Mardaani

2014
7.3| 1h53m| en
Details

A Mumbai police officer's search for a missing teenage girl leads her to the depraved world of child trafficking. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between the officer and a ruthless mafia kingpin.

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Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall
FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
DareDevilKid Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 4/5 starsClearly, one of Bollywood's leading ladies, Rani Mukerji, has had it with crimes against girls and women in India. In "No One Killed Jessica" (2011), based on a true-life miscarriage of justice, she played a television reporter hunting a man who killed a beautiful bartender. The perpetrator, the son of a former government official, who's almost immune to prosecution, is brought to justice mostly due to her ballsy, no-half-measures pursuit of the true story.There are a number Indian film actors, male and some female, that one can easily think of taking on the role of an action hero badass, but far from immediately coming to mind to fill such an avatar is Rani Mukerji, what with her pocket-size-petite frame. But not for nothing is she considered one of Bollywood's most accomplished actresses, stretching beyond the typical romantic heroine comfort zone to fearlessly take on difficult parts.In Pradeep Sarkar's tense police actioner, "Mardaani," Mukerji — as Shivani Shivaji Roy, a senior inspector in the Mumbai Crime Branch — directs her ferocity toward sex crimes, specifically child trafficking. When a girl - from a state-run shelter - dear to Shivani is kidnapped by pimps, our heroine is again on a mission, but this time as a bona-fide action star brimming with conviction. (In Hindi, "Mardaani" means independent or brave.)Director, Pradeep Sarkar, takes the right approach in easing the audience into the idea of Mukerji playing a tough cop determined to take down sex traffickers who have abducted a young friend of hers. We don't see Mukerji immediately dive into action, but instead essay the role from the inside-out, projecting her natural poise, confidence, and intelligence as she leads an undercover police bust. From there the layers are peeled away and the rougher edges gradually, organically exposed. Talking tough and taking no crap, Rani's tough-as-nails character convincingly embodies righteous authority that by the time she evolves into the action heroine determined to take down the bad guys, one doesn't question it at all. Not that Mukerji ever loses her vulnerability, which proves to be valuable in keeping her from becoming a run-of-the-mill stock hero. However, if her character looks so good on screen, it's due in large part to newcomer Tahir Raj Bhasin brilliantly offsetting it with his insensitive, callous, and downright despicable turn as the new-age suave leader of the flesh trade.Mukerji and Sarkar previously collaborated on 2007's "Laaga Chunari Mein Daag",, where the director dared to tackle the bold story of a desperate woman driven to prostitution, but somehow made it feel safe and chaste as if careful to not offend the masses. Here, much like how he doesn't compromise with Mukerji's role, he doesn't soft- pedal the young women's ordeal, crafting some harrowing sequences. However, the film's main USP remains that one of Indian cinema's sweethearts, Mukerji, kicks some major ass, and Sarkar knows this all too well, and more importantly never tries to downplay it.Shivani's investigative trail takes her to New Delhi as she follows an underworld network to a ruthless young man, Karan, (Tahir Raj Bhasin) who taunts her via frequent calls. (He goes by the name Walt, after Bryan Cranston's character in "Breaking Bad.") In her pursuit, Shivani pistol-whips perps, performs a flying tackle on a criminal astride a motorcycle, shoots an assassin at point-blank range and stabs an assailant through the hand. Her final confrontation with Walt is a sweaty aria of hand-to-hand, semi- believable, martial arts combat.You might call "Mardaani" a South Asian version of the Liam Neeson action-thriller "Taken." But that's too easy. "This is India," Shivani says as she pummels Walt, before his young captives. Almost sold as prostitutes, his captives - egged on by Shivani - kick and stomp his bloody body. In their rage, you can feel the weight of a nation.
