The film is directed by Nishikant Kamat.
Nishikant Kamat had made his mark with hard hitting social dramas, Dombivli Fast and Mumbai Meri Jaan. He digressed from his fave genre, making action flicks like Force and Rocky Handsome or thrillers like Drishyam. With Madaari, he returns to tackling social themes.
With Irrfan Khan in the lead, we looked forward to an engaging film that make us think. But…
What’s it about
You have seen it in the trailer. The Home Minister (Tushar Dalvi)’s kid is kidnapper by Nirmal Kumar (Irrfan Khan) for very vague intentions. The police are unable to get hold of the culprit, as he is always one step ahead of them. When he finally calls the Minister for his demands, he asks him to find about his son who has gone missing’. Who is this man and what happened to his son? What is his real deal in kidnapping the Minister’s son?
What’s hot
Man, what a performer! Only an actor of such high caliber can bring life to such a dull script as Madaari’s. Check out the hospital scene where he breaks down after facing a personal tragedy, or during the final portions and you know what I am talking about. The man is terrific, it;s unfortunate that the narrative lets him down. However his scenes with Vishal Bhansal, who plays the Minister’s kid, offer the film some form of poignancy.
Jimmy Sheirgill is also efficient as the investigating officer, but he is saddled by a one-note character. Tushar Dalvi proves he is a terrific performer again, especially during his confession scene in the climax. The cherubic Vishal Bhansal is endearing, but his choti mooh badi baat wala act sometimes irked me!
What’s not
Though I admire Nishikant Kamat‘s gumption in handling social vices like corruption and terrorism in his films, he has never impressed me much as a story-teller, except for his debut film. In Madaari, he tried to tackle two plots at the same, but flounders in doing justice to both. Nirmal’s vendetta spree against the system lacks original thoughts and is utterly unconvincing. The coverage of media circus over the kidnapping, the police inefficiency and how people use social networking to manipulate public is fine, but the way he tackles them reeks of poor writing. It doesn’t help matters that these portions suffers from the hangover of his own debut film, Dombivli Fast and a far superior A Wednesday. On the other hand, the track about Nirmal and the kidnapped kid bonding is slightly better, but that’s solely due to Irrfan’s performance. Even these portions look inspired from Kevin Costner’s ’90s drama, A Perfect World.
The film suffers from predictability, and scenes keep on dragging aimlessly, especially the ones showing Nirmal’s past. Things begin to get life in the final portions, but again that’s only due to Irrfan and Dalvi – the execution is amateurish.
What to do
Madaari may have its heart in the right place, but an average direction and flawed narrative let down the movie’s honest intentions. Watch it only for a terrific Irrfan Khan! But then, the man is good even he is being shown just sitting on a bench!
Reviewed by Sreeju Sudhakaran
* Poor
** Average
*** Good
**** Very good
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***** Excellent
Madaari movie review: Irrfan Khan is TERRIFIC in this average social thriller!
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