Indu Sarkar (2017) User Reviews

Film which talks about emergency in fictional way.

[maulin5 · 7/10 · 28 July 2017]

Madhur Bhandarkar's controversial film Indu Sarkar, starring Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher & Tota Roy Chawdhury, has been released Today.

The film is based on some incidents during the time of emergency in 1975. But, as the disclaimer says, it is more fictional than reality. The story is of a girl who stammers. She got married to a Government officer. But during the period of emergency, and because of some political activities, she changes her path from supporting her husband in wrong to working for people of the nation. That is how the story goes, and what happens to her next is the story line of Indu Sarkar.

Though, it is based on the era of emergency, I felt that some portions are missing. The focus has been kept on Indu only. So, Gandhis have been ignored. Or I guess, it is the political pressure to not show more of them. That's why the film lacks in originality and thrill. So, it just becomes an ordinary film.

Direction is good by Madhur. Cinematography is also good. Some dialogues are superb. Like 'Arjun Ka Irada Dol Sakta Hai, Ghayal Druapadi Ka Nahi!' Music of the film is above average. The famous qawwali 'Çhadhta Suraj' has been recreated here. Other than that, at the end, a song by Monali Thakur called 'Yeh Aawaz Hai' is also good.

What makes this film a worth watch is performances by all the actors. Neil as Mr. Gandhi does his job perfectly. We have never seen Anupam Kher doing bad acting, did we! Kirti Kulhari is at her best. We have seen her acting ability in Pink. This time too she picks up the mood of Indu in a subtle way, and delivers an award worthy performance. Especially, in the climax speech! Others are also good.

On the whole, the film is surely an one time watch. Having said that, it could have been made more gripping and should have more facts about emergency. Then it would have become a cult film. But, what we have right now is a 7/10* film.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction

[gautam-moharil · 6/10 · 18 September 2018]

This political film about the emergency in 1975-76 starts with a long disclaimer, about it being a work of fiction, in two languages. Welcome to the biggest democracy in the world.

In a political film if you can't name names and show the whole story, what's the point.

Still such films are important, so we don't forget.

a slap on the face of the System

[beevenkat · 6/10 · 29 May 2019]

#InduSarkar is a slap on the face of the System. Set in the Emergency period, director Bhandarkar has succeeded in narrating a timely n topical tale.The costumes, hair styles, background score n locations seem authentic. Forced nasbandi, ban on Kishore songs, reckless demolition of slums n curtailment of freedom of expression, all are clearly depicted. Neil Mukesh is perfect as "the Chief", who will go to any extent to further his political ambitions. Kirti is very good as the docile wife, who laters turns into an activist. It doesn't matter which party is in power, the aam aadmi is always the victim. Worth watching. Rating 3/5.

The Emergency era.

[nadkarnisumeet · 6/10 · 27 July 2021]

Indu Sarkar review :

Most of us have not witnessed the emergency rule imposed in the mid 70s by then prime minister Indira Gandhi. As a kid born in that infamous era, I had once asked my dad if he faced any hardships during that 21 month period when freedom of speech and basic human rights were curbed. His answer was in the negative...Instead he said the Government machinery was actually efficient during that time and sarkari babus would report to office on time plus trains ran as per schedule. I was amused to hear this fact reiterated as a dialogue in Madhur Bhandarkar's latest film 'Indu Sarkar'.

The title, by the way, doesn't refer to Indira Gandhi and her autocratic Sarkar. It is actually the screen name of Bhandarkar's main lead Kirti Kulhari, a diffident orphan with a stammer, who settles for a cosy marital life with a Government stooge (Tota Roy Chowdhury). Witnessing the horrors of the Turkman gate demolition, Indu takes custody of two kids orphaned in that destruction and it changes her perspective towards life making her rebel against the tyrannical system.

Madhur Bhandarkar has recreated most of the atrocities committed in name of the fascist five point programme spearheaded by Sanjay Gandhi (Neil Nitin Mukesh) referred in the movie only as the 'Chief' by his cronies - obvious caricatures of Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and Rukhsana Sultana (named Farzana here). Right from the forced sterlization of men from 13 to 70 years of age to the banning of Kishore Kumar songs on Doordarshan and All India Radio (the only medium of entertainment in those times) - it's all neatly chronicled here.

