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Director Gopi Puthran’s cop drama Mardaani 2, which marks the return of actor Rani Mukerji as a feisty cop Shivani Shivaji Roy, pulls at that thread effectively. There’s a serial killer, who loves to show off his kills and is narcissistic to the core, on the loose in Kota in Rajasthan and it is up to Roy to hunt him down before he unleashes more terror in that student capital. Young spunky women are his targets and bestiality is his modus operandi.
#BollywoodReview #Mardaani2 #PopFeminism
See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Director Gopi Puthran’s cop drama Mardaani 2, which marks the return of actor Rani Mukerji as a feisty cop Shivani Shivaji Roy, pulls at that thread effectively. There’s a serial killer, who loves to show off his kills and is narcissistic to the core, on the loose in Kota in Rajasthan and it is up to Roy to hunt him down before he unleashes more terror in that student capital. Young spunky women are his targets and bestiality is his modus operandi.
#BollywoodReview #Mardaani2 #PopFeminism
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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.