swagoobwa Excellent movie. Nobody could have performed as good as Rani Mukherjee. My god, she can make any role worth it. I usually look down at Bollywood because of the glam and unnecessary humor and lack of substance. Usually the topic covered in this movie is made by documentary makers, but this movie has harnessed the power of film- making and documenting important social issues, both in one; this is what makes it stand among oodles of Hindi movies. But, this movie was intense, and considered all features of reality. The villain had subdued the entire attention, though young he seemed to capture the attention through his sharp words and expressions. Bollywood directors have to realize that music, item song, SRK, SK and story-less script doesn't make a movie. A movie can be valued depending on whether it can be remembered 10 years later then when it was made. I am sure the social message in this movie, will last for more than a decade and still will be applicable as the news value as such will still be fresh.
Sandeep Gupta Mardaani. It's a welcome change. A heroine oriented violent movie from YRF without a single song and without any distractions from the main plot during those crisp and tight 1 hour and 50 minutes. Rani Mukerjee after a long time gets a fresh and meaty role in form of a lady police officer from Mumbai crime branch who starts investigating a women trafficking crime for her own reasons but soon finds the bigger and ugly picture.Movie gains its strength from its reasonably short length. From the scene one, without wasting a minute you are introduced to tough and quirky Shivani Shiviji Rao and before you settle down, she is playing the cat and mouse chase game with her nemesis played by newcomer Tahir Raj Bhasin who is also at equal ease and full of fire power.Although movie does not dare to go into much detailing of the heinous crime and also somewhat fails to exploit the emotional connection between Rani and her doctor husband. But still using a linear screenplay and funny one liners here and there, movie holds itself together to keep you interested in the proceedings. I am going with strong 7 out of 10 for Mardaani. At the end, you feel satisfied and movie sends its message right that women are not to be taken for granted.
sesht After the train-wrecks that were 'Laaga chunari mein daag' (with the same lead) and 'Lafangey Parindey', Pradeep 'Parineeta' Sarkar uses YRF to polish up the tough subject of human trafficking. There was a recent movie headlined by Rachel Weisz (The Whistleblower) on the subject as well, so the timing of this one is also interesting (inspiring, perhaps). Surprisingly enough, with the exception of a few hiccups, he manages to pull it off.The mis-steps first: A few sequences in the beginning, intended solely to evoke empathy (with a few choice film-making sledgehammers up his sleeve) in the minds of the audience, were a little too smack in-your-face, even with the choices made in sound design and score, that I had virtually no hopes for what came next. Add to that some severe exposition and sentimentality, and I was sure this was just gonna be another run-of-the-mill Bollywood potboiler.Even the choice of the title is a decent metaphor (for those who get it) for describing what (most) men in the business perceive as their right over their fellow human-beings, i.e., treating them as just another commodity.Much has been criticized about the last 15 minutes of the movie, and I went in dreading that portion, but I thought that it was pretty well-handled, giving a little logic to an otherwise clichéd situation. After all the cat-and-mouse games all thru the flick, allowing the lead to make a decision that smacked of Bollywood excess was actually not bad for a change. Even the scene where she goes 'Bourne' on her would-be assassins was handled with verve and polish, bringing to mind the excellent 'Kahaani'.Making the bad guy a very relatable conversationalist has to be one of the best master-strokes in this genre, with him going toe-to-toe with the lead, manipulating her, going one-up on her, in spite of her being so collected and presenting a veneer of control, ensuring that his punch hit home at the end of their sparring sessions, involving us in their once-you-win-next-I-do possibly brought forth the best portions in this flick. I was reminded of the excellent 'Ransom' during those sequences. Add to that the sequences that show him being vulnerable as well, with this curious mix making for extremely entertaining viewing all-through.All in all, while it's not perfect, it makes for very engrossing viewing at the multiplex closest to you.A word about the censors though - seems as though the policies are extremely inconsistent, where all the swear words in this one are left intact, along with some partial nudity, in the same week that the adult-rated 'November man' (also dealt with the same subject as this one, albeit from a different perspective) was ripped to shreds, with some talking-portions of the PG-13 'Expendables 3' also meeting the scissors. I do prefer the approach adopted to retaining the gritty feel and sounds of 'Mardaani', but confess to be extremely confused about what their policies are actually about.