What's not - and I was tad disappointed with that - is depiction of the opposition role during those turbulent times. Our protagonist Indu goes and joins a five member fictitious organisation called Himmat India Sanghatan headed by a leader (Anupam Kher in a cameo) with an ideology of non violence ignoring the real life contribution of the RSS and Jayaprakash Narayan's Janata Party which is merely accorded a passing reference.

On the acting front, Madhur has extracted a superlative performance from Kirti Kulhari. No surprises there as the director could make even Bipasha Basu ''act'' in his 'Corporate' (2006). Kirti also gets a court room confrontation scene a la 'Pink' (2016) and nails it to perfection. Tota Roy Chowdhury is impressive as her hubby who owes allegiance to the Gandhi Sarkar only to further his career. He pays the price for it. Neil Nitin Mukesh registers himself strongly with a striking resemblance to Sanjay Gandhi. Satyajeet Sharma and Sheeba Chaddha leave an impression even in their small roles.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Poor attempt to showcase the Darkest Era post Independence

[kinshuk-gaur · 5/10 · 2 August 2017]

I was very excited after watching the promos of Indu Sarkar. Subsequently watching the movie, I felt frustrated. This movie does not explore the fanaticism and the profundity of Emergency, the darkest period in India post-Independence. Madhur Bhandarkar falls in a cliché, showing the protagonist Kirti Kulhari as Indu Sarkar who is a casualty of the Emergency. The movie straight away goes in the mode of a female victim against the government as shown in lots of women oriented potboilers in the past.

Indu Sarkar do start by pouring the annoyances that were the highlights during the emergency like "Nasbandi" . Thereafter, goes to show the democratic suppression by the formerly govt.(No points for guessing that right). But do not explore anything substantial during that period.

OK, we do have Turkman Gate instance, a funny guy who resembles Jagdish Tytler. Chief is exactly a replica of Sanjay Gandhi played by Neil Nitin Mukesh. Nothing more to add to it. Such movies should serve as an information for the generation born after the most darkest era post-Independence. Flick is merely reduced to a below average Hindi movie that has an army of bad guys and people opposing him.

Indu Sarkar created much hype prior release. The then in power Congress opposed the movie mentioning this a propaganda movie and shows Gandhi family in bad light. Even with Hysteria surrounding this flick it still tumbles flat. The resemblance of a few characters in the film is reduced just to narrative which is also a disclaimer towards the start.

Direction, Editing and Cinematography are below average. The biggest let down is the screenplay which do not help Indu Sarkar and the most important the punch and the characters of Emergency are not developed.

I will urge the audience to watch " Hazar Khwaeshein Aisi" which displays the poignancy and the destruction during the competently that Indu Sarkar bombs at.

Good Work, But Cliched

[hkpt · 6/10 · 2 July 2019]

Bollywood, since the making of Lagaan around 2001, has found that drawing plots for history is the best way to juice up drama for the audiences. After all, the stories of real life heros and villians have more power to excite our neurons than fictitious heroes like Bond or fictitious villains like Gabbar Singh.

However, recreating history is fraught with the challenge of retaining the accuracy of its most popular version. You can not take controversial figures like Tipu Sultan and Aurangazeb and turn them into unidimensional personalities, sans their colors. Nor can you whitewash a "Sanju" into a hapless child lost in the web of circumstances. (We are waiting for "Bhai" biopic on why a lost soul started killing deer or homeless people sleeping on the pavement).

It is one thing to portray a historical figure like Shivaji, Akbar or an Arjunu - for no one saw these people, nor lived in their times. So, the storyteller and director can apply all tricks in their creative arsenal to reconstruct what Shivaji or Akbar looked like. In the end, the finished product is a colorful painting, whose "truthiness", but not its truth is relevant for the consumers.

What about works of fiction intending to portray recent historical events and personalities - say, the partition of India, the period of Emergency, or the life of Indira Gandhi, NT Rama Rao, Savitri, or Jayalalita, or the Naxal movement in West Bengal? I'd say, this is the most challenging task. The events and people are not to be imagined, since there are many living people in whose minds the memories of those events and personalities are still fresh. Errors or ommissions and commisions will not be taken in movies like these - since the people who knew the events and protagonists will not take them lightly.

