GANDHARI is a below-average drama salvaged to an extent by Taapsee Pannu’s act Movie Review: GANDHARI is a below average revenge drama

Star Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Ishwak Singh, Mita Vashisht

Director: Devashish Makhija

Gandhari Movie Review Synopsis:
GANDHARI is the story of a brave mother. Bani (Taapsee Pannu) is married to Gokul (Ishwak Singh), and they have a daughter, Mishty (Myrah Shivan). While on a holiday, they pass through Joypurra. At the railway station, Mishty is kidnapped. Bani runs after the kidnapper but gets injured in the process, causing her to lose her eyesight. Bani and Gokul immediately approach the cops. Though the police assure them that they’ll find Mishty, they don’t seem to take the case seriously. However, they are forced into action when AHTU sends a tough officer, Kabir (Jatin Sarna), to investigate the rising number of kidnappings of girls from Joypurra. Meanwhile, Bani bumps into Jhunu Amba (Mita Vashisht), with whom she shares a connection from the past. Jhunu motivates Bani to toughen up and take on the gang responsible for Mishty’s kidnapping. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Gandhari Movie Story Review:
Kanika Dhillon’s story is promising. Kanika Dhillon’s screenplay is a mixed bag. While a few aspects are novel, there are places where the writing falters as well. Kanika Dhillon’s dialogues heighten the drama.

Devashish Makhija’s direction is commercial. The manner in which Bani’s blindness track is handled is unexpected and unlike anything one has seen in films featuring protagonists who have lost their eyesight. Even the Bahrupi community of Joypurra adds to the intrigue. The town, the community and the Chaumukhi festival are depicted so realistically that viewers might assume they actually exist and are not fictional. The film is less than two hours long, and the makers don’t waste any time, keeping the focus firmly on the principal plot of a mother seeking revenge.

On the flipside, there are far too many cinematic liberties. In some scenes, it is difficult to believe that Bani could have pulled off certain acts without anyone getting a whiff of her true intentions. The whole kidnapping and missing girls’ angle gets a bit confusing. A few characters, such as Uma (Chhaya Kadam) and Somesh (Chandan Roy), are also introduced rather abruptly into the narrative. However, where the film falters the most is in its depiction of the bond between Bani and Gokul. The manner in which things unfold between them in the climax is highly unconvincing. One can even argue that it was not even needed in the first place. Lastly, it is bewildering and even unintentionally amusing that Bani doesn’t remember her past or the fact that she had gone through a similar ordeal earlier.

Gandhari Movie Review Performances:
Taapsee Pannu, as expected, delivers a fabulous performance. She’s apt for such roles and impresses not just in action but also in the emotional scenes. Ishwak Singh puts up a sincere act but is let down a bit by the writing. Jatin Sarna leaves a tremendous mark. Mita Vashisht gets to play a badass role and performs ably. Chhaya Kadam is great and one wishes she had more screen time. The same goes for Chandan Roy. Myrah Shivan is cute. Prashant Narayanan (Dada) and Swastika Mukherjee (Churni) do well in small roles. Priti Shroff (ASI Sanjukta) is a great find, while Vishwanath Chatterjee (Inspector Saha) is fair.

Gandhari movie music and other technical aspects:
Shor Police’s music is well-woven into the narrative. However, none of the songs register. Shor Police’s background score is better, especially in the action scenes.

Amit Roy’s cinematography is satisfactory. Brahim Achhabake, Riyaz Shaikh, Habib Sayed and Anis Shaikh’s action is exciting and not too gory, though there was scope to make it more violent. Nikhil Kovale and Apurva Bhagat’s production design is authentic, and Prashant Sawant’s costumes are realistic. Naman Arora’s editing is too slick in some places but overall, fine.

Gandhari Movie Review Conclusion:
On the whole, GANDHARI is a below-average revenge drama that is salvaged to an extent by Taapsee Pannu’s powerful performance, an interesting setting and a few engaging moments. However, the impact is heavily diluted by excessive cinematic liberties, confusing portions and weak writing, particularly in the third act.