"Khoob ladi Mardaani
Woh to Jhaansi waali Rani thi"
Maybe these inspiring lines from Ms Shubhadra Kumari Chauhan about Rani Laxmibai the Queen of Jhansi inspired the title of this movie, maybe co-incidentally, Rani Mukherjee the lead hails from Jhansi.
WDONT keep getting up and dont be tensed everything Eillnbe fine babyhatever be the reason, she surely lives up both to the verse and the title of the movie. Rani plays Sr Inspector Crime Branch Mumbai Police Shivani Shivaji Roy who starts investigating the disappearance of her niece’s best friend Piyaari from a girls shelter home.
Pyaari is almost like a daughter to her and she begins her chase to track her only to discover that she is now dealing with a dark child trafficking racket that lives just beneath the veneer of high society.
She takes us by the hand as she methodically walks runs and fights through this maze, making us share her desperation and growing frustration as the chase leads to near miss moments for the foul mouthed miss Her colleagues respect her determination and tenacity to get to the crooks often leading the chases and the fights herself.
There is even a left handed praise for Sally bhai’s character Dabanngg in one of the scenes when she gets compared to him but brushes it off modestly.
Rani plays her part well in a rare woman oriented action movie without a hero and does the part well. The movie has no(needless) songs either and has been edited brilliantly The violence is brutal in parts but gripping and connects with the scene without going over the top as several wanna be Matrix clones are
Special mention must be made of the new age villain played brilliantly by debutante Tahir Raj Bhasin who makes you hate his character so much he almost reminds you of what Amjad Khan did almost 40 years ago in Sholay. Mean badass without remorse or pity. Hindi movies have rarely seen a villain so real and so sinister and yet si human. Despise him, hate him, but you can’t forget him. A star seems to be rising, Watch out for this guy
In some parts the movie is scary but it is a must watch into the dark and often ignored under-world of child trafficking. We hope there are more Mardaanis around.If you have a daughter, make her one