a bunch of women he had sold into trafficking. As a woman, I do relish the clap traps that were incorporated in this film.

The story gives you a lot of reasons to celebrate commercial cinema. Though I won’t agree that it is a well written intelligent film, but it is a film that devotes itself exclusively to a subject without falling prey to diversions. Stretching commercial cinema beyond the contours of Singham and Dabangg Pandey, Rani retains the realism of the story delivering the mesmeric action which has the look and feel of believability in it.

However, the loopy writing at many places kills the earnestness of the film. Sending cut limbs of the kidnapped person is something I was hoping the writers won’t resort to. Attacking a cop’s husband to put her in a weaker position is again a flawed way of putting things across. Since we don’t live in the 70s and 80s, there is a certain degree of progression expected from the writing, which hasn’t grown much.

Even when the climax satisfies, I can’t call it a wholesome one. It is half baked attempt at making a clever point. The last shot Rani washing her face, exclaiming how every woman who lives in a country like India where men gaze at them with hawk like lust, must bring out the Mardaani in her, is worth a million bucks. But there is something critical missing from the residual feeling that the story must leave by. Blame it on the film’s writing, that cannot leave aside the pedigree of Bollywood thinking to create a movie that can rise above the usual, plain, unimaginative canvas that lacks basic creativity.

Mardaani Review: Star Performances

Rani Mukerji with no make up, stern face maintains her strong demeanor. The actress is non dramatic on purpose and that did the trick for me. She is far from the pomp and show of masala cop films and that subtlety blows your mind. I am ecstatic that the lady has returned in a role that does justice to her caliber.

Tahir Bhasin is a revelation and quite interestingly lives up to Rani’s stature. The chase between him and Rani is built brilliantly mostly because of his conviction in rendering such brilliance to his character. His diction and twang both blend in well, drawing one’s attention even further.