Monday, March 30, 2020

Madaari (2016) Movie Review

I recently subscribed to Zee5 for watching Amrutham Dviteeyam(Review out after completion of the season). But, after scrolling through some of their movies I found Madaari. A film that caught my attention but then I did not know what happened to this film. It did not get much attention from considerable amount of people making it just a semi-hit. My family and me are fans of Irrfan Khan and his acting. It is always the case that whenever we see Irrfan Khan, we feel it is a good film before we actually see the film. That is the impact of him. This was one reason for watching this film. Then, I found out the director was the same guy who made the Hindi Drishyam. So, I definitely know this guy has some good skills of making a good thriller. Also, our family loves thrillers. So, I watched this film with my family.  How the film is? Let us find out after this poster image.
Madaari is a 2016 thriller drama starring Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill and Vishesh Bansal in lead roles directed by Nishikant Kamat. The film revolves around Nirmal Kumar who kidnaps the son of the Home Minister to avenge the tragedy occurred in his life. This film is not actually a thriller. It keeps you engaged throughout the film but never thrills you. What it does though to make you think. It makes you question about the social hierarchy, rich and poor, rampant corruption and all kinds of party politics in how they lure a voter by money. This film is realistic in that sense. All the scenes of Irrfan Khan and Vishesh Bansal especially are too real. The film also has a deep and tragic core to all this questioning. The flashback of this film although simple carries a lot of depth and add that to an actor like Irrfan Khan...you get pure gold. But, after the 1hr 30min mark, the film takes cinematic liberties to set up a climax that would never be possible. It is good, no doubt. But, when we think of the perfectly made 1hr 30min before this, it does not feel the same. Overall, though this film is an under appreciated gem that all people have to watch.

The acting performances are good. This film is mainly centered around the person himself, Irrfan Khan. He has been a consistent performer and any film I watched that he starred in, he is the best part in it. Here, he shows how large his range of acting is. He laughs, cries, loves, gets mad, speaks softly, shouts. He makes some of the weaker scenes good. The hospital scene though, he nailed it and brought tears in my eyes. Vishesh Bansal who played the role of child Shubh in the now acclaimed series Asur is very good as well. He is able to blend in that innocence of childhood with all the knowledge that is not meant to be learnt by him. He gives a wide variety of cute expressions that makes you chuckle. Jimmy Shergill actually has equal screen time with all the other actors in the film. He is good as the officer dealing the case but there is not much scope for him to act. All other actors deliver according to their role.

The technical departments are good. The production values of the film being a low budget film is good. Cinematography captures the scenic locations of Rajasthan and Mumbai well. There was use of stock footage in this film which is smart because paying close attention to them will bring out the various cases it is based on and indirectly questions the society. Editing should have been improved as the film's pace slows down as the film goes on but it engages you, so editing is good but could be better. There are only two songs in the film and both composed by different composers. While one song is almost background score, the other song Massoom Sa pulls at your heartstrings. Sukhwinder Singh put his heart into this song. Other than that all other departments deliver according to the given job.

Overall, this film is an under appreciated gem that every body has to watch. It has it's flaws but at the end it delivers with Irrfan Khan being the driving force of this feature. It questions the governments with clarity. Enjoy this film on Zee5 in an engaging experience.

iMDB Rating : 7.5/10
My Rating : 8/10

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