Taapsee Pannu plays a blind mother searching for kidnapped daughter.
Gandhari Review: A Promising Idea Lost in a Mess of Twists
If I were still younger and more impatient, I might simply call Gandhari one of the weakest Hindi films of the year and leave it there. The movie gives you plenty to complain about: awkward exposition, strange dialogue delivery, distracting editing, confusing music and scenes where characters seem to talk to empty spaces rather than each other.
But with age comes at least a little patience. Instead of asking why Gandhari was made, it is more useful to ask why such an interesting idea ends up feeling so compromised.
The film follows Bani, played by Taapsee Pannu, a young mother whose daughter is kidnapped at a railway station. During the incident, Bani temporarily loses her eyesight. Rather than simply accepting what has happened, she decides to pretend that she remains blind so she can investigate the disappearance and uncover the people behind it.
The story takes place in the fictional town of Joypurra, while Bani’s husband Gokul, played by Ishwak Singh, follows his own path to find their missing child. His investigation leads toward a trafficking network called Black Hole, a name that feels almost too obvious for the film’s dark subject.
The title draws from Gandhari, the Mahabharata character who blindfolded herself after marrying the blind King Dhritarashtra. The film tries to connect that mythology with Bani’s experience as a mother. Unfortunately, the symbolism is explained so directly that there is little room left for the audience to discover its meaning.
The movie begins as one kind of story, then suddenly shifts into another before turning into a vigilante thriller about a mother determined to rescue her child. Every few minutes, it seems to want to introduce another twist, metaphor or social message.
That ambition isn’t necessarily a problem. The problem is that the pieces rarely come together naturally.
The film touches on serious subjects including motherhood, child trafficking, gender violence, trauma and social prejudice. Yet instead of allowing these themes to develop through believable characters, it often announces them through heavy-handed dialogue and symbolism.
Director Devashish Makhija has previously shown a much stronger ability to explore uncomfortable realities. His film Joram handled its bleak world with considerably more sensitivity and emotional depth. Gandhari , by comparison, feels more like a mainstream thriller trying to borrow the atmosphere of independent cinema.
There are also moments that unintentionally weaken the film. Bani is shown talking to people and objects while pretending to be blind, seemingly to underline her vulnerability. A villain is introduced so gradually that his face becomes almost a running mystery. Even the timeline jumps feel unnecessarily complicated.
One particularly confusing choice comes when the story moves forward by a month, only for Bani’s transformation to be shown through flashbacks. Instead of building suspense, the technique can leave viewers wondering why the story needed to jump at all.
Ultimately, Gandhari has the ingredients of a powerful emotional thriller: a desperate mother, a missing child, a trafficking network and a filmmaker willing to explore difficult subjects. But the execution gets buried beneath twists, symbolism and stylistic choices.
The result is a film that wants to say something important but often struggles to say it convincingly.
Gandhari follows a mother searching for her kidnapped daughter.
Taapsee Pannu plays Bani , who pretends to remain blind during her investigation.
The film explores motherhood, trafficking, trauma and gender violence .
Its title draws inspiration from Gandhari in the Mahabharata .
The story moves between several thriller styles and plot twists.
Some symbolism and dialogue feel overexplained .
The editing and timeline shifts can make the story difficult to follow.
Devashish Makhija’s earlier film Joram is seen as a stronger example of his filmmaking.
Gandhari has an interesting premise but is weakened by its execution.