Source: http://newseastwest.com/desktop/newssite_images/rani-as-mardaani/rani-in-mardaani-poster.jpg

Directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra, Mardaani is Rani Mukherjee’s comeback vehicle. She is supported by Jisshu Sengupta and Tahir Bhasin. The trailers clearly indicated that this one is an out & out thriller. Does it work. Let’s check it out.

Shivani Sivaji Roy (Rani) is an upright Senior Inspector with the Crime Branch in Mumbai. She lives a simple life with her husband played by Jisshu and her niece – Meera. She is known as a no-nonsense officer who treats criminals as they must be treated. The day a teenage girl – Pyaari is kidnapped from a shelter home, Shivani’s life turns upside down. As she begins the journey to find her, she starts to uncover a dirty truth which will lead her to Walt (Tahir Bhasin). The rest of the flick deals with how both of them battle it out against each other.

Though the concept of this one is inspired by the Liam Neeson starrer ‘Taken’, Mardaani has been adapted well to suit the Indian sensibilities. Child Trafficking is a huge problem in the country with India acting as one of the major hubs for buying and selling children to various parts of the world.

Mardaani has a great concept at its disposal. It starts off pretty well showing Rani in full form after a long time. She has an aura about herself something like Chulbul Pandey of Dabangg or Singham. As one can expect, many of the dialogues have been written to attract the hoi polloi and they elicit claps from the audience. The narrative moves at a freakish pace in the first half as Rani begins to chase the men behind the child trafficking racket.

But things slow down in the 2nd half as narrative begins to drag towards the climax. Though the running time is just 113 minutes, the flick could have been edited even more. There is no song in the movie as expected. But the background score by Karthik Raja complements the narrative beautifully. There are many sequences which stand out. The interactions between Rani and Tahir have been written really well.

The climax was quite melodramatic to be honest. But the final message to girls to rise up and fight for themselves was done well.

Rani as the supercop has given a lovely performance and is back with a bang. She is excellent with her demeanor, her dialogues and the way she portrays the feelings of tackling a child trafficking gang. Tahir Bhasin is an awesome discovery from the Yash Raj banner. Standing in front of a powerhouse performer like Rani, he is splendid as the mean guy. Suave, young & a video game loving youngster, his character is unlike any usual Bollywood antagonist. With his lovely screen presence, Tahir looks all set for a long road ahead in Bollywood.

All in all, a pretty well made movie with good intentions. Go for it!

Rating – 3.5/5