So, for a movie that purports to portray the Emergency, it is not sufficient to include jingles about Khaitan pankhas, songs from Bobby and wall posters of Sholay and a general air of 'dust' to recall the Delhi of the 70's era, but the movie could have stayed closer to its primary subject. While, examining the grossness of Emergency through the eyes of Indu Sarkar is a useful plot device, the life of Indu Sarkar is deliberately concocted to give her the likeness of a 'Sita Devi' in Ramayana. She is a failure at every turn before she become a war heroine of Emergency - orphan, stammers, can not get a job. One has to ask what value her stammering added to the plot, unless Madhur is personally aware of such a real person. A wig that covers a half of her face all the time seems like a costume failure for a 'good wife'.

There are many turns and twists in the plot that challenge common sense of the viewers: why do traditional middle class moms go to orphanages to find their prospective bahu's? In what family backdrop has Naveen Sarkar decided to marry an orphan? If he has ideals high enough to marry an orphan, why did he sell his soul to the dictats of Emergency? Since Indu knows about orphanages, why could she not find a place for the children in an orphanage? In only Sodhi could have disclosed his plan to adopt the kids, Indu and Navin could have lived their lives as normal as ever. And the execution of Navin by the director is possibly an emotional gut wrencher bonus for the audience with no purpose.

Like many movies in the contemporary genre, the movie has uncontextual feministic jabs at the lives of Indian women and gives Indu opportunities to rise above the despair that was supposed to be an Indian woman. Movie employs the 'small world cliche' through out; Indu, Navin, his female municipal chief, Sodhi must run into each other all the time. (Indu could have found a job reasonably far from from her husband's office, you would think).

The biggest joke and slap in the face of the audiences are the statutory warnings about the story being fictional and end the movie with statistics from the Shah commission report. The best part, for those of use who have not seen Sanjay Gandhi first hand, is his excellent portrayal by Neil Nitin. Indu, Navin and Jagdish Tytler acted their parts very well too.

For someone who was a high schooler at the time of emergency and lived the times of Indira/Sanjay Gandhis, the atrocities of emergency and the hijack of the Indian democracy are vivid in my mind. I liked the movie for reconstructing this part of history for people born much later. However, somewhere the movie veered off from the main course, became the personal life of Indu Sarkar, who is an invention of Madhur Bhandarkar. He would have done better by also touching on how Emergency ended with the election of some of the most stellar leaders of India through the formation of the Janata Party - second only to the original constituent assembly. It is very doubtful if India will ever duplicate the cast of political leaders in the 1977 lok sabha elections - the last living member off which was Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Film stammers and stumbles

[dineshprakash · 2/10 · 28 July 2017]

Only one high point of film, which is Neil Nitin Mukesh acting as 'Chief', younger son of person behind implementation of emergency in India. His hold of expression, dialogue delivery and body language are brilliant. Perhaps this is first time I am damn impressed by his acting. Director was totally confused while making this film. The selection of title clearly reflects it. Film is against Emergency in India. Anybody who has little political awareness, knows the name of the person behind that. Title of film clearly sounds like her name but here film female protagonist maiden name is Indu and after marriage husband surname comes as Sarkar. What was the need of keeping this title name of female lead? She stammers which doesn't add anything than irritation. A person, who stammer doesn't know that on which word, he or she is going to stammer but here female lead visibly pretends to stammer, especially on the words which need to be given stress but surprisingly she doesn't stammer while shouting anti government slogan in meeting!? Film opening scene of impending sterilization is shown as if it was a kind of search operation for terrorist. Premise of 'Emergency' is new but approach of film is stale and repetitive, like forceful slum demolition for construction of posh Hotel. Kids get lost in that commotion. Female protagonist find them and try to protect. For which she stands against her government employee husband, then system who forced to demolish the slum, this finally leads her to stand against Emergency inflicting Government. Film's time period is 1975 although taking should have been up to date but in pre interval dramatic scene, ceiling fan revolves at a fix speed ,so film camera can capture that, this shot taking belongs to ancient era of film making. In another scene, after throwing pamphlets in foreign delegate meeting, female protagonist is running from Police then suddenly jump cut comes that Chief is listening Qauwaali, like item song being performed in front of villain. Irony of this is, the lyrics is clearly mocking on Hindi understanding 'Chief'. He is shown short tempered but here he bears it!? Pre climax long speech of stammering female lead tests patience.

