Emergency review: Kangana's film is a pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhi

Film EmergencyUA DramaDir Kangana RanautCast Kangana Ranaut Anupam KherRating 3 starsEmergency exitmdashthatrsquos the door I thought Irsquod be eyeing in the theatre sooner or later in this film Pardon that I prejudge But then you mostly get to hearread about propaganda pictures Irsquove to watch them for a livingNo knock on the genre To each their own Given the purpose is usually separate from entertainmentmdashpolitical propaganda pix can poke a hole in your headTheyrsquore often shoddily shot with near spoofs for scripts Consider the likes of Indu Sarkar 2017 or The Accidental Prime Minister 2019There are some elements of that over a few minutes here and there in this movie tooFor instance Atal Bihari Vajpayee talking himself up as the future Prime Minister of India while thumping the desk a little later that turns into a song he sings in parliament which then spreads to General Manekshaw lipsyncing similarly in another roomThis is only matched by the fully bombast marching entry of Gen Manekshaw Milind Soman himselfMore of such was my honesttogod expectation from Emergency directed by Kangana Ranaut starring Ranaut a BJP politician playing Indira Gandhi the late queen of Congress I the rival political party itself once named after herIn that sense Emergency didnrsquot meet my expectations at all Of course I mean that as much as a compliment as a pleasant surprise Itrsquos a pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhimdashpacked with historical events and human empathyRight from the opening scenes of lirsquol Ms Gandhi lost in the Nehru household Allahabadrsquos Anand Bhawan while her weak mother Kamala is sidelined suffering from tuberculosisDown to Gandhi as Indiarsquos first woman PM assassinated by her own gunmen inside 1 Safdarjung Road New Delhi Pupul Jayakar is Gandhirsquos friendconfidante through it all Itrsquos great to see actor Mahima Chaudhary back on screen with that roleYou could piercingly factcheck a lot of whatrsquos there in this pic and therersquos plentymdashto figure if they fall squarely into the bracket of creative libertyI will leave that vetting to more qualified historians Itrsquos another matter if this movie merits a responseAn obvious glitch is the protagonist claiming more than once ldquoIndira is India India is Indirardquo As if she coined it herself Thatrsquos actually a line from DK Barooah the Congress president thenThat said the filmmakers may be looking for a commercial hit By no means is Emergency a hitjobRanaut in fact plays the lead role with sufficient carecompassion Once you get used to her squeaky voice and constant twitching of the lowerlip that is It borders on mimicry initially But certainly grows on you eventuallyA better template to follow might be Shreyas Talpade as Vajpayeemdashhe plays it straight without burdening himself with needless mannerisms As do Satish Kaushik for Jagjivan Ram or Anupam Kher as Jayaprakash NarayanRanaut already has the advantage of superfine prosthetic makeup by Dennis Malinowski The look suits her totallymdashto play a quiet dignified lady known for her primeministerial poise Ranautrsquos taken a leap of faith and seen it through Thatrsquos no mean achievement alreadyThe fact that your attention doesnrsquot waver from the screen is hugely to the credit of Ritesh Shah Pink Raid Sardar Udham whorsquos scripted this piece of contemporary history for a mass audienceWe switch from one important event to anothermdash1962 IndoChina war 1971 IndoPak war local unrest and the creation of Bangladesh Shimla Agreement Operation Blue Starhellip Over all of the above itrsquos almost baffling to me that the filmrsquos titled EmergencyWhich as an event in Indiarsquos history indeed Gandhirsquos career in 1975 lasted 21 months It felt to me that it occurs in the film for no longer than 20odd minutesEmergency being euphemism for dictatorship what else That dictator was by all accounts the PMrsquos son Sanjay Gandhi Vishak NairYou could almost liken this character to Saddamrsquos son Uday Hussein in Iraq from the movie Devilrsquos Double 2011 Except Gandhi Jr is not excessively lampooned eitherPM Gandhi was also cornered then by the Allahabad High Court judge one Jaganmohan Sinha who barred her from parliament for six frickinrsquo yearsThis was over electoral malpractices If I recall right it had to do with an official from the PM secretariat Yashpal Kapoor found to have been employed as an election agent in Gandhirsquos constituency Rae BareillyThe filmrsquos made it about Gandhi using the Air Force plane during campaign That the HC judge could look the PM in the eye says much about Indiarsquos democracyWhat followed with the Emergency as you watch in this film and I quote is ldquonews managementrdquo ie manipulation subservience and muzzling of the pressThere was ldquofear created among people from speaking out their tongues locked hencerdquo A lsquobulldozer governmentrsquo went about destroying ordinary peoplersquos homes Even Article 21 that is right to life was abrogatedThis happened under the watch of Indian public This picture is a warning sign for India then and chiefly the reason I liked this filmI wasnrsquot born during Emergency I think the film argues that we must guard against similarly losing our rightsprivileges as citizens to a despot This can become the norm under any leader The one in this picture as we witness is a true patriot as well

Emergency review: Kangana's film is a pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhi

Film: Emergency
U/A: Drama
Dir: Kangana Ranaut
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher
Rating: 3 stars

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Emergency review: Kangana's film is a pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhi

Emergency review: Kangana's film is a pretty solid biopic of Indira Gandhi

Film: EmergencyU/A: DramaDir: Kangana RanautCast: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam KherRating: 3 stars

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Film: Emergency
U/A: Drama
Dir: Kangana Ranaut
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher
Rating: 3 stars