Approximately after three weeks of it’s release, zillions of missed chances, and innumerable instances of utter laziness, I finally got myself to wake up on a Sunday morning, and travel to an unusual multiplex – the life span of which I don’t see lasting beyond the next 4-5 years; In order to catch the decently slotted and priced show for Mardaani. I genuinely thank my stars, turning a blind eye to the extra twenty minutes of travel, the almost deserted, dysfunctional multiplex, the broken seat in the auditorium and the stinking seat cushions, that I did not miss this cinematic wonder on the big screen. Had I lazed around today as well and categorized the film in my ‘Download-and-watch’ section, I would have been thoroughly disappointed with myself and my inability to make the right choice of watching the film in the theatre.
Mardaani is a highly unusual film to come out of the corridors of the highly suave and poised Yashraj Films studios. It’s endearing to see YRF being a part of the highly progressing and developing wave of Indian Cinema (Not to be confused with or intellectualized by ‘The Indian New Wave Cinema’). Mardaani showcases the story of a feisty, and courageous Mumbai Police officer, Inspector Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerjee) and her team of honest public servants as they crack the deadly syndicate of drug smugglers and child-trafficking pimps in the capital of India.
Rani Mukerjee’s portrayal of the honest and strong crime branch police inspector could be considered as one of the most convincing portrayals of a cop (Male or female) to be seen in Indian cinema, after a very long time. Everytime I see a Rani Mukerjee film, my respect and pride for her goes up manifold and my belief of her being one of the finest actors in mainstream cinema today, gets reinforced time and again. Be it romance, comedy, drama, and now action, Rani Mukerjee has proved her mettle repeatedly and has always raised the bar for herself as well as the others. Post her recent wedlock with producer Aditya Chopra and securing herself to be the heiress of the greatest empire in the Indian film industry, there are theories of Mardaani being Rani Mukerjee’s last stint with acting. Well if that is true (I and many others would hope for it to be untrue), it will be a tremendous loss of high caliber talent for Indian cinema, but Rani Mukerjee would become an envy (or hopefully an inspiration) for all the actors; That there will always come a time to bid adieu to your work, and when that time comes, signoff with a bang, like Rani Mukerjee has with Mardaani, and how!!
After gifting the industry extremely talented actors with high potential like Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, the casting director for Yashraj Films, Shanoo Sharma has nailed it yet again by introducing the young and extremely talented Tahir Raj Bhasin as the villainous mastermind and Shivani Shivaji Roy’s arch nemesis. Having mentioned this earlier as well, I am a film viewer who tends to love his antagonist more than the protagonist and gives high importance to the negative element in any film as I believe that the reason for the conflict and tension needs to be extremely important and only a well characterized villain can bring out the heroism of a hero. With Mardaani my hunger to watch a 100% convincing antagonist in films for the last few years has been sufficed. As opposed to the loud, boisterous and antics oriented ‘bad-guys’ we have been bombarded with for quite some time now, Tahir Raj Bhasin is a classy, composed and evil mastermind. A wonderful actor who has maintained a perfect balance with his performance of neither over doing it nor underplaying it, Tahir Raj Bhasin is a strong contender for the Best Debut this year and has immense potential that needs to be channelized smartly and carefully. In Zoya Akhtar’s directorial debut Luck By Chance A veteran Shah Rukh Khan advices a young debutant Vikarm (Played By Farhan Akhtar) that “Yeh sochlo ke tumhari pehli film ne tumhe chuna, iss ke aage jo kaam tum karoge, it will be You. It’s important to make the right choice of work that you do.” If Tahir Raj Bhasin follows the above advice, He is definitely here to stay and make his mark on this industry with his work.
The cinematic sadist in me is feeling a little low while penning my thought about Mardaani as I have hardly any or rather no critiquing points to make. The film is decently shot and well cut in keeping with the required pace and tone of the film. The story and screenplay of the film deals brilliantly with the sensitivity of it’s subject without gory visual depictions or over the top dramatic outburst or portrayals. All actors have performed well and justified their characters perfectly. The background score of the film is haunting and acts as a perfect asset in unison to the visuals playing on the screen. The Mardaani Anthem is the only song in the entire film and strongly evokes the necessary emotions in the audience watching the film, at an absolutely perfect time. After a really long time I have enjoyed the action in an Indian film, with a highly convincing and realistic approach to the fight sequences that are free of unnatural sound effects and scientifically defying movements.
Director Pradeep Sarkar has yet again lived up to his forte of making women oriented films (The likes of Parineeta, Laaga Chunri Main Daag and Lafange Parinde (To which I turned a ‘blind eye’, Pun Intended)) with absolute precision and being able to come up with such wonderful emotionally and sentimentally provoking cinema. Looking forward to many more films in the same caliber coming from this highly talented film-maker.
My only disappointment with Mardaani would be the A certificate. Yes, in keeping with the language of the film, expecting anything but an A from the censor board would be like expecting the second coming of Jesus, which would be nothing less than a miracle. But Mardaani is a film every teenager, adult and basically human (Male or female) should see because it throws limelight on a society we are a part of and yet so disconnected from it. The film is not a revelation or speaks about something unheard of, yet it makes you feel ashamed of the happenings in our surroundings and urges each one of us to rise and let the Mardaani in each one of us awaken to fight against injustice and malpractices anywhere around us. Maybe only 0.5% or 1% might take up this urge in earnest, but the message and purpose of the film will stay with each and everyone in the audience and has make us all more aware and conscious towards the cleansing of our society, in whatever capacity we can.
Are you convinced that you HAVE TO see Mardaani, or need I say more?
The Seventh Sense 