Mardaani is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film stars Rani Mukerji, 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 girls leads her to uncover secrets of human trafficking by the Indian mafia. Released theatrically on 22 August 2014, the film received positive reviews, with praise for Mukerji's performance, and emerged a commercial success. It was followed by a sequel titled Mardaani 2 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 Mukherjee reprising the role of Shivani Shivaji Roy.
Plot
Shivani Shivaji Roy, a dedicated Crime Branch Inspector of the Mumbai Police, chases a Delhi-based kingpin, a disturbing young man named Karan Rastogi, who runs an organised crime cartel involving child trafficking and drugs. She aims to arrest him and rescue Pyaari, a teenage orphan kidnapped by Rastogi's men. Shivani had saved Pyaari from her uncle, who wanted to sell her, and had since begun taking care of her like a daughter. Shivani takes the task personally, going beyond her job and duties to nab Karan. Karan, coming to know from Katyal that Shivani is monitoring his cartel's activities, warns her not to get involved. Determined to catch him, Shivani tracks down his associate, who leads her to Karan's aide, Wakeel. Karan, angered, makes sure that Pyaari is sold and sexually abused everyday. As a warning, he spreads fake news that Shivani's husband has misused his profession as a doctor to molest and rape a female patient, and he is thrown off duty. He then chops off one of Pyaari's fingers and sends it to Shivani's house in a gift box. 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, realising that he'll be arrested, which means they'll also capture Karan, tries to erase evidence by destroying his mobile phone's SIM card, then commits suicide. Shivani's continued investigation leads her to Karan's house, where Karan's mother sedates her. She is abducted and brought to Karan's party. There, she meets Pyaari, where she and the other girls are forced to work as prostitutes. 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. His other gang members are arrested and prosecuted.
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.
Soundtrack
Marketing and release
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.
Reception
Critical response
Mid Day 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 of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "nacting 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 Mardaanis net of 40 crore was double the amount invested in the film.
Awards and nominations
Sequel
In December 2018, Yash Raj Films announced that a sequel Mardaani 2 will be made with writer Gopi Puthran directing this time, and Rani Mukerji reprising her role. The filming began in March 2019 and was released on 13 December 2019.
