Film Review - Mardaani

Top of the Cops

Film: Mardaani

Cast: Rani Mukerjee, Tahir Bhasin, Anil George

Directed by: Pradeep Sarkar

Duration: 1 hr 55 mins

Rating: * * *

Directed by Pradeep Sarkar of Parineeta and Laaga Chunri Mein Daag fame, Mardaani walks on the road less traveled. In fact, this is one heck of a lonely  road – a film where the main protagonist is a lady and that too a police officer. She uses those Bambaiya cuss words nonchalantly and in the finale, challenges the villain to a duel and bashes him up. Bravo.

There are plenty of applaud worthy moments in Mardaani and barring a few manipulative and exploitive scenes, which should have been left on the editing table, this is a reasonably smooth ride. Rani Mukerjee plays Shivani Shivaji Roy a no nonsense police officer with the crime branch, a role usually reserved for male characters.  She juggles with her personal and professional life quite admirably, her husband (Jisshu Sengupta) is a doctor who has to bear the brunt of her honesty. 

When a teenage girl whom the lady cop is very fond of, disappears from a homeless shelter, she moves heaven and earth to find her. It turns out there is a racket operating that kidnaps girls run by a young man (Tahir Bhasin). Along with an elderly gent who is only known as Vakil (Anil George of Miss Lovely fame) they run a sex trade in a ruthless manner.  The scene shifts to Delhi where Shivani has to unravel the mystery. 

Clocking under two hours, for most parts the film is crisp and fast paced, and as a welcome relief the usual song and dance routine has also been done away with.  The background score does go overboard at times and the odd dialogue would make the television serial CID proud. “Jafar, yeh mamla to bahut teda lagta hai” she says stating the obvious after an unknown assassin kills a witness.

While it tries to highlight the nasty sex trafficking business that happens in the country some of the scenes drag beyond the point of impact. But Mardaani works because of the characters – the villain likes Breaking Bad and is chillingly calm and coldblooded.  His mentor is also in the same mould. The young man refers to her as ma’am, she calls him Under-19 team ka 12th man.

You can’t help but root for the leading lady – Shivani is strong woman who likes to face the situation head on.  It is only post interval that the plot goes off the rail a bit. 

Of the cast, Tahir Bhasin and Anil George are ideal for their roles. But the show ultimately belongs to Rani Mukerjee who packs a few punches and much more, she plays her part with utmost conviction.   

It would be a delight to see her again in the same character, tackling another issue next time. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 24th Aug 2014

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Film Review - Miss Lovely

Melancholic Ecstasy

Film: Miss Lovely

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddique, Anil George, Niharika Singh

Directed by: Ashim Ahluwalia

Duration: 1 hr 53 mins

Rating: *  *  *

Long before DVD’s, internet, streaming and torrents came on the scene, people used to throng the theatres to watch soft porn flicks. The trend still continues in many cities but the scale has reduced drastically. 

Director Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely is a tribute to those seedy B and C grade films that were made and screened in shady theatres. It premiered at Cannes in 2012 and after a considerably long wait, it has finally hit in the screens here.

Whether you watched those B grade films or not is a different story but surely everyone who was around during that period must be aware of them that stood out for their titles as well – Pyaasi Nigahen, Khooni Panja, Woh Bhayanak Raat. There were also films which had a ‘story’ and ‘plot’ but suddenly an X rated scene was inserted out of the blue, which had no connection with the film, pretty much like many a present day item number songs.

Set in the late 80’s, 1988 to be precise, the main protagonist here is Sonu Duggal (Nawazuddin Siddique), his elder brother Vicky (Anil George) is a film maker of soft core porn. Sonu is very much his partner but some what reluctantly. The films mostly have horror and sleaze and duo arrange for the ‘actors’, the shoot and then hand it over to distributors.  

Sonu usually follows his brother’s orders and does all the errands but he wants get out of this business and to do something different, a romantic film perhaps. Vicky meanwhile is having an affair with an actress who gets bitten by the jealousy bug when he sets his eyes on a newcomer, Nadia. 

Sonu meanwhile falls truly madly and deeply in love with Pinky (Niharika Singh) who is trying to establish her acting career. He wants to make romantic film with her titled Miss Lovely and even gets himself in a spot of bother to fulfill that ambition.  But it all falls apart after the police crackdown on this ‘industry’ arresting anyone associated with it.

The film strikes a chord with the mood that it sets. K.U. Mohanan’s cinematography brilliantly captures the sleaze and the underbelly of Mumbai. Where words are not enough, the visuals also try to tell a story. It falters at times especially when very little happens in the fast half and then moves to fast forward mode towards the end. 

Beyond the film business there is also the story of the man who is trying to break free of the rut. But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t break free. 

Anil George may not be a well known name but as the Sonu’s elder brother he makes the cut. Nawazuddin Siddique has already carved a niche for himself and here, he has added so much more to his character than perhaps what the screenplay suggested.

For those who like discerning cinema, Miss Lovely beckons you to the theatre. 

(Published in The Navhind Times on  19th Jan 2014)

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