ApunKaChoice Review
The ApunKaChoice movie review of 'Mardaani'. Dear Bajirao Singham, you’ve had enough of bashing the bad guys. Now make way for Shivani Shivaji Roy. Her ‘majhi’ is ‘satakli’ differently. Slap-happy, trigger-happier, loose of tongue, taut in resolve, this Mumbai Crime Branch police inspector may not be the beefcake to give the baddies wet pants at the very first sight, but she’s got the grit and gumption to gut the wily lawbreakers. In her crosshairs is the kingpin of the child sex trafficking racket.
Yash Raj Film’s Mardaani is thankfully shorn of all the frills and pomp the banner is known to swaddle its stories with. The film’s plot is quite credible and the exploits of its female protagonist doesn’t always call for suspension of disbelief.
The film tells the pertinent tale of a gutsy female cop (Rani Mukerji) who sets out to find a kidnapped girl Pyaari (Priyanka Sharma) and unearths a sordid drug and sex trafficking racket with its smooth talking kingpin Walt (Tahir Bhasin) holed somewhere in Delhi. Shivani vows to free Pyaari from the clutches of this creepy racketeer within 30 days. A herculean task that the Lady Mardaani with her gun and gaalis is fully up to.
Director Pradeep Sarkar mostly hits all the right check marks in Mardaani. After the overtly weepy Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and the faux cool Lafangey Parindey, Sarkar takes care this time not to make a hash of the story by screenwriter Gopi Puthran. His effort is amply buttressed by cinematographer Artur Zurawski’s earnest camera, and editor Sanjib Datta’s sharp and neat scissors.
The film does careen a tad too much into drama at the fag end and for a while it seems Sarkar is out to squander all the effort, but thankfully, Mardaani regains its foothold despite the somewhat slipshod finale and winds up as a film that merits a watch.
Rani Mukerji is the film’s dynamo. She takes care not to overplay her hand, but makes her no-nonsense character Shivani Shivaji Roy direct, upfront, sharp-tongued, and yet not without the feminine softness that comes through in the few scenes she has with her onscreen hubby (Jishu Sengupta).
The soft-voiced Tahir Raj Bhasin plays the role of a young, unassuming sex racketeer with restraint and Zurawski’s camera and lighting give him a dark, sinister aura.
Thankfully, there aren’t any songs to steal your attention away from the cat-and-mouse game unraveling between the cop and the kingpin. The background score is considerate towards your eardrums, and the pace is brisk enough to keep you riveted throughout the running time. And yes, there’s also an interesting twist in the tale.
HT Reviews
The Hindi film industry’s idea of an action film has changed with time, and director Pradeep Sarkar’s latest venture Mardaani is an example of this.
Now, the filmmakers are concentrating more on realistic stunt scenes, but is this enough to bring mainstream Bollywood at par with foreign action films? Why am I drawing this comparison? Simply because we are seeking inspiration from Hollywood, that too in an obvious way. Liam Neeson-starrer Taken (2008) had a similar premise, and Sarkar has adapted the concept to suit the ‘masala’ seekers.
There are spoilers ahead, so we suggest you to come back to this article after watching the film. In case you’re proceeding, thanks.
In a way, it’s a revenge film featuring daredevil Mumbai Crime Branch inspector Shivani Sivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) and Walt (Tahir Bhasin), a young-dynamic-organised criminal, as two fighting entities.
They both are influential in their respective fields and know the tricks of the trade, which eventually turns the story into a cat-and-mouse game. Only the cat was too predictable.
As the trailer suggested, Shivani leaves her den and arrives in Delhi to grab Walt by his neck after the abduction of a shelter home girl. Rest of the film is an extension of the idea that even a heroine can play Chulbul Pandey.
Laga Chunri Mein Daag and Lafangey Parindey have shown Pradeep Sarkar as a storyteller who carefully selects the canvas, but loses the essence of the theme as the film progresses towards the culmination point.
The same happens in Mardaani where too much emphasis on high-voltage drama dilutes the conflict. The linear structure of the screenplay doesn’t help either.
Shivani is gutsy, capable of doing stunts, and enjoys full support from her subordinates, but how she waits till the end to raise the excitement meter is unconvincing.
The constraints of popular Bollywood film are clearly visible throughout the film, and it doesn’t serve any purpose because enhancing drama part restricts the hard hitting subject to unfold properly. You don’t wait for the dangerous villain to act vehemently before grabbing him, especially when you’ve all the evidences against him.
