Kangana Ranaut’s directorial venture Emergency tells the story of India’s former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with the main focus being on the Emergency imposed by her from 1975 to 1977. In terms of visuals, the movie recreates the bygone era and various important historical events in a fine manner. Production designers Wasiq Khan and Rakesh Yadav deserve all the accolades for that.

The movie scores well in the performance area too. Kangana, by and large, succeeds in making her portrayal of Indira Gandhi believable. There are some inconsistencies in between but her emotional acts cover that up. The film has convincing acts from the likes of Anupam Kher and Shreyas Talpade too, who play Jayaprakash Narayan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee respectively.

Unfortunately, the visual appeal and performances don’t count for much because Emergency seriously lacks behind the most important aspect – storytelling. Right from the very start, the movie suffers from a haphazard narration and, sadly, continues this throughout its runtime. The events are presented one after the other without proper flow. The writers have just compiled them without any smooth narrative.

Strangely, even the all-important events leading up to the Emergency face the same issue. Hence, the film severely lacks the impact one would hope from such real and serious events. There is some respite later on in the second half when Gandhi goes through a whirlwind of emotions, but that is too late in the day.

While the non-happening events of the film were being played on screen, I could not help but continuously think at the back of my mind about filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane’s documentary on the Emergency titled Indi(r)a’s Emergency.

Despite it being a documentary, it’s more engaging, entertaining and thrilling than not only Kangana’s movie but most of the fictional mainstream films of today’s times. It is narrated not just through a fast-paced screenplay but also with a lot of intelligence. It gradually brings in the character of Indira Gandhi and her act of imposing the Emergency after a fine build-up of background events. The film uses archival footage and animation as tools of storytelling, which works effectively.

The biggest strong point of Indi(r)a’s Emergency is the witty and powerful dialogue. And this is delivered with finesse by lyricist cum actor Swanand Kirkire. What’s noteworthy is that although the film speaks about the bygone era of the Emergency, the dialogues are more relevant to the events taking place in the country currently. This relatability factor comes as a surprise and becomes the biggest takeaway from the film.

Some of us were fortunate to see Indi(r)a’s Emergency at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2023. Unfortunately, there is no news about its release either in theatres or on any platform.

Read more about the film HERE.