Mardaani
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''Mardaani'' () is a 2014 Indian
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language
action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
directed by
Pradeep Sarkar Pradeep Sarkar (30 April 1955 – 24 March 2023) was an Indian director and screenwriter, best known for directing ''Parineeta (2005 film), Parineeta'' (2005). Personal life Sarkar was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, on 30 April 1955. He wa ...
and produced by
Aditya Chopra Aditya Chopra (born 21 May 1971) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and studio executive who works in Hindi cinema. He is the Chairman of India's multi-national film, media, and entertainment conglomerate Yash Raj Films (YRF).
. The film stars
Rani Mukerji Rani Mukerji (; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the leading and hi ...
, with Jisshu Sengupta, Tahir Raj Bhasin and Saanand Verma in supporting roles. The narrative revolves around Shivani Shivaji Roy, a policewoman whose interest in the case of a kidnapped teenage girl leads her to uncover the secrets of
human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
by the Indian mafia. Released theatrically on 22 August 2014, the film received positive reviews, with praise for Mukerji's performance, and emerged as a commercial success. It was followed by a sequel titled ''
Mardaani 2 ''Mardaani 2'' () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Gopi Puthran. It is produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. A sequel to the 2014 film '' Mardaani'', the film stars Rani Mukerji in the lead ...
'' in 2019. Following the success of ''Mardaani 2'', the production house announced in December 2019, a possible third installment in the ''Mardaani'' series, titled ''Mardaani 3'', with Rani Mukerji reprising the role of Shivani Shivaji Roy. The film was the final film directed by Sarkar under the
Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...
banner, before his death on 24 March 2023.


Plot

The film opens with a secret police operation orchestrated by Shivani Shivaji Roy, a dedicated Crime Branch Senior Inspector of the
Mumbai Police The Greater Mumbai Police (Marathi language, Marathi: बृहन्मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Brihanmumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay City Police'') is the Police, police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a cit ...
, in order to catch a pimp named Rahman from his hideout. She barges in with her team and arrests Rahman, and rescues his mistress. Shivani lives with her husband, Dr. Bikram Roy, and teenage niece, Meera. Prior to the film, she rescued an orphaned girl named Pyaari from being sold by her uncle, and started looking after her like her own daughter. One day, Shivani finds out that Pyaari has been missing from her shelter home for five days and begins an investigation, where she finds out that the mastermind behind this kidnapping is a Delhi-based kingpin named Karan Rastogi ( Tahir Raj Bhasin), who runs a cartel involving child trafficking and drugs. Shivani takes the task personally, going beyond her job and duties to nab Karan. Shivani forces Rahman to reveal the names of Karan's associates and comes across Sunny Katyal (Anant Vidhaat Sharma), a car-dealer who operates Karan's trafficking business in Mumbai. Karan discovers that Shivani is monitoring his cartel's activities and tries to have Katyal killed for becoming a liability. However, Shivani saves Katyal, and he agrees to help her nab Karan. Determined to catch him, Shivani tracks down Karan's aide, Wakeel. Karan, angered, makes sure that Pyaari is sold and raped every day. As a warning, he spreads fake news that Shivani's husband has misused his profession as a doctor to molest a female patient, causing Bikram to be thrown off-duty. He then chops off one of Pyaari's fingers and sends it to Shivani's house in a gift box. Meanwhile, Karan's right-hand man Mattu (Aman Uppal) gets a contract to host a party full of prostitutes from a man named Tandon on behalf of a minister in Delhi, Taneja ji. Mattu also kills one of the girls in Karan's brothel at his orders when she contracts
dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after ...
, further scaring Pyaari. Shivani travels to Delhi and sets up a trap involving decoy drug dealers from Nigeria, who pretend to offer expensive and rare South American cocaine to Karan and Wakeel. As they are negotiating, Shivani barges in with her team. While Karan escapes, Wakeel tries to erase evidence by destroying his mobile phone's SIM card, then commits suicide. Shivani and her Delhi-based teammate Balwinder Singh Sodhi track down a tailor who knew Wakeel for a long time. He reveals that a prostitute named Meenu Rastogi was Wakeel's closest associate. Shivani's continued investigation leads her to Karan's house, where Meenu, revealing herself as Karan's mother, sedates her. She is abducted and brought to Karan's party. There, Shivani reunites with Pyaari, where she and the other girls are forced to work as
prostitutes Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-p ...
. Karan invites Taneja ji and allows him to rape Shivani. However, she escapes and ruthlessly beats Taneja before taking him hostage. Shivani single-handedly confronts the situation, forcing Karan into a small room and rescuing the girls. She challenges Karan to fight her when he teases her for being a woman and beats him. Feeling that he might escape the law, given the corrupt police and judicial system, she hands Karan over to the girls, who beat him to death. Subsequently, Sodhi and the entire team barge in and arrest Mattu, Tandon and Karan’s gang members. Meenu is also attacked by the girls and gets paralyzed by shock while Taneja survives before being sentenced to life imprisonment.


