Mardaani

Plot

Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji), a dedicated and brave police officer with Maharashtra Police, chases a Delhi-based kingpin, Karan Rastogi (Tahir Raj Bhasin), who runs an organised crime cartel involving child trafficking and drugs. Her aim is to hunt him down and rescue a teenage girl, Pyaari. Pyaari is an orphan who is kidnapped by Karan's men. Shivani had saved Pyaari from being sold by her uncle and started taking care of her, and since then Pyaari is like a daughter to her. She takes the task more personally and goes beyond her legal rights and duties to nab Karan and save Pyaari. Karan, aware that Shivani is continually monitoring his cartel's activities, phones her, suggesting she not interrupt his business. Determined to catch him, Shivani uses intelligence inputs to track down his associate in Mumbai, who leads her to Karan's close aide, Wakeel, in Delhi. Karan, as a warning to Shivani, dismembers one of Pyaari's fingers and sends it to Shivani's house wrapped in a gift box, and gets Shivani's husband abused and thrashed.

Shivani travels to Delhi and sets up a trap involving decoy drug dealers from Nigeria, who pretend to offer very expensive rare South American cocaine to Karan and Wakeel. As the decoy drug dealers are negotiating the deal with Wakeel, Shivani barges in with other police officers and intercepts the area. While Karan escapes, Wakeel realises he'll get arrested, which means the police would interrogate him and eventually capture Karan. He therefore tries to erase evidence by destroying his mobile phone's SIM card, then shoots himself.

Shivani's continued investigation and the information from her sources leads her to Karan's house, where Karan's mother sedates her. Shivani is abducted and brought to a party organised by Karan. There, she meets Pyaari; Pyaari and the other girls are forced to work as prostitutes. Shivani singlehandedly confronts the situation, forcing Karan into a small room and rescuing and taking the girls with her. She challenges Karan to fight her when he teases her for being a woman and beats him badly. Sensing that he might escape the law, given the corruption in the police and judicial system, she hands Karan over to the girls, who beat him to death. His other gang members are arrested and prosecuted.

Cast

Development and production

In January 2014, Rani Mukerji who plays the role of a crime branch officer in the film met Mumbai Police Crime Branch chief as part of research for her role. It was speculated that her role was inspired by IPS officer Meera Borwankar, who was also an investigation officer in the Mumbai 26/11 case. For her role, Mukerji trained in Krav Maga, a street-fighting, self-defence system developed for the Israeli military. It was directed by Pradeep Sarkar and written by Gopi Puthran. The cinematographer for the movie was Polish Artur Zurawski.

Release and marketing

The official trailer of the film was released on 24 June 2014. The Central Board of Film Certification required that the use of a profanity and scene depicting rape of a teenage girl be removed from the trailer.

Because of the film's social message and the impact it can provide to Indian women, the film has been given tax free status in Madhya Pradesh by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in its first week of release. This was followed by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra also giving the film a tax free status.

In Pakistan, Central Board of Film Censors gave the film adult Certificate but objected on few scenes. The Board asked for seven cuts and wanted certain scenes to be blurred but the film makers were of the view that "it would lead to loss of the essence of the narration of the movie" and hence decided not to screen the movie in Pakistan.

Mardaani premiered in Poland at Warsaw's Kino Muranow theatre, one of the oldest art house theatres in the country on 29 January 2015. The film received a standing ovation from the audience and Rani Mukerji was congratulated by one and all for her exceptional performance and for being a part of such a relevant and sensitive film.

Critical reception

Mid Day gave Mardaani 4 stars and said that Pradeep Sarkar offers a pragmatic and compelling story of what it is to chase down the bad guy with Rani Mukerji at her mercurial best as an inspector who simply won't give up. They have also appreciated the supporting cast saying they have been justifiably cast.Subhash K. Jha of SKJ Bollywood News gave the film four stars, praising the use of the film's soundtrack, saying "Mardaani cleans out the noises and yet retains a high decibel of authenticity in the complementary relationship between sight and sound". In a review by Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama stated "enacting the part of the tough-talking cop who goes in pursuit of those who run the sex trafficking ring, Rani strikes a true to life, forceful pose and also lends her character the much-needed intensity, strength and dignity. The agony that drives her forward is visible on her face and is one of the prime reasons that makes this story easy to swallow."

Box office

Koimoi states that Mardaani's net collections of Rs. crores 40.00 was double of the amount invested in the film.