Gandhari

Mardaani meets Mom in a mythical framework as Taapsee Pannu joins hands with writer-producer Kanika Dhillon to open a new pulpy chapter after Haseen Dillruba. Invoking the divine wrath of the Devi to anchor a meaningful action-thriller, Gandhari attempts to subvert the typical Bollywood revenge trope, but it ends up more intellectually burdened than artistically elevated. Set in the fictional town of Joypurra, the narrative traces a mother’s harrowing journey after her young daughter is abducted from a crowded railway station. Left temporarily blind after a brutal attack, Bani (Taapsee) transforms into a force of vengeance against a sinister child-trafficking ring.

महाभारत महाकाव्य में एक द्वापर की गांधारी थी, जिसने अपने नेत्रहीन पति की सच्ची अर्धांगिनी बनने के लिए अपनी आंखों पर पट्टी बांध ली थी। एक ‘गांधारी’ आज के दौर में लेखिका कनिका ढिल्लन की है, जो अपनी बेटी की रक्षा के लिए नेत्रहीन बनती है। कनिका ने यूं तो महाभारत की गांधारी की छवि तोड़ते हु़ए उसे एक सशक्त पहचान देने की कोशिश की है, लेकिन अधपकी कहानी और ढीली लिखाई के कारण उनकी यह गांधारी भी कमजोर ही साबित होती है। वैसे तो कनिका ने फिल्म में बच्चियों की यौन तस्करी जैसा संवेदनशील मुद्दा, एक नेत्रहीन मां की बेटी को ढूंढने की भावुक यात्रा, एक देवी के राक्षस का वध करने का पौराणिक जुड़ाव, जैसे कई भावनात्मक तीर छोड़े हैं, लेकिन अफसोस कि ये निशाने पर लगने की बजाय चारों और बिखर गए हैं।

In the minds of millions of Indians, Gandhari, one of the many towering female figures of Mahabharata, stands out as an epitome of sacrifice and dignity. As a movie by the same name streams on Netflix, you expect an electric analogy. Alas, the comparison with the epic character is only wafer-thin and restricted to our heroine suffering from temporary blindness. Yes, we get it. Gandhari could see but chose to be blindfolded, and so does our heroine. The problem, however, is that the clickbait title rarely moves beyond surface level.

Taapsee Pannu plays Bani, a mother whose daughter is abducted. After losing her eyesight in the aftermath, she refuses to give up and sets out to find her child, taking on a dangerous world of crime and trafficking. Taapsee Pannu acts well and does exactly what the role demands, but unfortunately, that doesn’t save the day. Ishwak Singh too puts in a good performance, while the supporting cast does its part. The problem lies largely with Kanika Dhillon’s writing and Devashish Makhija’s direction. Gandhari is supposed to be an action thriller, but it is an action thriller without any real thrills. There are no genuine edge-of-the-seat moments, and the film rarely creates the kind of tension or urgency you expect from this genre. You keep waiting for the story to grip you, but it never quite gets there.

Human trafficking, a grim reality of our present time, has become a favourite theme for Bollywood. After Mardaani and Delhi Crime Season 2, Netflix’s new film Gandhari, featuring Taapsee Pannu, delves into the same theme. Written by Kanika Dhillon and directed by Devashish Makhija, Gandhari has Pannu playing a blind mother in search of her missing daughter in a fictitious town in Bengal. While looking for her daughter, she stumbles upon a larger network of child trafficking. And while the premise of Gandhari is very real and thus makes for an engaging thriller, in reality, the film’s execution makes it falter ever so often.

Losing your child in a crowd can be a parent’s worst nightmare. Bani (Taapsee Pannu) and Gokul (Ishwak Singh) go through this ordeal when their five-year-old daughter is abducted by a sari-clad stranger at Joypurra railway station. Unfamiliar with the fictional West Bengal town where cops are least interested in finding their girl and ignore a distraught mother’s cries suffering from temporary blindness following an injury caused by running after the offender, a couple’s holiday turns into horror in a matter of minutes. Stop in your tracks right there. All the curiosity Gandhari generates in its first few moments dies down just as quickly when the manufactured thrills masquerading as prospects soon reveal the emperor without clothes. Directed by Devashish Makhija, Gandhari, which credits Kanika Dhillon as producer, creative producer, story, screenplay and dialogues writer, alludes to the voluntarily blindfolded Mahabharata character of the same name.

A fundamental problem of Kanika Dhillon’s writing — and that is particularly evident in the case of the films in which there is a raging female protagonist — is that the ideas burst with immense possibilities, but the execution (and that stems from the root of its weak writing itself) is far from effective. Dhillon focuses on flawed, unapologetic women thrust into circumstances which often place them in a do-or-die decision-making pivot, but the result is more of an unhinged chaotic mess than a carefully-built complex quagmire. This is especially true of Kangana Ranaut’s Judgementall Hai Kya, in which Dhillon explored gaslighting, but the film’s convoluted look at mental health came in for much criticism. Or for that matter, Do Patti, with Kriti Sanon featuring in a double role, that felt like a superficial, glossy take on domestic abuse.

A chirpy couple and their young daughter smile endlessly at each other while sitting in a train compartment, headed for a vacation. But this is a film by Devashish Makhija (Ajji, Bhonsle), so you know darkness and horror lurk around the corner. Right on cue, within minutes, the child is abducted from a platform. While chasing after her, her mother Bani (Taapsee Pannu) is severely injured and left unconscious. Forget mustering any sort of meaningful tension, felt emotion or rudimentary atmosphere, Gandhari struggles with the bare basics of storytelling: establishing and communicating who’s who, what’s what, what is happening, why it’s happening, how we got here, where we’re headed and how we get there.