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The beginning is crackerjack, and the pace never falters, till the very end with a superb climax and a still better post-climax! As per the story’s conclusion, Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji), the Mardaani of this franchise, will now have a Special Task Force all her own! The writers assigned with the next film must fabricate a great plot now—for a bigger and better sequel, which this one too is vis-à-vis the gripping 2014 film as well as Mardaani 2!
The franchise specializes in Shivani fighting against tormentors of the female gender. Over here, pre-pubescent girls from poor families (the kind whose ‘Missing’ complaints to the police reach nowhere) are kidnapped. On one such occasion, the kidnappers pick up the daughter of the Indian ambassador to Turkiye (Eindraneel Bhattacharya) along with their employee’s kid. For this reason, the case gets attention and traction and Shivani is summoned.
Shivani concludes that since there is no ransom demand and also two girls of vastly different economic backgrounds have been abducted, the game is deeper. Her first move is to tempt the criminals with big reward money (through a television news report) to bring them out in the open. Through arrests and interrogations, a figure looms tall, a woman named Amma, infinitely cruel and unscrupulous, who is masterminding the racket.
With the help of a junior cop, Fatima (Janki Bodiwala of Shaitaan and Vash fame), and her team, Shivani moves closer and closer to Amma. Unexpected help comes from Ramanujam (Prajesh Kashyap), a good Samaritan who runs the charitable Treta Trust for elders as well as rescued children, who has suffered at the hands of people like Amma.
At mid-point comes a tragic turn of events when Ramanujam panics and that leads to a crucial death that could have been avoided. But this only helps Shivani’s steely resolve to get Amma and rescue the two girls and (as we come to know) at least 60 other children from her clutches. Along the way, Shivani is suspended as she refuses to follow the rulebook. But her loyal team prefer to support her.
And the action moves overseas. Because this time, Amma’s game is neither begging nor future prostitution but something more lethal.
When I mentioned the film’s beginning, it was an ‘introductory’ sequence meant to show Mardaani’s mettle and had nothing to do with the main plot, just like we have seen in the films of Yash Raj Films’ Spy Universe and the James Bond movies, but the rest of the script (Aayush Gupta, who is also credited with the story along with Deepak Kingrani and Baljeet Singh Marwah) goes on a high right till the end, with twists and betrayals filling in.
Rani Mukerji is all fire and brimstone cubed (it’s a ‘threequel’, see!) as Shivani, the cameo by Jisshu Sengupta as her husband, now acclimatized to his powerful wife), being a kind of passing foil. Mallika Prasad as Amma is danger personified, and her audacity remains amazing to the end. Janki Bodiwala comes into her own in the last portions of the film, but Prajesh Kashyap is the fantastic discovery here as he navigates the turns of his complex character and his interactions with Amma.
The supporting cast is more than competent, especially Jimpa Sangpo Bhutia as Shivani’s Nepali loyalist, Jimpo, Eindraneel Bhattacharya as the ambassador and the actor who plays Ramanujam’s uncle.
For years now, YRF is notorious for sidelining key character artistes, usually unknown or lesser-known actors, and not shelling out their names except to some special people and publications. This presents a reviewer from giving due importance and recognition to such names, that have been important and sometimes never-again seen faces in their films. However, I managed to get the names of the two delightful child protagonists, Avanee Joshi as the ambassador’s daughter and Diorr Varghese as the other kid, Jhimli.
John Stewart Eduri (background score), Artur Żurawski (cinematographer, back after the first Mardaani) and Yasha Ramchandani (editor) superbly add to the entertainment quotient as well as the moods of the film and help boost the voltage of this action-studded film that also grips with its emotional quotient.
All in all, an excellent follow-up for Abhiraj Minawala, who has been assistant and associate on films for over a decade, has done music videos and directed the delightful yet unsuccessful Loveyatri (2018). And, simply put, it is a must-watch in these days of fake collection figures and hyped ‘successes.’ This is one franchise that is going up by the film.
Rating: ****
Yash Raj Films’ Mardaani 3 Produced by: Aditya Chopra Directed by: Abhiraj Minawala Written by: Aayush Gupta, Deepak Kingrani & Baljeet Singh Marwah Music: John Stewart Eduri Starring: Rani Mukerji, Mallika Prasad, Janki Bodiwala, Prajesh Kashyap, Avanee Joshi, Diorr Varghese, Eindraneel Bhattacharya, Jisshu Sengupta, Jimpa Sangpo Bhutia, Mikhail Yawalkar & others