Cast

*
Rani Mukerji Rani Mukerji (; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the leading and hi ...
as
Senior Inspector Senior inspector, also police senior inspector or senior inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Bosnia In Bosnia's Police of Republika Srpska, senior inspecto ...
Shivani Shivaji Roy,
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
Crime Branch Officer * Tahir Raj Bhasin as Karan 'Walt' Rastogi, a criminal and a drug addict * Jisshu Sengupta as Dr. Bikram Roy, Shivani's husband * Anant Vidhaat Sharma as Sunny Katyal * Priyanka Sharma as Pyaari * Mikhail Yawalkar as SI Balwinder Singh Sodhi * Avneet Kaur as Meera * Ahad Ali Aamir as Minhas * Saanand Verma as Kapil *
Mona Ambegaonkar Mona Ambegaonkar (born 5 March 1970) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and television. She has featured in over 15 plays, 18 feature films, 38 TV projects, 37 advertising campaigns. She had a minor role in film '' Hazaar Chaurasi Ki ...
as Meenu Rastogi, Walt's mother *
Mahika Sharma Mahika Sharma is an Indian actress. She won a beauty pageant, becoming the Miss Teen Northeast. She has also appeared in Indian television serials. Sharma has appeared in television show F.I.R. (TV series) and Bollywood movie Mr Joe B. Carva ...
as a victim * Peter Muxka Manuel as Mboso * Anil George as Lawyer aka Vakeel Sahab, Walt's assistant * Saheb Das Manikpuri as Pakya * Sanjay Taneja as
Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
Taneja


Production

Mukerji, who played the role of a crime branch officer in the film, met the
Mumbai Police The Greater Mumbai Police (Marathi language, Marathi: बृहन्मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Brihanmumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay City Police'') is the Police, police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a cit ...
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 The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...
case. For her role, Mukerji trained in
Krav Maga Krav Maga ( ; , ; ) is an Israeli Hand-to-hand combat, self-defence system. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it uses techniques derived from aikido, boxing, judo, karate and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situat ...
, a street-fighting, self-defence system developed for the Israeli military.


Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Salim-Sulaiman.


Marketing and release

The official trailer of the film was released on 24 June 2014. The
Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...
required that the use of a
profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...
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 Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...
by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in its first week of release. This was followed by
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
and
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
also giving the film a tax free status. In
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, 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 Muranów 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.


Reception


Critical response

''
Mid-Day ''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper. Editions in various languages including Gujarati and English have been published out of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune so far. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore ...
'' gave Mardaani four stars out of five and said 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". Subhash K. Jha also gave the film four stars out of five, 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".
Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...
of
Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...
wrote, " acting 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 of 40
crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...
was double the amount invested in the film.


Awards and nominations


Sequel

In December 2018,
Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...
announced that a sequel ''
Mardaani 2 ''Mardaani 2'' () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Gopi Puthran. It is produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. A sequel to the 2014 film '' Mardaani'', the film stars Rani Mukerji in the lead ...
'' will be made with writer Gopi Puthran directing this time, and
Rani Mukerji Rani Mukerji (; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of multiple accolades, including eight Filmfare Awards. Mukerji has featured in listings of the leading and hi ...
reprising her role. The filming began in March 2019 and was released on 13 December 2019.


References


External links

* * {{Pradeep Sarkar 2014 action thriller films 2014 crime action films 2014 crime thriller films 2010s Hindi-language films 2014 films 2010s feminist films Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films about child prostitution Films about human trafficking in India Films about prostitution in India Films about rape in India Films about women in India Films scored by Salim–Sulaiman Films set in Mumbai Indian action thriller films Indian crime action films Indian crime thriller films Indian feminist films Indian police films Yash Raj Films films Films directed by Pradeep Sarkar Indian film series