Mardaani
Year: 2014
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Cast: Rani Mukherji, Tahir Bhasin, Jisshu Sengupta

The first post-marriage film of Rani Mukherji; the celebrated Yashraj banner (run by who else but her husband Aditya Chopra!); the talented director Pradeep Sarkar trying make the things right after faltering in his last two ventures and the interesting promos. Mardaani ticks many right boxes to draw you to the theatre. What is it like?

What’s the plot?

A tough female cop (Rani Mukherji) is disturbed by the sudden unexpected disappearance of a teenage girl from a Mumbai shelter home. The same girl had once been saved by the cop and has almost become like her family member. As the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that the girl’s disappearance is not an isolated case but just one link in a widespread kidnapping-sex trafficking racket, which is run by a young and ruthless gangster (Tahir Bhasin), who seems to be operating with the backing of many high-placed individuals. Cleverly covering his trails, the slimy gangster begins a cat and mouse game with the cop. He is ready to go to any length to prevent her ongoing investigation. It is a real test of the lady’s toughness and patience. How will she bring this dastardly criminal and his gang to justice? Will she ever find the kidnapped girl, whom she loves like her own?

What’s hot?

·        After bagging the national award for Parineeta (2005) as the most promising debut director, Pradeep Sarkar had done little of note. Here he delivers a hard-hitting film on a difficult theme with a realistic treatment.

·        Taut storyline with believable characterization, good suspense and clever twists.

·        Rani Mukherji proves that she still has a lot to offer as an actress through a convincing portrayal of Shivani Shivaji Roy, a cool-headed Mumbai Crime Branch cop not afraid to take on the system at times in order to nail the criminals.

·        Young actor Tahir Bhasin plays the heartless, cocksure kingpin of the sex trafficking trade with chilling conviction.

What’s not?

·        The film has an ‘A’ (Adult) viewing rating and justifiably so. The expletive-filled language and brutal depiction of sex and violence is not suitable for family viewing with kids.

·            For the mainstream audiences habituated to candyfloss romance-song-dance-filled YRF offerings, this movie shunning all those things is perhaps too dark and difficult to accept.

-           The second half drags a little.

Verdict

As a heroine-centric suspense thriller, Mardaani has a lot in common with films like Samay- When Time Strikes (an underappreciated 2003- film with Sushmita Sen playing the cop chasing a psychopath killer) and Kahaani (the much-awarded 2012- Vidya Balan classic). But in my opinion, Samay worked better as a cop-criminal cat-and-mouse game and Kahaani was way too good as a suspense thriller.

Mardaani is a watchable fast-paced thriller but its limitation lies in two things. Firstly, it just remains a good, competent film without offering anything new or extraordinary. Secondly it gets entrapped in its decision to opt for extreme realism. Agreed that in reality, the cops and criminals curse a lot and the human traffickers treat the girls as mere sex objects. But was it really necessary to show all those things in gory detail? It was not beyond Sarkar’s directorial capability to create the same cinematic impact with a subtler suggestive approach. Instead, he decides to overplay its realistic card. In that process, the film loses its mainstream appeal and also its moral high ground as a movie with a subtext against sexual exploitation!

Rating

3 stars