A bit of overlooking on part of the director also hampers the flow of the story. A goon has been fired upon in the police custody, but none of the cops looks towards the sniper as if they expected it. Ironically, it happens twice.
The climax also can’t boast of clean execution of the script. The absence of any will to grab the gun on part of baddie Walt is conspicuous.
The research part of the film is satisfactory and the writer Gopi Puthran uses some plot points quite judiciously, especially the second twist of the film, but where Gopi fumbles is the characterisation of the supporting cast. Be it Dr Bikram Roy (Jisshu Sengupta) or Pyaari (Priyanka Sharma), they all are over-dramatic.
However, the writer should be praised for inserting some police humour. There is a scene where undercover cops are ready to raid, and a feisty woman unknowingly sits in their vehicle. Unfortunately, this was one of the rare light moments in the film.
The politician-gangster nexus is inevitable in such stories, and Mardaani is no exception, but they don’t seem menacing or really venomous. You see the point? The drama fails to grip the audience in an anticipated way. A sprinkle of religion has also been used, which of course steals away the seriousness of the issue.
Tahir Bhasin impresses with his cool demonour, and he gives out the glimpses of his latent potential in some scenes. He can be groomed into a good talent, if handled with care.
Mardaani is Rani Mukerji’s show, she gets undivided attention. Nearly all the scenes feature her, and she doesn’t disappoint. The conflict line could have been demarcated with more finesse and her character could have emerged as one solid Mardaani.
There is just one song in the film, which plays in the background, and it works in favour of the film. The story is paced well and editing covers up for some average acting and technical glitches. In fact, it’s the editor who manages to make Mardaani a thriller. The camera captures the essence of Delhi streets, but fails to give a closer look of the landscapes in Rajasthan.
Mardaani’s philosophy and message are conveyed to some extent. It may be liked due to its women oriented theme, but I don’t think it would give any impetus to the process of women empowerment. Watch it if you have been a Rani fan, but don’t look for any depth in the story.
First Post Review
There probably isn’t a single kid from the '90s who doesn’t remember the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) by heart, and this includes the way each character pronounced certain words or delivered certain lines (“Rahul, juice!”). After watching the morning show of Mardaani at a suburban multiplex, it seems that Rani Mukerji, who became a household name after KKHH, has also found it hard to shake off that nitty-gritty herself.
As the lead actress of Mardaani, a song-less thriller about child trafficking, she plays what is supposed to be the most realistic character she has ever portrayed. However, there are several moments in this film where she, as tough-as-nails cop Shivani Shivaji Roy, sounds exactly like KKHH's Tina Malhotra. As she gives a local goon a dressing-down in public, her words sound tough and mean, but her delivery is more along the lines of “Anjali, aaj main tumhe ek kahaani sunane waali hoon.”
It is at such moments, where Mukerji mistakes dialogue delivery for elocution, that Mardaani is at its weakest. Barring those, this is actually a pretty well-made and engaging thriller from director Pradeep Sarkar. Does this mean he has finally succeeded in exorcising the ghosts of the disastrous Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007) and the even-worse Lafangey Parindey (2010)? Hmm. Yeah. Sorta.
For over two-thirds of its running length, Mardaani coasts along like a kayak on still waters. It opens silently, with Roy and her team, on their way to an encounter, chatting and joking about more mundane matters. She is an inspector with the Mumbai Police crime branch, married to a Bengali doctor named Dr Bikram Roy (Bengali star Jisshu Sengupta, in a thankless supporting role). She doesn’t have any children, but treats her niece Meera and a girl she rescued from the streets named Pyaari (Priyanka Sharma) as her own. When Pyaari goes missing from her homeless shelter (why she hasn’t been legally adopted by the Roys is a question the movie doesn’t answer), Roy starts investigating her disappearance.
Things start to get murky. A Delhi-based syndicate that indulges in trafficking of both drugs and underage girls seems to be behind it. In come your standard-issue thriller elements — cat-and-mouse games, confrontational phone conversations, car chases — and to Sarkar’s credit, they are all executed quite well.
Mardaani also gives us a charismatic antagonist in the form of Tahir Raj Bhasin, the surprisingly young kingpin of this operation who is clearly a huge fan of Breaking Bad . At first, this connection is established in a subtle manner, with the camera focussing momentarily on an ‘I Am The One Who Knocks’ poster in his room during a key scene; later on, he asks Roy to call him ‘Walt’, explaining that the name belongs to “a hero from an American TV serial”.
