Madhur Bhandarkar has tried to pull all stops to sell his Emergency drama as a film shorn of all mention of Indira Gandhi or the Congress. So let's begin with the very title of the film. It is called 'Indu Sarkar'. A pun as subtle as a gun on Indira Gandhi's Sarkar. Kriti Kulhari has the burden of steering this drama forward. Her character is named Indu Sarkar (and you thought this was a movie on the Indira Gandhi government? Duh.). Bhandarkar takes upon himself the ambitious project of showing one of the darkest chapters of post-independent India's history on film. And falls flat on his face. Indu Sarkar is a congregation of many over-the-top actors caught in one frame, desperately trying to get out of the film. The latter half of that sentence holds true more for the viewer stuck in a show of Indu Sarkar, though. It doesn't take long for the viewer to lose interest in Indu Sarkar. If the person making the film and the ones acting in it are so lazily doing their jobs, there's not much you can expect from the viewer, right? Indu Sarkar is filled to the brim with dialogues that are straight out of a 70s' potboiler, flat characters that are straight out of a bad 70s' potboiler, and a story that is anything but befitting of India's darkest hour post Independence. Madhur Bhandarkar makes his Indu Sarkar less tolerable than even the Indu Sarkar of 1975-77, probably. What Bhandarkar promised was a 'gritty Emergency drama'. Sadly, it can only serve as a jar of Valium for the sleep-deprived. We need a lot more films on the Emergency. But not at the cost of content and execution, please. Two words: Skip this. And if at all you muster up the courage to watch Indu Sarkar, keep a mug of VERY strong coffee handy. You might doze off several times while the Emergency plays out in front of you.

A watered-down, bloodless version of the Emergency. Indu Sarkar is set during the Emergency, and shows us the horrific violation of freedom put into motion by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, aided and abetted by her younger son Sanjay. The inherent constraints of the Bhandarkar style of story-telling could have been ignored, if the film had chosen to be a close analysis of the events that led up to one of India’s most turbulent periods, and its consequences. But it is reduced to an overwrought story of one woman called Indu Sarkar and her fight against the excesses of the Emergency. The big picture is subsumed, so much so that it almost vanishes. Being forced into hiding fact and passing it off as fiction weakens the film. Kulhari works hard at getting into her character, and her earnestness is a good fit. But she’s made to do too much, and the others around her too little. Some balance, and a sharper perspective would have made Indu Sarkar the what-happened-during-the-Emergency-film for this generation. For that, I’d suggest you reach out for Sudhir Mishra’s hard-hitting 2005 film Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi.

Madhur Bhandarkar seems to be taking calculated baby steps back to the time when he insisted on telling real stories as opposed to making superficial subjects seem real. The movie presents a fairly irregular account of the 19 months of Emergency in hurried montages. The party leaders are overtly villainous and members of the rebellious Himmat India Sangathan (including Indu) are overwhelmingly righteous; Bhandarkar fails to achieve political neutrality. Another issue is the film’s dialogue by Sanjay Chhel; some fantastic lines get lost in throwaway scenes and clichés like, "gareebon ko jeene ka haq nahi hai?" take prominence. Halfway through the movie, when you’re just getting used to the pace, a surprise qawwali jumps at you and throws you off. However, Indu Sarkar is at its best when it focuses on its protagonist's emotional struggles and dilemmas, leaving the politics behind. Indu and Navin’s story by itself is far more palatable than the elaborate political schemes surrounding them. Kirti Kulhari shoulders the responsibility of the central role with a lot of earnestness and keeps you interested. Tota Roy Chowdhury makes for a good foil to Indu. With Indu Sarkar, Bhandarkar drops most gimmicks and turns the page. But he is still far from Page 3