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Emergency movie review:
Kangana Ranaut's fine
performance as Indira
Gandhi makes this political
drama bearable
By Rishabh Suri
Jan 17, 2025 10:23 AM IST
Emergency movie review: Fine acting
performances, led by Kangana Ranaut,
salvage this film, but only barely, as a week
script lets it down.
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Emergency movie review: I walked inside the
theatre to watch Emergency, and that
prosthetic nose on Kangana Ranaut’s face,
trying to help her look like the late Indira
Gandhi- combined with the involuntary facial
twitches- made it clear ‘this is going to be a
caricaturish portrayal’. (Also read: Priyanka
Gandhi said ‘Okay, maybe’ when Kangana
Ranaut asked her to watch Emergency)
Emergency movie review: Kangana Ranaut plays former
PM Indira Gandhi in this political thriller.
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Movie reviews usually begin with a bit about
the story and the pace, and not flaws about
the actors in charge straight away. But much
like she says in the film ‘Indira is India, and
India is Indira’, Emergency too can stand as a
film only because of Kangana, who changes
your perception about it as things progress.
The premise of Emergency
The political thriller begins by tracking the
events that led to the imposition of the
Emergency in India in 1975. With a
supporting cast like the late Satish Kaushik,
Shreyas Talpade, and Anupam Kher, the film’s
treatment feels like a political science lesson.
And that might just make you reach out for
your smartphone- not to research, but check
messages and your social media. Attention
spans of viewers have been going down over
the years, so all this clearly doesn’t help. The
intention is right though- Indira’s hamartia
here is she feels she’s impossible to mess
with. But the film doesn’t believe in subtlety-
for example, Indira's remorse for imposing
the Emergency didn’t need to be explained
via ghastly mirror reflections. Kangana
emoting it was enough. Similarly, focusing the
camera on the picture of a lioness and then
on Kangana’s face- we get the point!
What works and what doesn't
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The execution falters, and certain moments
come off as unintentionally funny in the first
half.
The intermission comes as Indira announces
the emergency, and by then, you are close to
giving up. But there’s a change of gears as you
settle into your seats again, and Kangana
finally takes charge. Some power-packed
moments in the second half, combined with a
few emotional ones, salvage Emergency.
Kangana, as an actor, is good, so you are
willing to forgive her for that prosthetic nose.
Watch out for her, specifically in the scene
where she faces a huge personal loss.
The music of the film… did we really need all
these iconic personalities breaking into
songs? Two such lip-sync sequences have a
disconnect. Ae Meri Jaan, featuring
Hariharan, however, feels soothing to the
ears and has been placed aptly.
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Emergency doesn’t seem to harbour a wish to
whitewash or tarnish Indira’s actions. What
happened under her watch during the
Emergency, her son Sanjay Gandhi’s death-
Kangana, the director, has tried to keep it
balanced. As the role demands, Anupam
delivers a restrained performance, while the
late Satish proves his mettle in just one line.
What an actor!
To sum up, Emergency’s scramble to cram as
much as possible into one film lets it down.
It’s watchable if you want to see good acting.
But then, what’s good acting without an
engaging story?
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