Sarkar shows great deft and economy through much of the film, and his direction is ably supported by Sanjib Datta’s precise editing and Artur Zurawski’s effective, hand-held camerawork. Given the industry this was made in, it is commendable that Sarkar avoids the temptation to disrupt the narrative through musical montages – for the most part.
The final act, however, is a huge let-down, largely because Mardaani chooses to go all Chak De, India! on us and resolves the story in a fairly tame manner – even though what is actually being shown on screen is actually quite horrific. Add to that a horrible Sunidhi Chauhan song and the climax actually ends up doing a disservice to its delicate subject matter. It’s a pity because it almost looks like that’s the point where the folks from Yashraj Films stepped in and said, “All right, Pradeep, we’ve given you enough of a free hand. Now it’s time to do things our way.”
Mukerji, when she isn’t reciting her lines as described earlier, is far more credible when given the license to mutter expletives under her breath (thank you, Censor Board, for not muting them out). While her screen presence is effective, her performance lacks the kind of intensity the role needed. The screenplay and characters are one-note, but this is thankfully redeemed by the film’s solid supporting cast, who help give the film the authenticity it needs.
Overall, Mardaani is a better commercial film than most and Sarkar’s best film since Parineeta. However, if there is one solid reason to watch this movie, it’s Bhasin’s Walter-White-as-played-by-Seth-Green act. The young actor, who was impressive even in his brief appearance in One By Two earlier this year, seems like a talent to watch out for. Next time, hopefully, he’ll have more meat to chew on.
Zee News Review
In the world of Bajirao Singham and Chulbul Pandey, Shivani Shivaji Roy has come as a breath of fresh air. ` Mardaani` does not have Rani Mukerji play a tomboy – it is a woman doing her bit to fight in a man`s world.
Rani has been acknowledged as a fantastic actor. In that regard, she has very little competition in the industry. The fact that she is possibly the best has been established well with `Mardaani`. The film deals with the difficult subject of human-trafficking and Director Pradeep Sarkar tackles the issue very carefully.
Rani plays a Mumbai crime branch officer, Shivani who is a hard-bitten cop with a mission to set things right. She is not afraid to bend the rules, to nab criminals and is respected by her fellows. She gets involved in the investigation of busting a sex-trafficking racket when a girl close to her goes missing. She has to follow the trail fast, as anyone involved is getting killed fast. The investigation leads her to Delhi where she goes into the nitty-gritties of the city to nab the elusive `Walt`, played by Tahir Raj Bhasin.
Tahir was a revelation of sorts. The minute you set eyes on his character, you begin to loathe him. He has powerfully played a young urban villain, without any cheesy lines. Realistically, he plays a suave mastermind that makes it challenging for Shivani to nab him on every step of the way.
`Mardaani` is also a proof of how good supporting cast can make a world of a difference to the feel of the movie. Even though the flick is centred around Rani`s character, the smaller roles have provided the much-needed realistic feel of the film.
Coming back to the lead actress, Rani is a favourite of Pradeep Sarkar. She had the pivotal role in `Laaga Chunari Mein Daag`, even though the movie bombed. The Chopra Bahu has worked hard for this role and she looks fit as a fiddle. She has learnt the guerilla martial art krav maga to look her part and she literally packs a punch in all the action scenes. She has not been styled to look like a man, she looks like all normal women do. She is not all glamour, nor is she made to look sans make-up. It is a role that women will relate to.
Inspiring as it is, the flick does has a few problems. One is despite the realism, there are a few dialogues that are overly dramatic and unnecessary. The background score is good but could have been much more enthused to build-up a climax and set the tone of the movie.
The lack of absurd over-the-top action is a relief, as watching cars fly and glass break in every second scene of a movie has taken a toll on the quality of cinema that an average movie-goer has to go through. This flick is much more grounded and makes a thoughtful statement about the issue of trafficking and abduction.
Like `No One Killed Jessica`, the movie wakes you up to the injustice of the world and to the underbelly of a crime that is horrendous to even think about. Sarkar paints a great picture of our law keepers and he sets an example of a woman police officer with Shivani. The character has the prospect of becoming a role model and even the audience was impressed by the movie which has been made as crisp as possible with good, if not great, editing.
If you are tired of the nonsensical action, and over-the-top drama, `Mardaani` is the film for you. The movie has the power to invoke thought and subjects you to question the ultimately ineffective candle light vigils that need to now metamorphose to a more powerful resistance to lawless cruelty and nip crime at its bud.
No comments:
Post a Comment