Film Review: Madaari
Date: July 22 2016
Director: Nishikant Kamath
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Vishesh Bansal, Jimmy
Shergill
Rating: 3 stars***
The
film opens with a voice over questionning that presuming there’s a fight
between an eagle and a mouse, who would win? If the eagle wins, the story
becomes predictible. If the mouse wins, the story is unrealistic, so the third
end is the story of Madaari.
An
ordinary man/Irrfan Khan kidnaps the son of a powerful man, Home Minister/Tushar
Dalvi and throws him a challenge.
This
is not a regular cop and culprit chase. The issue is not ‘who’ but ‘why’. Shot
on varied and fast changing locations within the interiors of India, the
characters walk the sands, tan in the sun, sleep on chugging trains, ride in
rickety buses and walk hungry for days.
What
works about the film is the premise, the message and the intention. Director
Nishikant Kamath has always displaced radical choice subjects beginning with
his award winning Dombivali Fast, later
Mumbai Meri Jaan on bomblasts and
recently debate on right and wrong in Drishyam.
This time Kamath knocks on your concience and exposes those in power.
The
problem with Madaari is we have been
throug similar journeys of the common man in
A Wednesday and Traffic and the plot is devoid of
surprises. The narrative is slow paced and the story unfairly hero centric. One
misses the involvement of Rohan’s school, classmates and parents, particularly
mothers of other students.
The
main problem is the exaggerated climax. Would any minister under any dire
circumstances ever visit a common man to resolve a crisis?
Jimmy
Shergill as the investigating cop Nachiket is effective but almost invisible.
Child star Vishesh Bansal is bright and cheeky but the film belongs solely to
Irrfan Khan. As the dishevelled, unkempt kidnapper always on the move, Irrfan
is merculrial and sparkling.
There
is just one song in the film composed by Vishal Bharadwaj and another from Urdu
poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the endcrdits and both add to the story telling.
Moral
of the story: it is not necesaary for either the eagel or the mouse to conquer
each other if both are accountable and ethical.
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