'Mardaani' about real female cops, not larger-than-life heroes, says Rani Mukerji

For actor Rani Mukherji, "Mardaani" franchise was a way to channelise her anger towards crimes against women, and actor says she is happy she was able to create real imry of a female cop through se films. In "Mardaani" series, Bollywood star plays central character of police officer Shivani Shivaji Roy, and for her, films are an ode to all women cops who have served nation with utmost dedication.

"'Mardaani' as a franchise stands for a woman standing up against crimes against women. So it's a franchise built on that. On or hand, it also stands for... I will t say real cinema, but real events portrayed in a real way as possible. It's a depiction of true events that people would have seen actual cops dealing with in real world. That's what we are trying to achieve with this franchise," Rani told PTI in an interview.

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actor believes her character's superpower is empathy.

"If you're t human, you can't feel or emote. Shivani is a woman, and she's ba**, strong, courous and she's represents all se women cops who have served our country and our people tirelessly for so many years, but have t really been given mainstream or that kind of an ackwledgement y deserve," she ds.

Rani says audiences have always seen a heroic male police officer on screen and somewhere with "Mardaani" she is trying to break that mould of a larger-than-life cop.

"Today when a person is thinking of a cop, somewhere, y will see my imry of a female cop. This is how our country is, because re are so many female cops who are brave. So why are we never told about how courous y are?Why is it always about men? That's because in mainstream cinema, we've always seen those, larger-than-life cops. So somewhere I think it is, at least, breaking that mould."

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Crimes against women always angered actor but after 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder, Rani says she felt a strong urge to talk about women safety and or social issues and 2014's "Mardaani", directed by Preep Sarkar, was born out of that r. actor, who is w gearing for release of "Mardaani 2", says as an artiste she felt best way to express her anguish was through cinema.

" first film was obviously, born out of r that we felt for Nirbhaya. I think as a country, we all were quite angered and shaken up. Because that was first time through media, we actually got to kw gory details of what happened to that woman. I think re was this anger everywhere. And as filmmakers or people connected with films, I thought this is only way I can channelise my anger and energy and give a positive mess to women out re. Make m aware of problems and threats we face today."

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actor, 41, says idea of turning "Mardaani" into a franchise came because makers felt with se films y could talk about crimes prevalent in society and try to offer some sort of a solution.  

"'Mardaani 2' deals with a serial rapist and talks about what happens to rapists who are juvenile criminals. It talks about how we need to be aware, because today, threat can come from nameless, faceless and less people. person could appear incent, could be under of 18, but he could actually be perpetrator. I think as a film, 'Mardaani 2' is very close to my heart because it t only talks about women empowerment, but also about creating awareness. I remember during 'Mardaani' re were a lot of women who said 'we can't see this film. It's too disturbing'. We don't want to watch this reality. I want to tell m that even if you turn your face away, that doesn't mean it's t happening. We need to be aware, we need to accept and educate ourselves," she ds.

"Mardaani 2", directed by Gopi Puthran and produced by Yash Raj Films, will hit atres on December 13. 

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