And comes with a strong message to boot
Starring Irfan Khan, one of the best actors Bollywood has, this socio-thriller movie has challenged the political elite. With only a few songs, no item number and no mainstream actress, this movie is close to reality, still making it worth watching
The recently released Bollywood movie ‘Madaari’ will leave you with many questions in mind.
Madaari revolves around the life of Nirmal Kumar (Irfan Khan) who goes on a mission to pressurise the government after corruption in using substandard material in the construction of a bridge in Mumbai claims his son’s life. Nirmal takes his revenge by kidnapping the Indian home minister’s 10-year-old son Rohan Goswami (Vishesh Bansal) and making the government find his own lost son as a kidnapping ransom.
Starring Irfan Khan, one of the best actors Bollywood has, this socio-thriller movie has challenged the political elite. When the home minister admits that politics is a business (dhanda), this somehow awakens the citizens, who already know this fact but are in a slumber and never question their politicians.
The father-son relationship is another highlight of the movie. Nirmal is a devoted father and single parent who loves his son unconditionally. The unique depiction of this relationship will definitely make you emotional. One of the only two songs in the movie, ‘Masoom Sa’ sung by legendary Sukhwinder Singh will touch your heart.
The role of CBI officer Nachiket Vermais was also played well by Jimmy Shergill. He heads the case with all his honesty and professionalism. The acting by child actor Vishesh Goswami is also not any less impressive than any of the other senior actors. Irfan Khan, who has been featured in various Hollywood movies as well, becomes the ‘hero’ in the movie and once again amazes the audience with his exceptional acting skills.
One thing that lacked attention in the movie is the role of media as there is only one journalist Sanjay Jagtap (Nitesh Pandey) who gets to cover the major story of abduction of Indian home minister’s son. It is also practically not possible that home minister of a country presents himself for accountability but this is what ‘Bollywood’ and ‘movies’ are about – they can have fictional things. The use of social media is also effectively shown in the movie when Nirmal succeeds in mobilising the people by uploading his and Rohan’s videos on YouTube.
With only a few songs, no item number and no mainstream actress, this movie is close to reality, still making it worth watching. The subject matter is interesting; although such issues have been addressed in Bollywood movies before as well, this is just a welcome addition to the list of critical and political movies.
The movie will make you question the corrupt practices of politicians. The corruption in such construction projects is not rare. Such acts of corruption can be seen in both the countries of sub-continent – India and Pakistan. The movie is identifiable for Pakistani viewers as Pakistan and Punjab especially also has some ongoing projects of construction of bridges and flyovers. It is not a hidden truth that our politicians too do not let a chance of minting money in such projects go off their hands. Something that should be kept under consideration is that a little negligence in any such projects can claim human loss which is irreparable and cannot be compensated in any way. But unfortunately, who values a human life here?
How the loss of a loved one can drive a man crazy can be seen in the movie. These are the wrong deeds of the political elite that force a common man to use illegal and erroneous ways to get justice. Is the only way for the citizens to get justice is by taking things in their own hands? This would happen when their grievances go unaddressed and this is what Irfan Khan does in Madaari.
The movie holds a strong message. It gets a bit depressing as it is not majorly intended to entertain the viewers with its dull cinematography but someone with a critical eye would like its plot with an invigorating combination of Irfan Khan’s remarkable acting.
