Mardaani, Hindi Bollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas,
Rating: * * *
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#Mardaani (Hindi)
Rating: * * * A film with a message against human trafficking, this
#PradeepSarkar directed film veers towards the melodramatic-just a wee bit, to
count as entirely realistic. Nevertheless it’s much more plausible than an
incorrigible ‘Singham’ And it’s Rani’s ace in a hole. #RaniMukherjee #AdityaChopra #YashRajFilms
#JisshuSengupta
Johnson Thomas
Rani’s Ace
Film: Mardani
Cast: Rani Mukherjee, Tahir Bhasin, Jisshu Sengupta
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Rating: *
* *
Pradeep Sarkar’s last effort with
Rani-Abhishek-Konkana, ‘Laga Chunari Mein Daag’ was a disaster at the BO but
his ‘Parineeta’ with Vidya Balan is still remembered fondly. So this new
effort, a YRF production, eponymously titled ‘Mardaani’ with Rani Mukherjee
essaying the role of a renegade cop who goes all out to root out the evil of
human trafficking( That Nagesh Kukkunoor’s ‘Lakshmi’ so disconcertingly brought
out) , has enough curiosity value to get the audience into the theatres-at
least for the first few days. And with the marketing campaign harping on those
machismo spewing dialogues and to-hell-with-the-system fortitude, it did seem like there was a little too much
ado about this lady-cop offering.
‘Singham’ and
it’s afterlife ‘..Returns’ were brutish cop-outs, this one, fortunately is not.
There’s no dearth of fractious events or facile conflicts here. Though based on well-researched facts, the
narrative chooses to dig in deep, into the muddle of the mafia in it’s bid to
give the home lead something much bigger to chew on ( considering her earlier escapades
into solo territory did not reap as much dividends as expected). So this film
is obviously designed to give Rani’s almost defunct career a boost and maybe
even win her a few recognizable awards.
‘Mardaani’
has Rani Mukherjee essaying the role of a fierce, fearless cop, Shivani Shivaji Rao, Inspector Mumbai Crime
Branch who takes up the case of a missing girl, Pyari who appears to have become a victim of the
human trafficking network. Shivani has a husband(Jisshu Sengupta) and a neice,
Meera, and a family bond strong enough to make her vulnerable to threats. How
she unearths the nexus between the Mafia kingpin Walt( Tahir Bhasin) and the
human-trafficking network in the by lanes of Delhi- where she traces the
missing girl to, forms the main track of the story.
Director Pradeep Sarkar helms the film in typical
fashion giving his heroine Rani ample scope to embody the character she plays
with a fierce investiture that makes her look larger than life. But only just.
Rani is without make-up, minus the aviators of a Singham or Chulbul Pandey and
is not given to breaking into song and dance at the sight of a handsome male.
It’s only when her young friend , Pyari, goes missing that she sets out to
ferret the truth. And the words she utters when in dramatic conflicts with the
villains are sharp and punchy. There’s no bombast here but she is still much
more than just a regular cop doing her duty. She even mouths dialogues that
encourage lawlessness amongst defenders of the law and in her eagerness to find
the missing girl, has several confrontations that show her off as strong and
defiant. She doesn’t do a ‘Singham’ but even so, is not as realistically drawn
as could have been. Rani’s strong performance keeps the interest going, Tahir
plays Walt with a resoluteness that is becoming and Artur Zurawski’s cine
capture makes it all look edgy. Editor Sanjib Dutta adds to the interest with
his swift edits. Pradeep Sarkar’s helming and Gopi Puthran’s script could have
done with a little more sharpness though. Especially with that heavy melodrama at
the final act… Even so, this is a good, solid and reasonably satisfying outing
to aim for this weekend!
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