I recently watched Gopi Puthran's
Mardaani 2. The Rani Mukerji-starring film is the second installment of
Mardaani series; the first film was released in 2014. The themes, scenes, and dialogues feel similar to the first film. In
Mardaani, there was the theme of animals where people kept mentioning animals. Like Shivani said, "
Only a mouse can get another mouse out of his hole." Later in the film, we see a few shots of chameleons. In
Mardaani 2, there is a theme of religion. The film starts with the festival of Dussehra with the effigies of Raavan and his brothers at a fair. It ends with the festival of Diwali amidst the
diyas and the firecrackers. The implication is that it is a battle between good and evil. Later, Shivani evokes Sita and Raavan, where she says people always blame women for the actions of men the way it happened in Ramayana as well. More religious references keep appearing later in the film. Sunny takes up the job of a tea seller and calls himself Bajrang. There is a
pandit who hires Sunny to eliminate a journalist. Sunny dresses up as a
sadhu when he kidnaps the politician Sunanda. But the film's most visible religious aspect comes in the final scene of the film when Shivani beats Sunny to death with his own belt. An emotional and overwhelmed Shivani sits in the footsteps of a temple with a painting of a Devi visible behind her. Shivani is being compared to a goddess. Before the film's release, Rani Mukerji had mentioned in some
interviews that there is an essence of Durga in
Mardaani 2. Therefore, the last scene is related to this aspect. As per legend, Durga killed Mahishasura, the shape-shifting demon who kept taking different forms to deceive her. Mahishasura believed that no woman had the power to kill him. Likewise, Sunny is the Mahishasura here. He hates powerful women who do not stay within their limits. In his introduction scene, he is seen wearing a mask of a demon. Throughout the film, he is also shape-shifting, taking different avatars, and trying to deceive Shivani. He becomes a woman twice—once in a saree and the other time in a
burkha. He becomes a tea seller. He becomes a
sadhu. At one point, he even puts lipstick on his mouth, like the Joker. He injures himself and gets a mark on the forehead like a demon. Perhaps, there is also some connection with blue as the final fight in the film happens in blue, where Sunny is bathed in blue paint.
Animals in Mardaani
Religion in Mardaani 2
Mardaani 2 is a good film, but Mardaani was a much better film. Mardaani 2 feels rushed and does not have the thrill of the first film. Rani Mukerji is great as always, but this was not a performance-driven role. It is a commercial film, and it largely achieves what it sets out to do, even if the vigilantism it espouses is still hard to embrace.
Nice
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