Some things are a given in the Mardaani franchise
– like a proficient performance from Rani Mukerji
who is a consistently 
watchable and skilled actor.
Like the vicarious joy you feel when 
the no-nonsense cop she plays,
Shivani Shivaji Roy beats 
bad guys to a pulp.
And the inherent satisfaction 
the film provides
because awful men are punished 
for their heinous crimes against women.
It doesn’t happen enough at life so it feels
good when it happens on screen.
But the question is,
is that enough?
Mardaani 2 takes us to Kota, the coaching
capital of India, where Shivani is the SP.
While the first film gave us a sense of her
home and family life, here the focus is
almost wholly on her work – namely catching 
a criminal who is brutally raping and murdering women.
In fact, Mardaani 2 shifts the balance 
heavily in the villain’s favor.
This is a man so brutal that ominous music
starts playing when we see the Yash Raj Films logo
even before he has come into frame.
The film begins with him breaking the fourth
wall and speaking to viewers directly.
He does this throughout the film.
It’s a decidedly odd choice for 
writer-director Gopi Puthran to make.
I think it’s designed to creep us out more
but it’s not entirely effective.
Vishal Jethwa plays Sunny, who seems like
the love child of Hannibal Lecter
from The Silence of the Lambs 
and  The Beast from Split.
So he will bite a chunk of flesh from a woman’s
face and hit his victims with a nailed belt.
He reserves his worst torture for women who
he thinks are trying to rise above their aukaad.
Early on he says:
Nakchadi laundiya speciality hai hamari.
Vishal does a fine job of being an unhinged
psycho but this character unsettles the film.
And after a while, the violence and brutality
also become hard to watch.
What worked in Mardaani were the realistic
textures.
The masterstroke was the college-educated,
Breaking Bad-loving baddie Karan,
played wonderfully by Tahir Raj Bhasin.
At one point in that film, when Shivani loses
her cool, Karan smoothly tells her:
That’s a lot of anger ma'am. 
Chill kijiye thoda.
His normalcy is chilling.
But Sunny is written as evil 
with a capital E.
Every move and gesture 
of his screams 'bad man'.
which always has less impact.
The screenplay works too hard 
to underline Shivani’s heroism.
There are umpteen shots of 
her striding in slow motion.
She’s brave, strong and also Sherlockian
in her ability to deduce what is going on
She figures out things so quickly that
it seems implausible
including how she concludes
where Sunny is hiding in the climax.
Plot twists in the film 
also stretch believability
Sunny seems to be 
able to go anywhere
and pretty much do 
whatever he wants.
Even after his face 
has been exposed in the media.
Of course, Shivani isn’t just 
fighting criminals.
She is also fighting the inherent patriarchy
of the system including a chauvinistic colleague
and a boss who frankly tells her that successful
women are expected to be humble and polite.
These moments are instantly relatable.
But once again, Gopi wants to 
underline the point he is making.
So Shivani gives a rousing speech on what
women go through
and how much they 
sacrifice on a daily basis.
She says: 
Har aurat Sita maiyya ki tarah agni pariksha deti hai.
It’s well written and Rani delivers it with
exactly the intensity and passion that it needs.
But it has little purpose here 
except to once again,
establish Shivani as 
both role model and savior.
Mardaani 2 has been shot 
beautifully by Jishnu Bhattacharjee .
The film begins with a Dussehra mela 
that looks like a fairy land with twinkling lights.
It ends on Diwali so we know 
that good will win.
Which is fine.
Shivani is the female cop fantasy 
that we need.
I am ok with the fact that 
she doesn’t have the nuances or realism
of other on screen female officers like 
Vartika Chaturvedi in Delhi Crime
or Soni and Kalpana in Soni.
But Shivani Shivaji Roy 
needs to be a believable fantasy.
There is a moment in the first Mardaani 
when Karan is lying next to Shivani
whose hands and mouth are bound
He casually tells her about 
how men are the stronger sex.
He says
Tabhi toh hum mard upar chadte hain
aur auratein sirf upar dekhti hain.
But after a few scenes, she outsmarts him
and teaches him who is really on top.
There is an undeniable thrill 
in watching her win.
But it’s even better when the cat and mouse
game that precedes her victory has more plausibility.
Ladaai ab bhi baki haai, 
we were told in Mardaani.
I hope Shivani will return for round 3.
Let’s just find her a more layered script.
