Madaari, a Social-Thriller film by Nishikant Kamath, is one more attempt by a filmmaker to take head-on with the corrupt systems existing in our country. It is very much inevitable to draw parrallels with Neeraj Pandey's 2008 film 'A Wednesday'. A Wednesday was an engaging thriller with an unimaginable and unpredictable dramatic twist, which was set on the premise of terrorism. The underlying concept of Madaari is also the same, i.e. when a common man decides to raise his voice against the powerful, it does make a difference. I would admit that Madaari might lack the action-packed thrilling sequences as that of Wednesday, but Madaari has its own strengths and it also very successfully conveys the message. Although as a viewer, I did feel disillusioned. Not because the film is not good, but because, the subject of the film is so relevant. We are aware of these shortcomings of our society, system, government, hardly doing anything to change the system, still unable to bring any changes. But at least an effort to convey a pertinent point through such films generate hopes of changes in the outlook towards world and also making world a better place to live.
Madaari begins with Irrfan's voice-over, which in fact is the essence of the whole film.
Soon after the voice-over, we see the back profile of Irrfan Khan with a child at a railway station. Simultaneously various news flashes in regard to the various contemporary incidents happening in various corners of the country, right from the collapse of a bridge to increase in the vegetable prices to farmers' suicides, inflation, unemployment, water crisis etc. The frames move to the breaking news of kidnapping of Home Minister Prashant Goswami's (Tushar Dalvi) son Rohan Goswami (Vishesh Bansal). Then we get to see bearded Irrfan Khan in a moving train. Frames move to the flashback of how Irrfan manages to kidnap Rohan from a school hostel in Dehradoon. In Delhi, Rohan's parents Prashant and Jaya are worried due to Rohan's kidnapping. Prashant and the Chief Minister Nimbadkar deputes Nachiket Varma (Jimi Shergill), a cop, to find out the what, why and how of Rohan's kidnapping and also to rescue him. The biggest challenge before Nachiket is that the face / whereabouts of the kidnapper are unknown. Meanwhile Irrfan continues his journey along with Rohan in different hideouts with different makeovers. Slowly a bond develops between Rohan and Irrfan. Irrfan's story slowly unveils through various scenes. The film does evoke strong emotions. Irrfan, who is a distraught father, describes himself as an ideal voter, who is just busy bringing up his son as a single parent. His whole world is his 7-year old son Apoorva. What happens to him, when his whole world itself crashes and he loses the very meaning of life ?
How the story develops further? How Irrfan handles the high profile kidnapping? How does Nachiket gather various clues, and interconnects various leads ? Is Nachiket able to crack the kidnapping case and rescue Rohan? How does Irrfan save himself from the world's eyes? How and when does his identity from a Anam Kumar (a person who does not have any name) to Nirmal Kumar is revealed ? What was Nirmal's motive behind Rohan's kidnap ? How the movie ends? Who wins in this hide and seek game?
I could not stop myself from comparing this film with A Wednesday. Certain commonalities between both the films: The very underlying concept of the common man rising against the system. The technical set up preparations done by Irrfan Khan gives the same feel as that of Naseeruddin Shah's set up in Wednesday. Jimmy as an actor is another common factor in both the films.
Music is also good and lyrics are thought-provoking. The song Masoom Sa is very nice.
Certain dialogues are very much thought provoking. Pros and cons of social media are also shown, how people's perception changes in minutes under the influence of social media. The dialogues in regard to the rivalry of ruling party – opposition party fights being just political gimmicks, and either parties having win-win scenario whether they have the chair with them or not.
My only concern with the screenplay is that it is a very much predictable film and could it have ended in a different manner?
Madaari is a thought-provoking film, and it does evoke strong emotions. Irrfan is brilliant as a distraught father who dares to fight the system. On one side, the film hits the bull-eye by exposing the powerful, on the other hand, it also conveys an underlying fact that we are responsible for the mess we are in. Madaari prompts us to enhance our power of discretion and be change agents.
Madaari begins with Irrfan's voice-over, which in fact is the essence of the whole film.
Soon after the voice-over, we see the back profile of Irrfan Khan with a child at a railway station. Simultaneously various news flashes in regard to the various contemporary incidents happening in various corners of the country, right from the collapse of a bridge to increase in the vegetable prices to farmers' suicides, inflation, unemployment, water crisis etc. The frames move to the breaking news of kidnapping of Home Minister Prashant Goswami's (Tushar Dalvi) son Rohan Goswami (Vishesh Bansal). Then we get to see bearded Irrfan Khan in a moving train. Frames move to the flashback of how Irrfan manages to kidnap Rohan from a school hostel in Dehradoon. In Delhi, Rohan's parents Prashant and Jaya are worried due to Rohan's kidnapping. Prashant and the Chief Minister Nimbadkar deputes Nachiket Varma (Jimi Shergill), a cop, to find out the what, why and how of Rohan's kidnapping and also to rescue him. The biggest challenge before Nachiket is that the face / whereabouts of the kidnapper are unknown. Meanwhile Irrfan continues his journey along with Rohan in different hideouts with different makeovers. Slowly a bond develops between Rohan and Irrfan. Irrfan's story slowly unveils through various scenes. The film does evoke strong emotions. Irrfan, who is a distraught father, describes himself as an ideal voter, who is just busy bringing up his son as a single parent. His whole world is his 7-year old son Apoorva. What happens to him, when his whole world itself crashes and he loses the very meaning of life ?
How the story develops further? How Irrfan handles the high profile kidnapping? How does Nachiket gather various clues, and interconnects various leads ? Is Nachiket able to crack the kidnapping case and rescue Rohan? How does Irrfan save himself from the world's eyes? How and when does his identity from a Anam Kumar (a person who does not have any name) to Nirmal Kumar is revealed ? What was Nirmal's motive behind Rohan's kidnap ? How the movie ends? Who wins in this hide and seek game?
I could not stop myself from comparing this film with A Wednesday. Certain commonalities between both the films: The very underlying concept of the common man rising against the system. The technical set up preparations done by Irrfan Khan gives the same feel as that of Naseeruddin Shah's set up in Wednesday. Jimmy as an actor is another common factor in both the films.
Music is also good and lyrics are thought-provoking. The song Masoom Sa is very nice.
Certain dialogues are very much thought provoking. Pros and cons of social media are also shown, how people's perception changes in minutes under the influence of social media. The dialogues in regard to the rivalry of ruling party – opposition party fights being just political gimmicks, and either parties having win-win scenario whether they have the chair with them or not.
My only concern with the screenplay is that it is a very much predictable film and could it have ended in a different manner?
Madaari is a thought-provoking film, and it does evoke strong emotions. Irrfan is brilliant as a distraught father who dares to fight the system. On one side, the film hits the bull-eye by exposing the powerful, on the other hand, it also conveys an underlying fact that we are responsible for the mess we are in. Madaari prompts us to enhance our power of discretion and be change agents.