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Mardaani:
Somewhere Bollywood seems to have acquired the art of making slick films, as ably demonstrated by Aditya Chopra in his latest release, Mardaani. An immensely watchable film, despite the dark theme of drug and sex trafficking, I couldn’t help admire all the characters who played their roles so craftily, even if they had a one scene presence in the film. Of course the film might as well be called The Return of Rani Mukherjee, as she is the all pervasive, dominant, committed, strong yet humane character in the film - a Sr. Inspector of Police, with a formidable name like Shivani Shivaji Rao! She has a chirpy adolescent of a niece and a dedicated doctor of a husband and they provide depth to Shivani’s character. Her dedication to duty is inspirational and her performance more than convincing!
Many lady officers ranging from the civil side to uniformed services will identify with Rani’s character in the film as a woman trying to balance life with the pressing demands of the professional world, as also from her personal front. That they do both may seem perfunctory to those outside this pale, but balancing between home/hearth and office actually requires great managerial skills, almost jugglery, to succeed. And this effort or even being successful at it is seldom recognized. Rani does both with elan and I for one, wanted to stand up and applaud her for her real life portrayal of a sharp-shooter police officer, who wants emotion to be central to the police’s psyche, her own gaali hurling ways notwithstanding.
As I watched the film, a bit tense and disturbed about the fate of the trafficked young girls, I realised that I didn’t know the names of any of the artists, other than that of my favourite- Rani Mukherjee. But I found out later about this Tahir Bhasin who plays the English speaking, video-game addict, VOIP using, bad-boy Karan Rastogi in the film. He looks and sounds like the kind of guy your kids probably went to Uni with and that thought was enough to send shivers down my spine! The bad-guys are no longer the semi-literate, taporis who grew up in slums, peddling 5 or 10 gms worth of coke, but they come from respected middle class neighbourhoods with expensive private school education! That he held his own, despite Rani’s larger than life persona in the film speaks about his potential. He is someone to watch for in the future.
It’s the title of the movie, which bothered me all through. I looked at the online dictionary and found out what Mardaani translates into: Mannish. So, to be acknowledged as good, you have to be mannish! Why must the test of being defined as brave and strong come in masculine terms? Men are perceived to be brave and strong, so much so that many strong women will routinely try and prove their worth by looking, behaving, talking like men. It is almost part of the culture to pay compliments like “yeh meri beti nahi, beta hai!” Is it OK to call Shivani mardaani aurat or is there a better way of describing a strong-willed woman? Do we still live under medieval mindsets: khoob ladi mardaani, woh to Jhansi wali Rani thi?
Somewhere Bollywood seems to have acquired the art of making slick films, as ably demonstrated by Aditya Chopra in his latest release, Mardaani. An immensely watchable film, despite the dark theme of drug and sex trafficking, I couldn’t help admire all the characters who played their roles so craftily, even if they had a one scene presence in the film. Of course the film might as well be called The Return of Rani Mukherjee, as she is the all pervasive, dominant, committed, strong yet humane character in the film - a Sr. Inspector of Police, with a formidable name like Shivani Shivaji Rao! She has a chirpy adolescent of a niece and a dedicated doctor of a husband and they provide depth to Shivani’s character. Her dedication to duty is inspirational and her performance more than convincing!
Many lady officers ranging from the civil side to uniformed services will identify with Rani’s character in the film as a woman trying to balance life with the pressing demands of the professional world, as also from her personal front. That they do both may seem perfunctory to those outside this pale, but balancing between home/hearth and office actually requires great managerial skills, almost jugglery, to succeed. And this effort or even being successful at it is seldom recognized. Rani does both with elan and I for one, wanted to stand up and applaud her for her real life portrayal of a sharp-shooter police officer, who wants emotion to be central to the police’s psyche, her own gaali hurling ways notwithstanding.
As I watched the film, a bit tense and disturbed about the fate of the trafficked young girls, I realised that I didn’t know the names of any of the artists, other than that of my favourite- Rani Mukherjee. But I found out later about this Tahir Bhasin who plays the English speaking, video-game addict, VOIP using, bad-boy Karan Rastogi in the film. He looks and sounds like the kind of guy your kids probably went to Uni with and that thought was enough to send shivers down my spine! The bad-guys are no longer the semi-literate, taporis who grew up in slums, peddling 5 or 10 gms worth of coke, but they come from respected middle class neighbourhoods with expensive private school education! That he held his own, despite Rani’s larger than life persona in the film speaks about his potential. He is someone to watch for in the future.
It’s the title of the movie, which bothered me all through. I looked at the online dictionary and found out what Mardaani translates into: Mannish. So, to be acknowledged as good, you have to be mannish! Why must the test of being defined as brave and strong come in masculine terms? Men are perceived to be brave and strong, so much so that many strong women will routinely try and prove their worth by looking, behaving, talking like men. It is almost part of the culture to pay compliments like “yeh meri beti nahi, beta hai!” Is it OK to call Shivani mardaani aurat or is there a better way of describing a strong-willed woman? Do we still live under medieval mindsets: khoob ladi mardaani, woh to Jhansi wali Rani thi?
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