Gandhari

Gandhari Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Ishwak Singh, Mita Vashisht, Swastika Mukerjee, Chandan Roy, Prashant Narayanan

Director: Devashish Makhija

What’s Good: Probably the title that draws your attention!

What’s Bad: The title that makes no sense in the film!

Loo Break: Take a nap break instead!

Watch or Not?: You can skip it!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Netflix

Runtime: 1 hour 58 Minutes

User Rating:

What do you expect from a film that is titled after the most tragic queen of the Mahabharata? A powerful story that backs her blindfold so strongly that you cannot question the wrongdoings of her side because you genuinely empathize with her losses! For a quick revision, Gandhari was the woman who probably lost the most in the battle of Kurukshetra! While she decided to blindfold herself because of her blind husband, the King of the Kuru kingdom, Dhritashatra, she surrendered to her fate as well, witnessing mayhem and the end of an entire clan! Her own clan! Ironically, something similar happens to Taapsee Pannu in this film! She is so blindfolded that she cannot see a script killing itself at the hands of writer Kanika Dhillon’s self-obsession and pretentiously blinded understanding of a powerful female character!

Taapsee Pannu goes full throttle in a mother-on-revenge thriller that borrows the name of the film from Mahabharata’s one of the most sympathized women – Gandhari! However, Taapsee Pannu, in Devashish Makhija’s world, creates a literally hollow impact, mistaking the mythological branding to be the hero of the film!

Kanika Dhillon’s screenplays have always operated on too much – Manmarziyaan and Haseen Dillruba both leaned into melodrama, taking the sensitivity out of the picture, despite relying heavily on grief, pain, heartbreak, and chaos! Gandhari borrows that same instinct, but yet again, it serves a plot that loses logic way too soon, is abrupt, and is lost in self-glory!

Gandhari Movie Review: Script Analysis

The story of the film is something you have heard a trillion times -on and off screen! Bani (Taapsee Pannu) loses her 5-year-old daughter at a chaotic railway station in Joypurra. A brutal assault in the aftermath leaves her temporarily blind. Grief-stricken, she has to claw her way into the underbelly of Joypurra – a fictional town that breathes through rituals, masks, and old folklore of Chaumukhi Maa protecting the town of Joypurra from the devil Magarasura, who emerged from the Pataal Lok! So far, so good!

The town is ruled by Behrupas – folk performers who take different identities! How does Taapsee find her child? Why does she have to be blindfolded for that? Does she find the Magarasur? Does she turn into Chaumukhi Mata herself – all forms the crux of a very weak story!

Gandhari Movie Review: Star Performance

Taapsee Pannu is the film’s anchor. She tries to commit to Bani’s physicality – this is a genuinely demanding, action-heavy role, and she handles the specific challenge. She has done it before in Baby! But I cannot relate to her here! I do not find the grief and helplessness of a mother! I do not see the urgency to find the daughter! I do not see anything that makes this portrayal emotional! Ishwak Singh, as the father, is reliable but confined to a role that never gets enough texture! Wasting an entire brilliant ensemble of Swastika Mukherjee, Mita Vashisht, Chhaya Kadam, Prashant Narayanan, and Chandan Roy is so tough, but the writer has pulled this off with so much ease, not giving any of them any defined character arcs! Oh yes, I forgot Jatin Sarna, because the film also forgets him midway!