A rare and Good bollywood movie about emergency

[amundhra1994 · 8/10 · 3 February 2018]

Madhur Bandharkar is one of the most under rated directors. He does not make great films like Anurag Kashyap or Vishal Bhardwaj however most of his movies have good story, the story will keep you engaged till the end. The best part about his movies is the way he uses the music helps in taking the story forward. Coming to Indu sarkar, it is a good movie about emergency. There are some decent acting performance Altough the ending was need really good but overall it was a good movie. I'll recommend you to watch the movie atleast once.

underutilized period flick !

[CIDMoosa · 6/10 · 7 June 2018]

One of the darkest periods of the country - the 1975 emergency - is the milieu for this political flick from Madhur Bhandarkar. Though the film falls short of expectations and hype garnered pre-release, there are some very good performances (in spite of a wasted presence of Anupam Kher) and of course the political observations on the infamous human rights violations and censorship carried out by the power-hungry Gandhi dynasty. That said, Neil Nithin Mukesh stands out exceptionally compared to the titular Indu Sarkar in his brilliantly etched out persona of Former MP Sanjay Gandhi, the ruthless executioner of ridiculous emergency decrees by his mummy in the 19 months of emergency! Incidents like the forced sterilization campaign of '76, Turkman gate demolition and rioting in Delhi, Former PM IK Gujral's fallout with Sanjay Gandhi over the formers bid to control All India Radio and the ban on Kishore Kumar songs in radio (over his refusal to perform on one of congress rallies in Mumbai) find their way into the major unfolding of events, but still the film loses its plot halfway ending up into an average screenplay of sorts - rather focusing on the lead Indu Sarkar's transformation from a meek stammering housewife to an activist during emergency period against the government, fuelled by her first hand experience during the Turkman gate incident. The relevance of such movies might be the screen time worth it imparts to the new age audience on the ugly face of dynasty politics, shrewdly criticized all over the flick with its take on Indira Gandhi's 20 point program or the mass arrest without trial of journalists, RSS members and communist activists in a massive crackdown on civil liberties and political opposition in the name of internal security. It is paradoxical to the say the least that the same party is trying to put up a pseudo-democratic front and playing the caste and religion trump card at the slightest pretext even today, projecting the same family member decade after decade as their leader (this in spite of the numerous other eligible personalities to take up the same role, but alas not from the same family) It is no wonder that there was a stiff opposition from Congress circles in some places ahead of the movies screening , given the kind of incidents it reminds the people of. All said and done, Indu Sarkar is definitely an interesting watch for those interested in politics , partly because of the timeline of events it traces to the ultimate fall of Gandhi dynasty in 1977 and the rise of Janata party which ultimately paved the way for non congress parties to come in power !

Awful, avoid this one...Not even your typical Madhur Bhandarkar movie

[manavkum · 1/10 · 1 December 2017]

Where do I start.. It's badly made movie, which goes awful in every aspects. From story (It's work of poor fiction)...movie struggles to place in reality based genre, or pathetic adaptation. It leaves viewer struggle skimming facts vs fictions for 75s emergency events.

Script is also poor, with even more poor portrait of main characters. Direction of movie has many flaws including weak storyline and maintaining pace of the movies.

It purely seems Madhur ONLY made this movie to please Bjp or His RSS roots, whichever it is, he was neither passionate nor truthful about the center subject of the movies, which could be wonderful movie otherwise. I'd say, 70s kissa kursi ka was way better on the subject genere.

Two words...Avoid the crap.

An unheard saga of bravery during the time of Emergency

[shubhmischieveous · 8/10 · 29 July 2017]

"Indu Sarkar" uncovers India's untold history, unwritten past, unheard cries, from one of the darkest time, the time of Emergency (1975-1977). It shows what people had to suffer and ENDURE during the period of emergency. The movie, quite beautifully depicts how Revolts were silenced, poor were forcefully uprooted, media was banned and above all, how the Indians got divided into the two sects:- those who wanted the emergency to end asap and those who wanted to benefit from the emergency.

