Kangana Ranaut's Emergency was released in theatres today. The Bollywood film, in which the Ek Niranjan and Thalaivi actress has played the role of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, also features Anupam Kher, Mahima Chaudhury, Shreyas Talpade, Vishak Nair and others.
So, what is the critics fraternity saying about Emergency? Since the film is loaded with political messaging and the writer-director-actor is a BJP MP herself, reviewers are polarized to the core. Firstpost has given a positive review. "The well-researched film needs to be watched because it shows the different stages that lead to emergency, one of the darkest phases of Indian politics," its review stated.
Hindustan Times said that the film is balanced, although its craft is inferior. "Emergency doesn’t seem to harbour a wish to whitewash or tarnish Indira’s actions. What happened under her watch during the Emergency, her son Sanjay Gandhi’s death- Kangana, the director, has tried to keep it balanced," the daily opined.
NDTV opined that there is more hysteria than history in Emergency. "Emergency is a clash of crass caricatures, each as crude as the other. Anupam Kher is Indira Gandhi's bete noire Jayaprakash Narayan, Shreyas Talpade is Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Satish Kaushik is Babu Jagjivan Ram, portrayed as a perennially carping critic of the Prime Minister," the reviewer said.
Indian Express found fault with the film for showing Nehru and Vijayalakshmi Pandit as bad elders in Indira Gandhi's life. "Emergency is more a scattershot caricature of time and place and people, riddled with tacky computer graphics: in a preposterous sequence, Manekshaw, Indira, the members of the Parliament, including Vajpayee, join in a song," the reviewer wrote.
