I am someone who has enjoyed the Mardaani films featuring Rani Mukerji. Be it the first one written by Gopi Puthren or the second one written and directed by Gopi Puthren, they both had the grit, and this angle of a woman fighting against men who believed women should be beneath them was presented in a subtle way. When it comes to the third installment, Mardaani 3, the creative team has completely changed, with Abhiraj Minawala taking over direction and Aayush Gupta handling the writing. There was a sense of smartness to this new movie when it was in that investigative mood in the initial hour. But soon after we get to know what is happening, everything becomes excessively predictable, and the entire second half is a collection of writing tropes that good writers chose to leave in the dustbin.
Shivani Shivaji Roy, who successfully conducted an operation in West Bengal, gets an urgent NIA posting to find a missing girl. The girl was the daughter of an Indian Ambassador, and the government wanted swift action. While trying to find the girl, Shivani realizes the widespread nature of the human trafficking network, and she gets to know that a woman, popularly known as Amma, is the mastermind. How Shivani and her team manage to crack down on the human trafficking mafia is what we see in Mardaani 3.
While the first movie used human trafficking as its theme, the second one was more about a psychopathic rapist. When you look at this third installment, the idea of human trafficking returns, and along with that, certain elements we have seen in the first two movies are also coming back. I thought the movie would continue the perfect blend of being heroic and subtle in its treatment. In fact, in the beginning portion, when we hear Shivani say that she is going to the crime spot at the earliest because rain can ruin it, I thought the new writers were going to add more nuances to this story. However, after a pivotal reveal that happens around the interval point, the movie gets into the problem that YRF’s spy universe faced: the usage of outdated writing tropes.
The biggest contributions of both the Mardaani films, in my opinion, were the actors who played the antagonists in those movies. It wasn’t just their performances that made them memorable. The writing of those characters was also very impressive, creating a sense of fear and anger in our minds against them. When it comes to Mardaani 3, they are trying to pitch a woman against Shivani for a change, but the tussle between them doesn’t have the fire. The writing is utterly poor in the second half, and when the true purpose of certain characters is revealed, we don’t feel any sort of surprise, as we could see that twist coming from a mile away. And in the final fight sequence, the dialogue given to Rani Mukerji is so loud, literally and figuratively, you almost wonder if she is planning to contest in elections. And also YRF, the Mardaani Anthem sung by Sunidhi Chauhan is a gem of a song that creates goosebumps, so please use it.
Rani Mukerji has been playing this character for over a decade now, and looking at the way this movie ends, YRF will continue the franchise. As Shivani Shivaji Roy, she has aged really well, and she manages to play the fearless and feisty police officer with a dash of empathy. The main antagonist, Amma, played by Mallika Prasad, was terrific. Rather than theatrics, she tries to convey the intimidation through her smile and minimal reactions. Prajesh Kashyap as Ramanujan was the other main casting choice of this movie. However, in the second half, his performance was unable to create any sort of impact. National Award Winner Janki Bodiwala as Fatima gets a poorly written character, and she seemed very clueless about how to play that role.
Mardaani 3 starts off giving us a feel that it might give a fresh and updated look to the franchise. However, as the story moves forward, it goes after writing cliches and sort of hides behind the women empowerment excuses to cover its lack of imagination in writing and craft. The Spy Universe of YRF has already hit a limbo with the disastrous performance of War 2. If they don’t sit and analyse immediately why the first two films in the Mardaani franchise worked, Mardaani 4 could well become that last outing of Shivani Shivaji Roy.