The acting of the protagonists is appreciable but the editing and cinematography is not up to the mark. If you are looking for a romantic or an action packed movie,this may not be your pick. But if you are looking for something historical or "Motivational" or something different from the herd, then this should surely be your choice.

Not a Brave attempt.

[vivekdrbl · 6/10 · 9 September 2019]

A lot could have been shown of the Emergency Period.

Bad movie, far from reality.

[vikashvikram · 1/10 · 29 July 2017]

While watching this movie I felt like this movie belongs to the era before 1947. No story, no plot, bad direction few scene were not even present in the movie while they were there in the trailer to attract audience to watch this watch. Though the acting of Niel Nitin Mukesh and Kirti was good. The movie was big disappointment, waste of time and money.

Perfect example how not to make a movie !

[njbhange-45039 · 1/10 · 25 March 2018]

This is very nice example what not to be done if movie needs to be good... 1. Poor story & worst screenplay

2. Hammering background score throughout the movie. The scorer need to understand power of silence

3. Taking audience granted

Wonder such movies coming from Madhur bhandarkar...

Propaganda movie

[amin-siddique5 · 1/10 · 29 July 2017]

Indu Sarkar is an effective propaganda movie only to the extent that it knows its mission statement and knows whom to shame and whom to take in its stride.A political drama with a detailed disclaimer about hurting the sentiments of anyone, Madhur Bhandarkar's controversial "Indu Sarkar" is a cleverly plotted propaganda film. Indu Sarkar is a epic disaster. Now RGV and Madur Bhandarkar are in same league. Madur Bhandarkar through this movie want to convey his boot licking capabilities to ruling government.

Great Acting, Great Story, Screenplay and Direction

[bgautham · 10/10 · 30 July 2017]

In Wikipedia they say it is 70% Fiction!

I don't believe it, it is more than 100% Facts, in a democratic country that too at a time nonviolence is practiced and respected, why there was emergency in the first place, there were and there will be many unanswered questions.

With power comes great responsibility, and they got this power from Gandhi and from the name they use at the end of their name.

This movie is one of the perfect example about how "power makes people to forget Humanity and Self-Respect".

10 Stars!

Irritating boring propaganda movie

[waseqabir · 1/10 · 16 August 2017]

This movie is just made for propaganda which also comes with twisted facts and also no sense of entertainment. It's a shame in the name of creativity and creative liberty. Awful melodrama.Boring propaganda movie to gain political and personal advantage. Irritating. Boring propaganda presentation by the fundamentalist group. Pain for the eyes and sober mind.

From other renown critics,Rajeev Masand of News18 gave 2 stars by saying "This is at Best an Average Movie".Hindustan Times criticised the director's confused narrative by giving 2 stars.Giving 2 stars Indian Express also panned the film by saying "A watered-down, bloodless version of the Emergency"

From Wikipedia, According to Madhur Bhandarkar 70% story is fictional and 30% is true.

Must watch movie

[linusgaga · 9/10 · 30 July 2017]

Madhur Bhandarkar with his mesmerizing style of storytelling, quite accurately portrays the dark era of Emergency imposed on Indians by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sanjay Gandhi's role portrayed by Neil Nitin Mukesh is excellent, kinda brings back the dead monster back to life.

Though it comes with a fictional disclaimer, it is successfully able to portray the hardships people went through during emergency and the rule of tyranny. Anupam Kher with his serious role on then activist Nanaji Deshmukh is quite good. Madhur Bhandarkar instead of making it a political documentary, tried to make it a story of the protagonist emotional struggle she went through during emergency which turned her into an activist. Dialogues and screenplay is quite good and well portrayed by the actors.

Worst acting and bad story.

[meetjasper-408-741751 · 1/10 · 1 February 2018]

Lead actor is the worst actor I have ever seen in the madhur bhandarkar's movie. I dont know why Madhur chose this actress with pathetic acting. When people stammer, they stammer after specific intervals ( watch Mahesh Manjarekar in Kaante), this actress failed to do that right. She has no expressions on her face. Absolute zero. Even the story is bad. It does not have good flow in the story.

