‘Emergency’ (2025) Movie Review - Kangana Ranaut Turns Indira Gandhi Into A Caricature

In a recent interview with film critic Baradwaj Rangan (for Black Warrant), Sunetra Choudhury talked about the blind fan service done through memoirs/obituaries/biopics. By putting the person on a pedestal and omitting the negative aspects of their life, we get dull, fluffy pieces that do not do justice to either the subject or the medium. No such issue arises in Kangana Ranaut's Emergency (written by Ritesh Shah, whose Azaad is also running in the theaters currently). Ranaut, as a director, sees Indira Gandhi as a flawed, emotionally unstable human being. She is a mother who brushes aside her son's tantrums and a Mother India who suffers from stress and anxiety. Ranaut's Indira declares an Emergency to save her political seat - she can be really selfish. She is also confident and power-hungry. Maybe on some other day, at some other time, with any other subject, such an approach could be hailed as daring or praiseworthy. But Emergency's treatment of Indira reeks of propaganda made for the benefit of the country's ruling party - the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). The first evidence of this back-scratching is evident in the title of the film. There is a reason why this movie is called Emergency and not Mother Indira or The Iron Lady.

The members of the BJP, with their superb archeological skills, love digging into the past to tell Indian citizens that they used to live in dark times. One such plague, one such scandal, is the declaration of a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977 by the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. When the opposition members are thrown in prison, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Shreyas Talpade) laments, "Kisne socha tha ki loktantra ki aisi hatiya ho jaayegi?" The phrase "loktantra ki hatiya" is commonly used by BJP members when they talk about the Emergency. Ranaut's movie, in fact, is a machine that takes the words and phrases of the ruling party and converts them into images on the screen. The BJP calls Rahul Gandhi a rich, spoiled brat, and in the film, Sanjay Gandhi (Vishak Nair) completes this duty. When we first see him, he steals a car and takes his girl on a ride. Sanjay also breaks his plate when the food is not prepared according to his liking and refers to the cabinet as "kitchen cabinet" in front of senior leaders, which only establishes that he is rude and cocky. During the next Lok Sabha session, the BJP can show clips from this film instead of wasting its energy on repeating the same old rants and stories.

It's not that Ranaut doesn't focus on Indira's boldness and achievements. With her sharp words, she seals President Nixon's lips when he says that running the country isn't as easy as wearing a saree. During a Lok Sabha session, she, by declaring war on Pakistan, silences the opposition. However, Ranaut also punctures Indira's heroism by turning her into a caricature (her "zombie face" doesn't indicate emotional stress; it screams, "Lampooning."). At one point in the film, we watch her on a TV screen, and her face looks big and cartoonish. During a meeting in Paris, the filmmaking starts resembling a cheap TV serial when a woman almost instantly becomes sad and weepy. The intention is to undermine Indira's win. And then there is Ranaut's voice that renders Indira juvenile. Ranaut doesn't become Indira; she imitates her gestures like a comedian. She magnifies the movement of her eyes, and the twitches in her skin, to give the impression of "acting." Look at her introduction scene. Indira stands on the hood of a car and requests people to not leave their homes behind. The execution is so casual, so style-free, and the voice so girlish that it seems as if a little girl is asking her parents to extend the duration of the picnic. Sam Manekshaw (Milind Soman), on the other hand, receives a hero's entry (probably because he tells Indira's assistant, "Let the girl wait"), while Vajpayee appears only to inform us how pure and patriotic he is. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is one of the founders of the BJP, and Ranaut is serving as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Mandi (she belongs to BJP). Hmm.

Emergency, in the end, is a pointless biopic. By poking/revealing holes in the image of Indira Gandhi, it doesn't become brave or shocking. Ranaut might as well be kicking a dead bull - her directorial effort is toothless and constantly searching for an identity. It wants to please some influential politicians but also holds little respect for Gandhi. There comes a moment, however, when Emergency turns into a different beast. When Indira listens to the problems of some villagers and goes to their village on an elephant, the movie surprisingly feels effective. The soft, childish accent, the song, the facial expressions, the images, everything works in sync. The spell doesn't last for a long time. As soon as Indira hugs a woman and starts speaking, Emergency returns to its roots of parody. A rose hurts a young Indira during the opening scene. Her face is reflected in the blood that oozes from her finger, and all this basically sums up her journey. Indira receives love (or you can say she is showered with roses), but she also experiences pain, and ultimately, blood drips out of her body (she was shot by her bodyguards at her residence). In another scene, a soldier, with his binoculars, not only spots a woman but also "sees" her past, her suffering. Like her film, Ranaut, too, is confused and searching for an identity. One part of her wants to be a filmmaker, while the other wants to be a propagandist, a mouthpiece. It's a battle she loses terribly. The "emergency" she creates is vapid and futile.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times