Starring: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Ashok Chhabra, Mahima Chaudhry Milind Soman, Vishak Nair Director: Kangana Ranaut Produced by: Manikarnika Films Runtime: 146 minutes
Former US President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger infamously called former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi an ‘old witch’. This was shortly after a taped conversation between the two leaders where they spoke about the 1971 Indo-Pak war. A draconian leader and a dictator, Indira Gandhi continues to be a controversial politician whose legacy is subject to scrutiny by political analysts.
Emergency Movie: Plot
Emergency opens with a 20-minute long block where we get a peek into Gandhi’s relationship with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru has lustful eyes and an in-general creepy demeanour, which one could assume is the film’s way of fanning the flames of Nehru’s purported womanizing ways. Gandhi’s foray into politics begins with the phrase ‘Goongi gudiya’ (mute doll) because she is mostly non-confrontational in the initial cabinet meetings.
The misogyny Gandhi is subjected to as she breaks into a male-dominated field and her eventual showdown with Nixon which plays out in the second half, shows her growth as a leader. We see chinks appear in Gandhi’s armour as she realizes her crackdown on freedom following the Emergency has made her unpopular among the general public. She breaks down, gathers some courage, picks herself up only to fall again, as done Ranaut.
Emergency Movie: Performances
Separating the art from the artist becomes essential when one views Kangana Ranaut's films. Public persona and her personal politics aside, Ranaut’s portrayal of Gandhi, while earnest and commanding, comes across as somewhat caricaturish. Ranaut has a magnetic screen presence, one where she steals every scene but much of her acting boils down to picking up Gandhi’s mannerisms and minute details of her appearance (the frown, feminine voice, gray hair) as opposed to channeling the leader’s intimidating aura and rage.
After Ranaut, the most formidable performance in the film is by Vishak Nair (Sanjay Gandhi), who played a role in the state-run population control program. The exchanges with Indira and Sanjay are somewhat melodramatic. Shreyas Talpade plays BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a performance which is mostly one-tone. Anupam Kher is Jaiprakash Narayan, the anti-establishment activist who is jailed for opposing the Emergency (nope, this isn’t meant to be ironic).
Emergency Movie: Historical Accuracy
Kher quite effectively documents the hubris one associates with Indira Gandhi. Udit Narayan, Nakash Aziz, Nakul Abhyankar’s song ‘Singhasan Khaali Karo’, plays as a haunting refrain signalling the end-of-times for Gandhi. Based on Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s poem written during the Emergency, the song signals the arrival of a new dawn. The irony is grim when an anti-establishment song is sung by actors, whose real-life political positioning is pro-state.
The 146-minute long biopic addresses many key incidents from Gandhi’s Prime Ministership. It spends a bulk of its time portraying the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The triggering depictions of atrocities caused by Pakistani forces in Bangladesh adds the quintessential propaganda flavour and the usual anti-Muslim sentiment one has come to associate with Ranaut’s films. Comparatively lesser runtime is allocated to other historical events like India’s Independence, Indo-China war Operation Bluestar, Bhindranwale, Sikh separatist leaders and Gandhi’s assassination.
Emergency Movie: What Works, What Doesn’t
The lack of press freedom that marked the actual period of Emergency from 1975 to 1977, forced vasectomies, the complete breakdown of law and order that followed India’s darkest period are portrayed somewhat effectively. The film, though flawed, does justice to Gandhi’s conflicting legacy, even if it weaponizes her draconian policies to get back at the present-day opposition party.
As for Ranaut, this is undoubtedly her career-best performance. If only the film’s politics wasn’t as conflicting (which includes the botched up representation of the Sikh community), Emergency might just have been a formidable biopic to have come out in recent times. Ranaut has set a benchmark as Gandhi, even if it comes across as a bit caricaturish at times. It is one of those films which could have been great if it wasn’t for its inherent bigotry.
Star rating: 3 / 5 stars
Emergency is now playing in theaters.
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