Fiction movie

[er-punetha · 3/10 · 4 January 2021]

If you want to watch it then just treat as fictionary movie, dont expect the real/truth in that era. A movie full of fiction and hypothesis. Just spreading the negativity against that time government.

Mediocre at its best

[heterodyned · 4/10 · 20 July 2019]

The story-line is set around 2975 emergency, and is attempting to explore the dark side of this era. But the story lacked conviction around what it wanted to present, it was unclear if the highlight was the misery around emergency or the circumstances of the characters.

Much of the acting was meh! and some parts were poor to be honest e.g Kirti's character was shown to have 'stuttering' problem, but her acting was disingenuous at its best. Depicting characters that are differently abled, needs depth (which needs to come from the story) and real acting skills. The only actor in this cast that probably did a decent job was Neil, unfortunately the story's narrative didn't have a lot of depth for his character.

Lastly, I was disappointed when I learnt that it was a Madhur Bhandarkar creation. His movies use to be a lot more intentful but this movie didn't hit the mark.

Indu Sarkar Review

[AnishMisra · 8/10 · 6 August 2017]

Indu Sarkar is a film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. When I saw the trailer for the film, it didn't actually do anything to get me invested in this film entirely. I was least interested in watching this film. But when my Mom insisted on watching this, I actually gave in. I was quite surprised by how good the film is.

Plot: Chronicles the life of Indu Sarkar during the 1975 emergency era.

Story and direction: To be very frank, I don't know anything about the 1975 emergency. I will judge the film purely on a film-making perspective. Even the director himself has said, 70% of the film is fictional. The film starts off with who Indu is. That could have been shown in a better way. I blame it mostly on the editing. We get flashbacks and flash-forwards which didn't set the pace for the film. Then as we progress on with the film, we see some good things in this film. I could very easily connect with Indu and her dilemma. We could also see the way the government and the rebellion movement were working. It all actually looked quite real to me. If people will start thinking it's a film on women empowerment just because a woman is on the lead, you are very much wrong. The film has shown the brutality during that time in the most apt way possible. Also I had a problem with the way the film wrapped up. It looked very rushed. If people will not support films like these, then we still will get shitty films. I didn't understand the negativity around a film like this. This is a perfect example of creativity being put to a stop because some people have a problem with it. Also it was quite good of the film going song-less. Songs would have actually diluted the film heavily.

Acting: Kirti Kulhari has proved that she is a very fine actress. I was very much impressed with her performance. She also did the stammering with such ease. It didn't look forced. Tota Roy Chaudhary was also good as the confused husband. Anupam Kher was great in his small role. Neil Nitin Mukesh was OK.

Favorite Scene: I guess it would be the scene during the court room session where Indu just lashes out at the government for just taking away the freedom of people. That scene actually hit me very hard.

Verdict: This film is actually not that bad I expected it to be. Madhur Bhandarkar has done a great job. People must support such films otherwise the day is not far when Bollywood will drown.

I am going to go with an 8/10.

Not just a documentary

[samabc-31952 · 9/10 · 6 May 2019]

He had declared his own five-point program promoting literacy, family planning, tree planting, the eradication of casteism and the abolition of dowry. A perfect ideology and a much needed one too. However, unfortunately a fascist style dictatorial execution .. It is set during 19 months of emergency, a complete violation of freedom that shook the core foundation of democracy...impeccable commendable performances by the protagonists... surprisingly, failed to earn good critics reviews but I thoroughly enjoyed it.. gripping and typical of Madhur Bhandarkar.. a must see ...

Deeply recommended

[luckyboyhet · 9/10 · 1 January 2020]

Most engaging bollywood movie ever from the very starting. The interesting thing is the screenplay and story keeps you engaged without any other things like action or songs. Madhur bhandarkar has done nice direction. Kirti kulhari has done tremendous👌job . She's Spot light of the movie simply awesome🙌🌟

The best film in my life

[jishnugk-19037 · 8/10 · 1 October 2020]

It's is the best film in my life .which showed me the dirt in the emergency period & the absence of a good philanthropist in govt .