Gandhari Movie Review: Taapsee Pannu's thriller is too familiar for the gaze

There needs to be a word to describe that specific movie moment, that repeatedly finds a place in cat-and-mouse thrillers, where it appears like the protagonist will be caught by the hunting villain or their henchmen — until something distracts the latter at the last moment, and our ‘hero’ is saved. In Gandhari, there are at least two of these moments. They are executed with painful familiarity, only adding dull runtime to a thriller that could have been so much more.

In Gandhari, Bani (Taapsee Pannu) and Gokul (Ishwak Singh) are parents to a little girl who is kidnapped. However, soon the couple learns that it’s not a one-off incident, and that the abduction might be part of a larger racket that operates in the town. As a new police officer (Jatin Sarna) arrives in the town to speed up the investigation, both the parents take up searching for their daughter on their own, digging deeper into a world far beyond their realm. Or is it?

Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Ishwak Singh, Chhaaya Kadam, Mita Vashisth, Jatin Sarna and Swastika Mukherjee

There is enough to admire here in Gandhari. There is an attempt at world-building. The film introduces a new world of Joypurra — a town where the law is hand-in-gloves with the seemingly underdog performers. The town probably has more tunnels that even the city planners know of, a place filled with outsiders, where everybody almost has a dual identity — and it’s impressive.

However, Gandhari also struggles to build on its novel-looking universe. Most of the punches and throws are rather familiar. There are very few surprises here, in terms of craft or narrative structure. Also, in a rather bewildering fashion, for a film that bills itself as an emotional drama, Gandhari doesn’t build its characters enough. The narrative remains plot-driven, rather than character-driven. In its labyrinth of complex world-building and too many people from all strata of life, what remains missing is our emotional anchoring with Bani, who is supposed to carry us through the quagmire. (The film also jumps into its plot, beginning with the instigating incident that instantly sets things in motion, without giving us time to settle in). The emotional connect is missing — and that’s far too big a damage, for a story about a mother’s unbreakable resolve and immeasurable love.

There are a few decent turns in Gandhari, though. Somewhere around mid-point, Bani is forced to confront someone close, someone she thought was an ally. A little later, another major character dies out of the blue. While these twists work, the other twist around Bani's temporary blindness doesn’t. Though we eventually learn that Bani used to be a performance artist whose wizardry thrived on limitations, the film struggles to play around this underdog element that could’ve been its biggest strorytelling strength. Which is why despite its share of wild swings and unconventional strokes, Gandhari eventually is not distinct enough to be remembered.

At one point, Bani (Taapsee) realises that she has more obstacles to overcome than she was prepared for — the Magrasurs, as she describes them, of this mythical universe, are far too many to count. Before a major action sequence towards the end, there is an interesting confrontation between two primary characters — where it becomes clear that one of them was prepared to make an impossible, inhumane choice, a dilemma you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemies. These remain two rare moments where the enormity of the stakes really hits you.

It’s the female cast who get some scope to perform here, and they try their best. Mita Vashisth and Chhaaya Kadam, in the relatively smaller parts, add grit to the proceedings. There are moments when Taapsee Pannu brings out Bani's vulnerability — and yet, it feels like some variation of a role we have seen her do umpteen times. Meanwhile, other capable performers like Ishwak Singh and Jatin Sarna are hung out to dry.

The way Devashish Makhija and cinematographer Amit Roy frame the visuals, however, its clear they were going for a big-screen experience. Strangely, it also becomes the film’s undoing. Gandhari is stuck between the idioms of a conventional mainstream thriller and an off-beat OTT experience. (The stale background score, that arrives on specific narrative cues, doesn’t help.) It’s an underdog story, with a spirit and hunger of a theatrical spectacle but without the craft of it.