Emergency Movie Review: Kangana Ranaut's much-talked-about film Emergency finally hits theatres across the country where Ranaut directs and acts as former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and retells an era considered one of the darkest phases in the Indian democracy. But re-telling the era of Emergency (1975-77) authentically, without bias, is not easy and Ranaut's film slips ever so often, making Emergency the movie quite a passable affair. 

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Emergency Film Review

While the film primarily focuses on the 21-month-long emergency period, it also tries to showcase Indira Gandhi's rise to power. From being termed as Gungi Gudiya (dumb doll) who grew out of her father, Pandit Nehru's towering shadow to becoming the megalomaniac, despondent leader who saw nothing wrong in imposing arbitrary bans on the basic rights of citizens during the emergency, Indira Gandhi had quite a journey. 

Emergency tries to capture all this and tries to even humanise the authoritative leader, making her look flawed and even vulnerable at times- unsure of her own decisions. But Ranaut, who also serves as the writer of the film, never really delves deeper into the incidents and loosely strings important political events into a 2.5-hour-long film. 

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Emergency loosely strings together important historical incidents

For many who have studied or followed Indian politics for years, Emergency does not serve anything new. Sure, some of the incidents stand out but in totality, it is a story well known. It also obviously plays to the gallery with everyone talking about Desh Bhakti (love for the country) as casually as breathing. 

Kangana herself is inconsistent in her performance. In some scenes, she sounds shrill when she tries to get Mrs Gandhi's high-pitched voice but is unable to maintain it throughout. In other scenes you get flashes of her portrayal from Woh Lamhe and Fashion, when she appears to be sacred, traumatised or simply hallucinating. With multiple long closeup shots of her face throughout the film, that make the prosthetics look awful, cinematographer Tetsuo Nagata and Kangana try hard to make us believe that she indeed is the right choice to play one of the most important and perhaps controversial Indian leaders of all time. But are we convinced? Not quite. 

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The laughable portions are also in plenty. The Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, when Mrs Gandhi's intervention led to the formation of Bangladesh, is over-dramatised. At one point, a young Vajpayee (Shreyas Talpade), Sam Maneckshaw (Milind Soman) and Mrs Gandhi all sing a battle song (I am not making this up) as India prepares to wage a war against Pakistan.

During the Emergency era, the PM keeps seeing her own distorted reflection in the mirror, which looks like a scene straight out of Stree 2. Some portions beautifully glorify the opposition leaders but make the Congress veteran and her party men look bad. 

What works in Emergency 

Some moments stand out. Gandhi's meeting with US President Richard Nixon ahead of the Indo-Pak War in 1971 is well-executed. As Nixon dismisses her and warns her against helping East Pakistan, she responds, "You have weaponry, we have courage." Then when she rides an elephant to reach an obscure village in Bihar to meet its starving occupants, she hits the right spot. The song Ae Meri Jaan (Arko featuring Hariharan) is also beautifully utilised in the film. 

Emergency takes meticulous efforts to make the opposition leaders look positive. No harm there as these leaders played an important role during the emergency. But the narrative is lopsided which tends to only focus on the negatives of the Congress and its veteran leaders and glorify the struggle of the then Jan Sangh party leaders. 

The film features prominent faces in the supporting cast and they do a credible job. Anupam Kher plays Jaiprakash Naryan effectively. Shreyas Talpade plays the young Atal Bihari Vajpayee while Milind Soman plays Sam Maneckshaw well. Mahima Chaudhary as Pupul Jaykar is an empathetic friend to the Nehru family but her back story like many others is never fully explained. Special mention for actor Vishak Nair who plays Gandhi's younger son, the controversial Sanjay Gandhi who was instrumental in making Indira Gandhi a larger-than-life leader. I wish there were more scenes between Ranaut and Nair - the two complement each other and field of the extremities of their characters well. 

Emergency ultimately fails to create an impact because it has a biased approach towards its storytelling. The film should be given credit for not whitewashing the protagonist and her deeds, but at the same time, it feels like a lopsided narrative that seems to have an agenda. 

Kangana Ranaut calls Nitin Gadkari for first screening of her film Emergency

In her career, Kangana has delivered some memorable performances in films like Gangster, Queen and Panga. But in the last few years, the actress seems to have lost her sheen, delivering middling performances in most of her films.  I had serious problems with the way she kept pursing her lips at regular intervals throughout the film. One could almost start a drinking game at the number of times she purses and pouts her lips throughout the film. 

I came out of Emergency learning nothing new. It was a film about a Congress veteran that predictably glorified its opposition. 

If only it was that easy to purse one's lips, wear a prosthetic nose, and a Cruella de Ville wig to look like former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sigh. 

Emergency has released across theatres on January 17.