Cast: Rani Mukerji, Jisshu Sengupta, Tahir Bhasin, Priyanka
Sharma, Sanjay Taneja, Anil George, Mona Ambegaonkar
Director: Pradeep Sarkar Writer: Gopi Puthran Music: Salim-Sulaiman Background Music:
Julius Packiam Casting Director: Shanoo
Sharma Editor: Sanjib Datta
Running Time: 113 minutes
During our school years, most of us must have come
across these famous lines from an inspiring patriotic poem “Khoob ladi mardaani,
wo toh Jhaansi wali Rani thi”. Watching this movie would instantly remind you
of the same. The simile is hard to miss. During British rule, Rani Laxmi Bai
fought fearlessly with the Britishers in order to attain freedom of her
motherland. And in this movie, Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) fights with
focus sans any fear, to attain freedom of young girls trapped in the human
trafficking ring. Also, both are Marathi women.
Shivani Shivaji Roy is a hands-on senior crime
branch officer. She stays with her husband (Jisshu Sengupta) and orphaned
niece. In the past, she had rescued Pyari (Priyanka Sharma) from being sold by
her uncle and placed her in a shelter home. She considers her like her daughter
and Pyari is an important part of Shivani’s life.
Unfortunately, Pyari gets abducted by human traffickers.
Shivani gets a whiff of this and gradually realizes that a powerful and
organized syndicate is behind it and the bosses will leave no stone unturned to
keep their identities hidden. She resolves to bring back Pyari. An
action-reaction series commences between her and Junior (the core brain of the
trafficking operation). Since the bosses are nameless and faceless, the term ‘Junior’
is coined by Shivani herself. It’s based on the voice quality that makes
intimidating, threatening and untraceable calls to her. While Shivani single
mindedly focuses on reducing the gap between her and Junior, Junior focuses on
discouraging her attempt by harming her dear ones and terminating the links that
can lead Shivani to him!
But Shivani is a seasoned officer, who is well
versed with intimidation techniques, laws of the land and psycho profiling. She
uses her absolute determination, professional training and system support to
free all the victims and bring the culprits to justice.
The movie has been very well casted, directed, acted
and edited. In fact the pace and visual tone of the movie is that of a prime Hollywood
flick! It voices the social cause of abduction and forced prostitution, but
keeps safe distance from cheap thrills. It does not have any item number or even
any lovey-dovey number (to depict the blessed marital life of the lady cop)!
The idea is to acquaint the audience with the inhuman and shameful bearings
enforced upon the girl victims by human trafficking goons. But while dealing
with such issues, there is a thin line between being realistic and being repulsive.
Hats off to the makers for maintaining this decorum and also keeping the
content commercially viable! Achieving this sans any thunderous dialogue or eye
popping stunt is no mean feat. A great deal of input has been given in the
psychological research into the making of each character, something which is almost
always amiss in most Bollywood (even prime) flicks.
Most of the movie centers round Rani Mukerji and she
has done a commendable job. Her character is well researched and throughout the
movie, she manages to stay within it. She has enough close-up frames and she
well manages to portray nonchalance, smirk, knowing glance, deep pain and
mental calculation. And all of these emotions are depicted without any OTT (over
the top) acting. For a change, this lady ‘maseeha’ (savior) is not born out of
exploitation and tears. She is a hard core cop, well trained by mind and body,
practical and dedicated to her duty.
It is a pleasant surprise that Pradeep Sarkar, the
man best known for his period drama flick ‘Parineeta’ can ably direct such a movie. Special mention
needs to be made of a particular scene, wherein Shivani arrives with her team
to save her husband from some chaos. Going by her fireball character, you
expect her to pounce, abuse and even break a bone or two. Instead, she stands
and stare in shunned silence! Then, upon coming across him, she goes oblivious
of her surroundings, and simply connects with the pain and sheer disbelief of
her husband. And, if such a scene enactment was achieved due to the director’s
visualization and direction, then, this maestro is definitely a bearer of many
hidden layers.
Jisshu Sengupta (Shivani’s husband) has a small and
silent role. He is a Bengali movie star and this is his third
Bollywood release. As
for Tahir Bhasin, this is his second Bollywood release. He plays Junior, for whom the
entire trafficking operation is just a big trade (read in hundreds of crores),
no more, no less. And he will do anything to keep the tap running. He is young,
urban, updated, sharp and well merges with the crowd. Even when he is
constantly trying to ruthlessly harm/kill Shivani, somewhere he is appreciative
of her courage and intelligence and can connect to her! Tahir Bhasin has impersonated
this character very well. His acting is subtle but effective. Rest of the cast
has also done well. Background music also well suits the mood of the movie.
Don’t miss the climax, wherein Rani Mukerji ably
shows her martial art skills! Some real hard work this lass has done to get her
teeth into the character.
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