‘Mardaani’ Rani Impresses Polish Fans

Actress Rani Mukerji, who was lauded for her role as a brave woman police officer in the film “Mardaani” in India, left Bollywood cinema lovers of Poland not only impressed with her acting skills but with the intricacies of the film which revolves around human trafficking, during the film’s premiere here.

Rani faced a knowledgeable crowd after the premiere of “Mardaani”, produced by Yashraj Films, Wednesday. The film was screened at the prestigious Muranow theatre.

Only films that have substance make it to Muranow and “Mardaani” proved that it was unlike other Bollywood masala films which Polish audiences have been watching for the past decade.

The audience was not only impressed with the film but also with its leading lady, who was specially invited to interact with the public.

The actress rose to the occasion and took questions with great confidence for more than an hour.

“It is a great pity that because of global terrorism, people are not paying enough attention to the other problem like global human trafficking particularly of young girls. This is also a huge billions of dollars racket just like drug mafia.

“The trafficking of girls is not only limited to South Asian countries, it became a big racket after the fall of Berlin Wall in Eastern Europe. If in the 1990s Russian girls were being used in the international market, now Ukrainian, Romanian and Syrian girls are being traded.

“The vultures are always on the look out for human flesh. To meet this huge challenge there should a huge response from the NGOs all over the world,” said Rani.

The actress feels that the success of the film has helped in raising the issue of human trafficking with many NGOs coming forward to abolish the social evil.

“The success of ‘Mardaani’ has raised the problem and many NGOs have come out openly to work in this direction…A picture conveys the message more potently. This medium should be used more extensively and honestly. Yashraj Films understands its social obligations more seriously than many other productions,” said the actress.

She lamented the paucity of films for senior actresses in Bollywood.

“Heroes like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan can still romance with 18-year-old girls whereas middle aged actress Rani Mukerji can seldom find a script to romance with 20-year-old boy. If there is any Polish script or any western script, please contact me,” said Rani jokingly.

She also applauded Poland for producing great movies.

“Poland has a tradition of producing great movies. Your stalwarts like Andrezj Wajda, Roman Polanski, Krzszytof Zanussi and many others have been awarded at the international festivals. I too am ready to work for any Polish or western movie.

“The director of photography of ‘Mardaani’, Artur Zurawski, a Pole, has done a great job.The film would not have been that big but for Artur’s sensitivity to excel,” said Rani.

Both Rani and Artur were given special awards by J. J. Singh, president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI) for their contribution to promote understanding and business in the film sector. Both of them promised to work together in the near future.

“Poland was now on our radar screen and we will select Polish locales for shooting in the near future. The cost of production is almost half. After all it was Yashraj Films’ film ‘Fanna’ which had shot its climax on Polish mountains nine years ago and we were the first in Poland,” Avtar Panesar, vice president, international operations of Yashraj Films, told IANS.

Earlier, in welcoming Rani and her group, Indian ambassador Ajay Bisaria expressed his satisfaction over such a good movie.

“It is high time that humankind should give more space to women empowerment. I congratulate Yashraj films for producing a woman-oriented movie. The genre of this kind of films should be encouraged,” said Bisaria.