00:00I've just been to watch the special screening of Mardani 2. It's a cop thriller starring Rani
00:05Mukerji and there was a special screening in Dubai where we saw it with the actress. I know
00:11there is a bit of pressure to like a movie because the actress is around but here's what I liked
00:15about this super cop thriller. Firstly it's the villain. I think Vishal Jethwa, he's like the new
00:25faces who plays this rage-fueled villain, a rapist, a juvenile rapist and the kind of performances
00:32he pitches in, it makes you really want to hate him and perhaps we are equally invested in his
00:39journey. So this movie has got a very very interesting villain and you can see how he
00:45makes Shivani Roy who's like one of the top cops that Bollywood has given us from Mardani. You saw
00:52that she flushed out child trafficking in India and how she goes about hunting down this criminal.
00:59There's a cat and mouse game between them. In terms of acting, it's Rani Mukerji
01:05and Vishal Jethwa that deliver strongly. I mean it's always so wonderful to see an accomplished
01:11actress like Rani Mukerji play a role that she's very sure, assured you know. Every footing, every
01:17dialogue even if it is about women empowerment is quite assured and confident. You somehow believe
01:23in her plea for equal chances for women. It's not a movie where there's a lot of like
01:29propaganda but there are scenes in the movie where you feel like they're pushing too much,
01:34where there's a deliberate attempt to actually make it slightly exploitative. For instance the
01:39sequences where Rani Mukerji instead of focusing on hunting down the terrorists, there are precious
01:45minutes that are wasted in you know in her doing a monologue about women empowerment and how women
01:52are not given the you know right opportunities and how she's relegated to just cooking. I mean
01:57this is a thriller. It should have ideally been just a procedural thriller about how she hunts
02:02it down. Therefore directed by Gopi Putran that is where the sequel of Mardani actually falters.
02:09It's not as business-like and clinical and procedural like Mardani which is what I like
02:15because we don't want to hear about women empowerment necessarily. All we want to know
02:20is that the rapist is killed because he's very savage, he's brutal, he's so barbaric that he
02:26rapes with multiple women and then he's almost like a show serial killer where he loves to show
02:33off his skill and I have to tell you Vishal Jaikwa has done such a fantastic job as well.
02:38You know to see his kind of madness and you know and him being so young yet being so evil and pure,
02:47he's diabolical and this movie has got one of the best villains we have seen of late. He's young and
02:54he's ruthless. It touches upon those important issues about whether juveniles should be treated
02:58as adults while you are meeting out punishment or not. In India right now there's a lot of debate
03:05about sexual violence against women, how justice is not treated. This comes at a very good time
03:10but there are minutes where you feel that this is being treated like a Bollywood film. I mean
03:15there are moments where there is a slow motion walk, you know she's wearing dark aviators,
03:20crisp white shirt and it looks very like you know a hero is making an entry so there's a bit of like
03:26a commercial touch to this entire movie. I would have liked it if it was just procedural. In terms
03:31of acting, every frame is dominated either by Rani Mukerji or by Vishal Jaikwa, the antagonist.
03:38So I have to tell you both of them are very assured confident actors so you never get bored. I like
03:43the pace of the movie as well. It's quite crisp except from a certain meandering about the nexus
03:48between a rapist and the politicians and how they try to save him by you know by making him do their
03:55bad jobs. It's not very convincing. I wish there was the part where the politicians are siding
04:00with the culprit. It's not very believable. There are many twists in this film that may not make
04:05total sense. How can a very intelligent cop like Shivani Roy miss out on so many important links?
04:12How can a rapist be in contact with the SP that is a very high-ranking officer of a quota? How
04:21can he be in contact with her so easily? All of that is left unanswered. I've gone with three out
04:26of five. For my full review go to gulfnews.com slash trabloid. This is an example of perhaps
04:33pop feminism and trying to bottle up our rages or the collective rage that Indians feel over
04:38sexual offenders. Perhaps they are trying to commercialize it and there is a certain feeling
04:43where you feel this movie has slightly been given a Bollywood spin to it and it may feel a bit
04:50exploitative. But if you can disregard that portion then there's a lot to be enjoyed in
04:55Mardani 2. It's always good to see a woman police officer clean up crime in the city
05:01and the feminist in us is always cheerleading for this movie. It's not a brilliant movie
05:07but it's definitely engaging.
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