''Mardaani'' () is a 2014 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Pradeep Sarkar
Pradeep Sarkar (born 30 April 1955) is a writer and director who works in Bollywood. He began his career with Vinod Chopra Productions, the production company of director and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Personal life
From a young boy lis ...
and produced by
Aditya Chopra
Aditya Chopra (; born 21 May 1971) is an Indian filmmaker, studio executive, producer and film distributor who mainly works in Indian cinema. Currently serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of Yash Raj Films, founded by his father Yash ...
. The film stars
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji (pronounced ; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rani Mukerji, multiple accolades, including seven Filmf ...
, with
Jisshu Sengupta
Jisshu Ujjwal Sengupta (born 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter. who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, '' Mahaprabhu'' where he portraye ...
,
Tahir Raj Bhasin
Tahir Raj Bhasin (born 21 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Born in Delhi, he holds a master's degree in media from the University of Melbourne. Bhasin made his screen debut with '' Kismat Love Paisa Dilli'' (2012) and mad ...
and
Saanand Verma
Saanand Verma is an Indian film and television actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, r ...
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 secrets of
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
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 and a sequel to the 2014 film ''Mardaani''. It is directed by Gopi Puthran who wrote the previous film, marking his directorial debut, and backed by Aditya Chopra through Yash ...
'' in 2019. Following the success of ''
Mardaani 2
''Mardaani 2'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film and a sequel to the 2014 film ''Mardaani''. It is directed by Gopi Puthran who wrote the previous film, marking his directorial debut, and backed by Aditya Chopra through Yash ...
'', the production house announced in December 2019, a possible third installment in the ''Mardaani'' series, titled ''Mardaani 3'', with
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji (pronounced ; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rani Mukerji, multiple accolades, including seven Filmf ...
reprising the role of Shivani Shivaji Roy.
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 Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibiliti ...
, in order to catch a pimp named Rahman from his hideout. Shivani barges in with her team and arrests Rahman, and rescues his mistress. Shivani lives with her husband, Dr. Bikram Roy, and niece, Meera. Prior to the film, she rescued an orphaned girl named Pyaari from her uncle, who was about to sell her, and started looking after her like her own daughter. One day, Shivani finds out that Pyaari has been missing from her shelter home from 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
Tahir Raj Bhasin (born 21 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Born in Delhi, he holds a master's degree in media from the University of Melbourne. Bhasin made his screen debut with '' Kismat Love Paisa Dilli'' (2012) and mad ...
), 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 the 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 tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...
, thus 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 from 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 the business or practice of 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-penet ...
. Karan invites Taneja ji and allows him to rape Shivani. However, she escapes and ruthlessly beats Taneja. 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 barges in and arrest Mattu, Tandon and Karan’s gang members. Meenu gets paralyzed by shock while Taneja manages to survive, before being sentenced to life imprisonment.
Cast
*
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji (pronounced ; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rani Mukerji, multiple accolades, including seven Filmf ...
as
Senior Inspector
Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to:
* Senior (name), a surname ...
Shivani Shivaji Roy,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
Crime Branch
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of ...
Officer
*
Tahir Raj Bhasin
Tahir Raj Bhasin (born 21 April 1987) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Born in Delhi, he holds a master's degree in media from the University of Melbourne. Bhasin made his screen debut with '' Kismat Love Paisa Dilli'' (2012) and mad ...
as Karan 'Walt' Rastogi, a criminal and a drug addict
*
Jisshu Sengupta
Jisshu Ujjwal Sengupta (born 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter. who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, '' Mahaprabhu'' where he portraye ...
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
Avneet Kaur (born 13 October 2001) is an Indian actress, dancer and model. She is known for portraying Charumati in ''Chandra Nandini'' and Princess Yasmine in ''Aladdin – Naam Toh Suna Hoga.''
Career
Kaur began her career in 2010 with ...
as Meera
* Ahad Ali Aamir as Minhas
*
Saanand Verma
Saanand Verma is an Indian film and television actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, r ...
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. Carvalh ...
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 terri ...
Taneja
Production
Development
In January 2014, Rani Mukerji who plays the role of a crime branch officer in the film met
Mumbai Police
The Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibiliti ...
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
Krav Maga ( ; , ; ) is an Israeli martial art. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it is derived from a combination of techniques used in aikido, judo, karate, boxing, and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situation ...
, a street-fighting, self-defence system developed for the Israeli military. It was directed by
Pradeep Sarkar
Pradeep Sarkar (born 30 April 1955) is a writer and director who works in Bollywood. He began his career with Vinod Chopra Productions, the production company of director and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Personal life
From a young boy lis ...
and written by Gopi Puthran.
The cinematographer for the movie was Polish
Artur Żurawski.
Soundtrack
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 film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...
required that the use of a
profanity
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
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 (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
by Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Shivraj Singh Chouhan (born 5 March 1959), is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, having been elected to the same position 3 times in the past, and a Member ...
in its first week of release. This was followed by
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
and
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
also giving the film a tax free status.
In
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Central Board of Film Censors
The Central Board of Film Censors (abbreviated as CBFC) ( ur, ) is a film censorship board and rating system body under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for the Government of Pakistan. Since the Eighteenth Amendment to the Consti ...
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 owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions were ...
'' 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.
Career
Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...
of
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
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
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
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 veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. It mainly produces and distributes Hindi and Punjabi films. The company has grown to be one of the largest film studios ...
announced that a sequel ''
Mardaani 2
''Mardaani 2'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film and a sequel to the 2014 film ''Mardaani''. It is directed by Gopi Puthran who wrote the previous film, marking his directorial debut, and backed by Aditya Chopra through Yash ...
'' will be made with writer Gopi Puthran directing this time, and
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji (pronounced ; born 21 March 1978) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rani Mukerji, multiple accolades, including seven Filmf ...
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