Mardaani 2

<p>In , a 21-year-old psychopath named Sunny kidnaps a young outspoken woman named Latika. He brutally tortures, rapes, and then murders her. Shivani Shivaji Roy, who has been appointed as the new of , arrives at the crime scene and clashes with her misogynistic subordinate DSP Brij Shekhawat. The brutality of Latika’s assault disturbs Shivani and makes her more determined to catch the killer. Sunny, who has actually come to Kota from on a killing contract given by politician Govind Mishra a.k.a. Panditji, sees Shivani on TV when she publicly promises to find Latika’s killer. He taunts Shivani by sneaking into her home and stealing her sari. He then dresses up as a woman, tricks a journalist named Kamal Parihar, and kills him; he also hires Pravin, a tea-seller near the police station, to kill Kamal’s wife, Aabha Parihar, in a suicide blast, then takes Pravin’s place as tea-seller to keep an eye on Shivani, introducing himself as a mute boy named Bajrang. When Shivani brings in Lahanya, a child from the slums who had witnessed the blast, Sunny kills him. Following the media uproar on the failure of the police to catch the murderer, Shivani is set to be transferred from Kota. As the new investigating officer will take charge after two days, Shivani, along with her fellow officers, decide to catch Sunny within that time. Shivani makes peace with Shekhawat since his network of informers is very strong in the city, and he leads them to his contact, who reveals that the real mastermind behind Kamal Parihar’s murder is a youth politician named Viplav Beniwal. Shivani arrests Beniwal’s right-hand man Kunwar and tortures him into revealing Sunny’s whereabouts. Sunny kidnaps another outspoken woman but the police track him down. They discover his victim already raped and tortured, but barely alive, and manage to save her. Sunny, posing as Bajrang, gets a lift from Shivani. Before he can strangle her, Shivani stops him, having realized that Bajrang is Sunny. The two fight but Sunny escapes. The police finds a video of Sunny taken by a bystander, and Shivani has it made viral across social media. Sunny kidnaps Panditji’s granddaughter Priyanka for avenging his disrepute and threatens to kill her unless Shivani apologizes to him in a video made public. Shivani and the police manage to save the girl from the clutches, hardly when another blast happens in the same spot. Shivani gets very less time left in her hand before she should catch Sunny and bring him forward. On the next day, that is on the day of Diwali, Shivani attends a live TV show on a news channel where she is crossed by Amit Sharma, the host, shadowing women’s capabilities on grounds conventionally acquired by men. There, Shivani stunningly shuts him down by showing the true shades of what a woman has to go through. When Amit says that just because of the female superintendent, the murder cases are escalating drastically. Shivani answers the questions with wit, and this show is being watched live by Shekhawat and his daughter. Shekhawat is strudded by Shivani’s words, and understands how horribly he had thought of Shivani, and realises that women are no less strong. Considering his mistake, Shekhawat mends his ways and agrees to help Shivani. Shivani discovers that Sunny’s next target is the female politician Sunanda. That night, amidst the Diwali celebrations, Shivani and her team search for him. She discovers him in the house of a local couple, having taken their daughter and Sunanda hostage. Shivani is knocked unconscious and tied up. When she wakes up, Sunny is strangling Sunanda; to distract him, Shivani talks about his mother and his past, which she learned from Sunny’s father, who is imprisoned in . As a child, Sunny’s father had tried to murder his mother, who had been an outspoken woman. Out of fear, Sunny’s mother tried hiding behind a terrace, but Sunny told his father where she was hiding; his father then killed her. The guilt and trauma of his mother’s death has since caused Sunny to become unhinged and take that anger out on other similarly confident and strong women by allegedly raping and murdering them. Shivani signals Sunanda and the other hostage to toss the nearby buckets of paint on Sunny, as he is asthmatic. She then gains the upper hand, beating Sunny with his own belt. She kicks him outside and continues beating him as the neighbourhood gathers to watch. Then, she hands over the belt to Sunanda, who goes on beating him, and the scene ends with Shivani finally devastated and relieved. On the contrary, right behind her, the camera focuses on the Goddess Durga painting, highlighting the high contrary of the society. On 10 December 2018, announced that a sequel to titled would be written and directed by Gopi Puthran, the writer of . was confirmed to be reprising her role. and were cast in pivotal roles. was cast as the antagonist, in his film debut. began on 27 March 2019. The film was extensively filmed in and in . Filming was wrapped on 29 May 2019. The film’s opening day nett domestic collection was 3.80 crore. In the next two days, it earned nett 6.55 crore and 7.80 crore respectively. It grossed ₹67.12 in worldwide areas, consisting of ₹56.63 crore (Indian gross) and ₹10.49 crore (overseas gross). The film was received positive reviews from critics alike. gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars describing Mukerji as “the force behind this gritty drama”. said that “Rani Mukerji steals the show in a soul-stirring and well timed thriller”. gave the film 3 out of 5 stars calling Mukerji as ”Good As Ever In This Cop-On-A Mission Thriller. gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars praising the screenplay and performances of Mukerji and Jethwa. gave the film 3 out of 5 stars praising Puthren’s direction and Jethwa’s performance. A sequel titled was announced on 13 December 2024. The film will be directed by Abhiraj Minawala and written by Aayush Gupta.</p>