Until now I have not been a fan of Bollywood movies, but I watched Mardaani 1, which came out in 2014, directed by Pradeep Sarkar, and written by Gopi Puthran. I found it full of suspense, informative, quite terrifying and very well acted. So I watched the two follow-up movies (Mardaani 2 and 3) on Netflix over the next couple of nights.

In the first film, Rani Mukerji plays Inspector Shivani Shivaji Roy, who works at a Mumbai Crime Branch and sets out to confront the mastermind behind a child-trafficking mafia. Based on actual events, and dealing with very real issues, the Mardaani films address the abuse of women and children. The details of these activities are horrifically shown, and backed up by Indian national statistics. There is an absence of what I believe is called “naach-gaana” – that is, the gratuitous inclusion of song and dance routines, which is so irritating in Bollywood movies. This is a thriller, and Shivani Roy is a detective with a style as distinguished as that of Sherlock Holmes or George Smiley. It’s iconic stuff, and Gopi Puthran has created an unforgettable character.

Rani Mukerji is not a conventional female star. What distinguishes her is not her sexiness. She is middle-aged, sturdily built. But, as the inspector, she has an indominatable determination. She is knowledgeable and skilled in every aspect of detection. She’s sharper than her somewhat conventional and possibly corrupt male superiors. She is tough, and very well trained in martial arts. This is convincingly shown. The fight scenes are well considered and tightly done. We believe it when she overcomes an opponent.

Her criminal foes are also brought to life with a depth of psychological understanding. Some are men, some are women, and all of them are despicable, but we are led into their minds in a way that Andre Gide would have applauded. The acting is fantastic throughout this sequence of films. But as is remarked in the first film, “This is India”. Although working as a uniformed officer of the police department, this formidable inspector is far from being an acceptable notion of an officer of the law. When she wants a confession, she’ll have a culprit hung from the ceiling by his ankles. He’ll be water-boarded. Shivani is a tiger, and, when in a fury, she will kill. Very often, the punishment she metes out will fit the crime, and the crimes she uncovers are far from pleasant.

Thinking about these films later, I realised that they are not created in a Western mould. That is what makes them both exciting and alarming. I realise now that Shivani Shivaji Roy is the incarnation of Durga. This great Hindu goddess is regarded as the principal aspect of the Ultimate Reality in Shaktism and widely worshipped by the followers of this goddess-centric sect, and she has importance in other denominations like Shaivism. Durga is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Her legends centre around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, dharma and cosmic order, representing the power of good over evil. Durga is considered a motherly figure but usually she is depicted as a warrior, riding a lion or tiger, with many arms, each carrying a weapon and defeating demons. She is best known as Mahishasura-mardini – for slaying Mahishasura—the buffalo or gaur demon. Note the title to these films – Mardaani. I wrote about Durga in Book 1 of my epic poem The Runiad:

Durga who rides on the tiger inside her

Now takes the place of that heavy-breasted mother

Made for pregnancy alone. For Durga’s no Sheila-Na-Gig.

You don’t get into her easily. An ace at Sanam Takraw,

Her thighs will break an assassin’s neck like a match-stick.

Put together from the parts of warriors, is she all violent fathers

In a daughter’s clothing? One consumed by loathing

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For her sex’s “frailty”? Durga dealt with the gaur goon

Who did a deal with Brahma. Being denied eternal life

His yesmanship for the god gained him the right to be slain

Only by a woman – which he reckoned guaranteed

An unextinguished career, given the gaur he chose to appear.

Then Durga took his fancy, and she told him she would only mate

With a chap who could beat her in combat. Not with a sap.

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That sounded good to this pumped-up buffalo anti-god.

Bring it on, he bawled, erection already affecting his cock.

Riding on her tiger she engaged with him, this minotaur

Who changed into a lion Durga despatched with a rock

As he became an elephant whose trunk she tied in a knot,

And when he was out of shapes into which to shift she slew him,

Tore off his head with her teeth, disconcerting all who knew him. 

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