Revolver Rani is the story of a woman dacoit who turns into a politician. The action is set in the hostile Chambal valley against the backdrop of some forged romance, repulsive politics, uncompromising hostility and all forms of artillery! The outcome of her battle to win back her lost Parliamentary seat and the love of her life, forms the crux of this story which is marked with uninhibited daredevilry.
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Language:
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Hindi
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Running Time:
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132 min
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Rating:
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U/A
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Release date:
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25 April 2014
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Directed by:
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Sai Kabir Shrivastav
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Produced by:
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Raju Chadha
Nitin Tej Ahuja
Rahul Mittra
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Written by:
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Sai Kabir Shrivastav
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Starring:
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Kangna Ranaut
Piyush Mishra
Vir Das
Zakir Hussain
Zeishan Quadri
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Music by:
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Sanjeev Srivastava
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Shot by:
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Suhas Gujarathi
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Editing by:
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Aarti Bajaj
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Distributed by:
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Wave Cinemas Distribution
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What’s Hot
- This is Kangana Ranaut’s territory – a story that not many actresses would want to get their fingers burnt with. To match that brave choice, she pulls of an authoritative performance which is surely another feather in her ever growing hat that is already brimming with many such hard earned quills.
- The many facets of Rani’s character, be it her sly humor or her hard-headedness or her fire-spewing-marauder attitude or her wicked fashion statement with Venice-designed outfits or her clandestine desire to court motherhood – each one of them has been etched skillfully by the director and ably executed by this kinky-haired damsel.
- Debutant Sai Kabir’s story-telling toned up with satire is instrumental in carving out a different screenplay where he deliberately provides us no choice of a character to root for. The BGM is set in a perfect mood to energize the on-screen action.
- Zakir Hussain is impeccably portrayed as the adversary who is persistently won over by Kangana & Co. He keeps switching between audacity and bewilderment with relative ease and is well aided by his brothers who provide some manageable comic relief. Vir Das as Kangana’s toy-boy and Piyush Mishra’s with his characteristically dependable show have been aptly cast into their roles.
What’s Not
- Though the movie starts with a bang, it seems to wane quite a bit with the due course of time when the focus shifts from Kangana to other characters in the movie taking out the sting from the bite.
- The flick has a fair share of appealing moments but finds itself crammed between a bulk of mediocrity and shoddiness to end up being a half-hearted attempt in depicting a heroine as the hero.
Badges
Verdict
My thoughts on Revolver Rani…
Revolver Rani is essentially a satire on the power hungry politicians, treading through the dark alleys of power in the Chambal Valley, who have little regard for anything save their own ambitions. Revolver Rani comes across as an experimental film and as with all experiments the probability of failure is much higher than the probability of success. Not everyone has the appetite for nonsensical, over-the-top violence which Revolver Rani offers in abundance. A rather overt swashbuckling style of cinema à la Sergio Leone is something the Hindi film audiences are usually not very comfortable with. And that’s precisely where Revolver Rani suffers. Hindi cinema is still in the need of its very own Quentin Tarantino who can help the audiences expand their cinematic horizons. But, until the audiences grow more receptive, films like Revolver Rani would continue to be treated as mere exercises in style.
The best way to approach Revolver Rani is an indigenous tongue-in-cheek Western featuring a rugged cowgirl as oppose to a cowboy. Yes, Alka Singh can best be described as the female equivalent of a desi cowboy straight out of some Western pulp novel. The movie’s graphic novel feel only accentuates it further. Besides, the film is rife with symbolism and allegories. The thinking viewer will certainly be able to savor what’s at his/her disposal. The director Sai Kabir, a self-confessed fan of Johnnie To and Robert Rodriguez, paints a lurid canvass, oozing with an abundance of grotesqueries, adorned by shifty, larger-than-life characters caught in existential traps—all this facilitates the orchestration of rather palatable mise-en-scène.
Revolver Rani presents experimental filmmaking at its very best but typically with little commercial relevance, especially in the context of the Indian market. Kangana Ranaut shines in her portrayal of a politically powerful female goon. There’s no denying that Kangana Ranaut performs Alka Singh to a tee. Barring a few anachronisms, everything right from her non-glamorous look to her native accent to her aggression in bed makes Kangana look convincing as Alka Singh—a caricature that strongly harks back to Uma Thurman’s character “The Bride” in Kill Bill movies. Kangana’s tour de force performance is well complimented by the rest of the cast. And the unconventional music adds to the overall mood of the film. There is certainly more to the film than meets the eye. As a socio-political satire, its relevance cannot be overlooked. The undercurrent of dark humour only adds to movie’s overall appeal.
My full review can be read here:
http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com/2015/06/revolver-rani-2014-sai-kabirs-political.html