Madaari
Director: Nishikant Kamat
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill, Vishesh Bansal
Three stars
It's important to know one thing about Madaari: it's an Irrfan Khan film, from start to finish.
His pitch-perfect acting is the only thing that makes the movie work, more or less, despite a wobbly script that groans under the weight of underwritten characters, and tries to pack in too many concepts without doing full justice to any of them.
You don’t really know how to take it, because while Khan’s brilliance cannot be denied, this was a film that desperately needed its script – not its actors, lofty ideals or moral strength – to be the hero.
Nirmal Kumar (Khan) is the quintessential common man who watches the news, believes what he is told, has faith in the government and goes out and votes dutifully in elections.
All this changes when he loses his son due to a civic tragedy caused by corruption. The incident makes him re-evaluate his beliefs and he decides to awaken the “system” from its slumber by orchestrating a vigilante-style plan for revenge.
To that end, he kidnaps a powerful politician’s son, a crime that sparks an aggressive manhunt lead by celebrated cop Nachiket Verma (Jimmy Shergill).
Madaari's premise might remind you, strongly, of Neeraj Pandey's 2008 hit, A Wednesday – but it sorely lacks the focus and directorial deftness of that film, which starred Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher.
Madaari has plenty of moments that will stir you: Kumar's unassuming life as he raises his son; the depth of his loss and the unbearable anguish when he dies; his relationship with his own strict father and the developing closeness between Kumar and his hostage Rohan Goswami (Vishesh Bansal).
Strung together, however, they don’t add much value other than a break from all the speechifying about corruption, evil politicians, the helplessness of the common man, the fragility of life and how people are ultimately responsible for the governments they find themselves saddled with.
Madaari tries to inspire you to be a better, more involved citizen, but only ends up exhausting you with its preachiness.
Watch Madaari to revel in Khan's acting, by all means, but if you're looking for a movie that will linger in your conscience and nudge you to think more deeply about the world we live in, sadly, this is not it.
artslife@thenational.ae
