"Mardaani" - A Rani Mukherjee film

"Mardaani" - A Rani Mukherjee film...

Many years ago, I remember watching "Hey Ram" , a Kamal Hasan movie on the Hindu Nationalist movement during partition. It was, if I recall correctly, a three hour feature film. At this distance, what I can conjure about it vividly in my mind's eye is the little cameo role essayed by the young Rani Mukherjee , as a Bengali teacher, killed during the madness of Hindu-Muslim riots. It was not only the passionate kiss executed with intense abandon, but her lilting husky voice spoken in low tones; sultry complexion; those gorgeous hazel colored eyes that seem to float around its orbs with fluid artistry - keeps leaping out of my memory again and again. I did not get to see too many of her films until the mid or later part of the last decade, but within a span of two years I chanced to watch "Hum tum", "veer Zaara" and then the masterpiece "Black". Here was a young lady, who had come into her zone, and was performing her art with consummate ease of an artist who has shed any lingering doubts she may have had about her abilities.

Meryl Streep once described acting as ".... not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding oneself in there..." The individual in Rani had began manifesting itself in all her roles. And that is a sign of creative maturity in a talented artist . When I Watched "Talaash", a few years ago, Rani had transformed herself into a complete actor. In a film that was dominated by the character played by Aamir Khan and the misty presence of Kareena Kapoor, it was breathtaking to watch Rani' as the grieving mother willing to go any distance to reconnect with her lost son; a look of tragic melancholy in those beautiful eyes, measured dialogue and body language that accentuated the strained relationship between Husband and wife - In all, she was able bring a intense realism to her glamorous persona and meaningful thrust to the entire drama.

The reason I spent the last two paragraphs waxing eloquent about Rani is because I happened to watch her latest release "Mardaani" yesterday night. A beautiful and sensitive movie on Human and drug trafficking in India, Rani Mukherjee plays the hard cop intent on breaking the nexus of mafia syndicate that deals with young girls as commodities.. To me, this is quite a radical role for a lady who has always played emotionally vulnerable characters on screen. As a Police officer, wearing a look of nonchalant arrogance on her face, her eyes doing all the acting; her voice spoken with that trembling huskiness; a body that is not laser thin but nimble and healthy enough to lend authenticity to "Cop in the street" role (she underwent physical training in preparation for this role..) - Rani carries this two hour movie entirely on her shoulders.. What Nana Patekar achieved in "Ab tak chappan" is equaled , if not bettered by this stunning actor in "Mardaani". Though the movie has borrowed heavily from the plot of block buster Hollywood film "Wanted", it has been thoroughly indigenized for Indian audiences, and there is a not a moment of inaction in the script. Well written, with each screen seamlessly flowing it the other, the story and its message held together in a tight leash by director Pradeep Sarkar. Very rarely do I sit though a movie without taking a break. This is one of those exceptions.

The length of this movie is less than two hours. And that is an ideal length for a feature film, unless the story or subject warrants a longer treatment. Mardaani also raises a few pertinent social issues and the answers provided may sound a bit clichéd. But one does not hope to be transformed by Cinema. At the most it can entertain and educate. And Mardaani scores well on both these counts.

Highly recommended and available on Netflix..

God bless...