RANI MUKERJI GOES BACK INTO BATTLE AS THE BRAVE SUPER COP IN MARDAANI 2
by ASJAD NAZIR
IN 2014, Rani Mukerji threw a stick of dynamite into Bollywood with police thriller Mardaani and helped to redefine the Hindi film heroine with her explosive role of Shivani Shivaji Roy.
She returns to the big screen as the fearless police officer in the equally incendiary Mardaani 2 and is this time on the trail of an evil murdering rapist terrorising a city. The popular actress has once again given her all in the massively demanding film powered by girl power and one that shows she is still very much at the top of her game.
Eastern Eye caught up with husky voiced Bollywood icon Rani Mukerji to talk about Mardaani 2, girl power, self defence and the India crisis of so many women getting attacked.
My highlight from Mardaani was the awesome finale fight scene, what was yours?
For me it was learning martial arts Krav Maga in preparation for that role. That was interesting because I discovered that Krav Maga is taught in Israel to teach women what are the various methods of self-defence to protect themselves. I feel in India that is the need of the hour, where we need to teach young girls and women Krav Maga. I learned a few tricks while preparing for the action sequences. It’s empowering and important, when we are faced with a threat and uncomfortable situation, we can stand up and protect our dignity.
What initially led you to the Mardaani journey?
Mardaani was born because of the anger that resonated in all of us after the (Delhi gang rape) Nirbhaya case in India. As a nation, we were all really shattered, angered and everyone was trying to do their bit to try and bring about a change. As an artist, I found Mardaani as a way of channelling my anger through the film. The film was born out of that anger we were all feeling.
What about Mardaani 2 journey?
Mardaani 2 happened because of the love and respect we had received for the first part. There were talks for a sequel, but Gopi (Puthran) the writer and my husband (producer) Adi (Aditya Chopra) were very clear that till such time we don’t find content that is important and relevant enough to put out there for people there is no point in doing a Mardaani 2. With all the rapes that have happened in India after the Nirbhaya case, this story is actually inspired by all those stories. We thought there should be an important messaging through the film. It also speaks about the juvenile criminals. I think through this film we are also trying to make more women aware about what threats that lie around every corner.
It seems as if your character is even tougher in Mardaani 2?
Shivani Shivaji Roy is the same character I am taking forward from Mardaani. In Mardaani, I played a crime branch officer, so she is mostly in disguise and undercover because that’s how they nab criminals most of the time. In Mardaani 2, she has been promoted to superintendent of police, which is like a police commissioner, so she is more in her khaki uniform. She is battling law and order head on. In that uniform, she is on the front line. Each crime and the way it is committed, she will do what she feels fit, which means, you’ll find her tougher, but she is the same character.
Is this character more physically or emotionally demanding for you as an artist?
I would say both Asjad, because this film deals with real life incidents and you know these kinds of things are actually happening. It’s a very relevant story and deals with things that are real, so it does sometimes emotionally drain you to actually think about that. There is a kind of frustration about the fact people are behaving demonically like this when committing these crimes. It takes a toll on your mind and heart. Off course, it is physically demanding because I am playing a police officer, so I need to show that tough side. I have to show her entire gait – the way she stands, walks, carries herself. It is very close to what a real police officer is.
It seems like you are up against another powerful villain in Mardaani 2?
More than the fact we are showing a powerful villain, we are showing how criminals today are faceless and don’t come within a certain age group or look, you know. Looks can be deceiving and anyone who is looking innocent can be having wrong notions about how they can harm you, so I think more than powerful that person is really evil.
You show a real inner power as Shivani Shivaji Roy, where does that inner fire come from?
The power would be a rising anger that I have against these crimes that are happening. As a woman, you feel really sad and helpless at times, and think how do we help and what more can we do to make women aware of this ongoing and rising threat we are all faced with day to day. Today women are independent, working till the night and travelling by themselves. They have no choice, but to let their lives go on you know even after such incidents that come to light. You can’t stop living your life and just be locked in your house. You have to go about living your life, so it’s just thinking about solutions on what can we do to basically start a dialogue or conversation. How do we talk about the safety of women and keep them safe.
Will there be a Mardaani 3?
I haven’t thought about that yet. I am just waiting for Mardaani 2 to get released on December 13 and looking forward to seeing how the audience will react to the film. If it does get the love and adulation Mardaani one got I am sure we will think of part three. I think the core of the franchise will be Shivani Shivaji Roy being representative of women empowerment. I think it is nice for an actor to showcase a woman police officer of today.
You are a symbol of girl power, what advice would you give young girls today?
My only advice would be to just be aware of your surroundings. Please listen to your instincts about people, and do what is really safe for you because today no matter how much you know the person you are with you are not hundred per cent sure that you are not going to be cheated. So it is important to learn some techniques of self-defence. A few things to just help you get out of a difficult situation you could be in at a moment in time. It is important to try and even see some self-defence videos. Try and take up classes that could help you, on how to protect yourself.
I would love to see you revisit your character from No One Killed Jessica. If you could revisit any of your characters, which one would it be?
I haven’t really thought about it. That is a good question. Yes that was one interesting character. I look ahead to the future and see what new interesting characters come my way. It is always good to explore something new. I do enjoy playing Shivani Shivaji Roy, but lets see what happens in the future.
Can you give a message to your fans?
Be happy and have a really good time because life is just too precious. Every second and every day of life is important. Please spend time with loved ones, eat good happy healthy meals, have an ice cream and pastries once in a while, indulge, be happy and go watch my film on December 13.
Mardaani 2 is in cinemas now
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5