Daayra Story
DCP Raman Kumar (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and his team are being hailed by the town and the media, following an encounter in which they gun down four rapists who were attempting to escape, while in custody. In their eyes, Raman and his team are saviours and the glimmer of hope that truth and justice, irrespective of being delayed, are never denied. Meanwhile, eyebrows are being raised over the fairness and impartiality of the said episode.
A Special Investigations Team is formed, led by DCP Ajooni Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan), who starts digging within the layers to uncover discrepancies in the narratives being fed to the public. In the process, both officers find each other staring at the murkier side of the law with their differing perspectives.
Daayra Review
Borrowing references from several accounts of horrific sexual assault cases across India in the past fifteen years, director Meghna Gulzar, alongwith co-writers Yash Keswani and Sima Agarwal, launch a scathing attack against the deep-rooted prejudices that exist socially and somehow, dictate the course of delivering law and justice.
There are pressing questions raised in several outstanding scenes, where the dialogues and the performances by the actors, leave you teething in rage. A brilliant scene between a helpless mother Parvati (an effective Kshitee Jog) seeking immediate help from the prejudiced station in—charge Anup Bala (Brijbhushan Shukla), while her daughter is missing, will make you squirm.
You feel Raman’s rage and resistance when the culprits before him confess to their crime and expose their mindset. You watch Ajooni’s helplessness in being compelled to abide by the book, even as she is aware of the truth. Meghna’s direction is faultless and she knows how to respect her audience’s intellect without underlining the messaging. The hiccup lies in the film’s editing and it’s evident. In trying to establish a sense of urgency to the narrative, certain indulgences do lengthen the run-time by at least twenty minutes.
To give due benefit of doubt, Meghna would’ve wanted the audience to sit with the discomfort that follows with certain scenes, but somehow, it robs the film of its larger intent. Without giving away spoilers, the pre-climactic sequence which runs in parallel with the recreation of the aforementioned encounter, is extremely difficult and triggering to sit through.
But here’s where the need to register a dramatized impact, overrides the needful sensitivity, the scene demands.
Ketan Sodha’s background score is effective and sparingly eerie. Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray’s production design and Saurabh Goswami’s cinematography lend authenticity. But Daayra’s commendable strength lies in its casting by Taran Bajaj.
From Marathi cinema heavyweights Sandesh Kulkarni, Jitendra Joshi and Trupti Khamkar being cast as senior cops in Raman’s team to Ipshita Chakraborty Singh and Upendra Chauhan lending able support to Ajooni’s investigation, the actors display conviction. Young actors Pragati Mishra and Bhavesh Bhabani are convincing as siblings Ragini and Kabir. Actors Kanwaljit Singh, Biswapati Sarkar, Ujjwal Chopra and Anuja Sathe bring heft to the film's much lighter moments.
But the film is duly empowered by both Kareena and Prithviraj’s restrained yet authoritative acts. Fairly subdued yet towering, Prithviraj makes Raman intimidating yet empathetic. Kareena makes Ajooni persuasive and manages to draw a few laughs through humour that never feels forced.
Daayra verdict
If you’re willing to overlook its minor shortcomings, Daayra is an effective cop thriller that has its heart in the right place and is relentless in initiating an unsettling but necessary dialogue. As the end credits roll, you’d find yourself questioning your beliefs as a citizen facing a depraved system.
