After Assi, Taapsee Pannu is back with another movie about a social crime, this time centred on child trafficking. The movie’s trailer built a dark and dangerous world, and navigating it is anything but easy. The film creates an unsettling atmosphere and gives Taapsee a role that demands both physicality and emotional restraint. So, does Gandhari manage to turn its promising premise into a thriller worth your time? Read our Gandhari review to find out.

Gandhari movie review: What’s the plot?

Set in the town of Joypurra, Gandhari follows Bani (Taapsee Pannu), whose five-year-old daughter Mishty is kidnapped at a railway station. In the chaos of trying to save her, Bani is injured and temporarily loses her eyesight. Her husband Gokul (Ishwak Singh) is left equally helpless, while the local police seem far too uninterested in the disappearance.

But Bani decides she cannot wait for the system to wake up. She begins investigating her daughter’s disappearance herself, eventually stumbling upon a much larger child-trafficking network. The town’s strange culture of behrupiyas, a seemingly indifferent police force, and a collection of characters who may or may not be hiding something add to the mystery. Both Gokul and Bani settle in Joypurra and search for their daughter, while maintaining the appearance of a normal life on the surface.

The film can’t choose between intensity and theatrics

Even though Gandhari deals with a theme we have seen in other Bollywood movies, the angle it takes is quite different. It is a terrific setup. A mother who cannot see is trying to find a child who has disappeared; a naturally tense and heartbreaking situation. However, instead of allowing the fear and uncertainty to build, the film repeatedly reaches for another twist or action sequence to keep the audience invested. And unfortunately, that doesn’t always work.

The early portions have an atmosphere that actually pulls you in. Joypurra feels strange; the disappearance creates enough questions, and there is a sense that something much bigger is hiding underneath the surface. But just when Gandhari begins to feel like the sharp, dark thriller it could be, the writing starts taking convenient shortcuts. The investigation, which initially feels like a slow uncovering of something sinister, becomes increasingly dependent on familiar thriller mechanics.

What begins as a story about grief, helplessness, and a mother’s rage eventually gets buried under twists, action, and melodrama.

Taapsee Pannu is at her best when she isn’t punching people

Taapsee has clearly thrown herself into the physical demands of the role. Bani’s temporary blindness could easily have become a gimmick, but the film occasionally uses it well, especially when her other senses become part of how she navigates danger.

The bigger problem is that Bani’s emotional side never receives the same attention. The film wants us to understand the bond between mother and daughter, but it does not spend enough time making that relationship feel lived-in. That makes some of her later desperation feel more functional than heartbreaking. And this is where Taapsee is slightly let down by the writing. She can sell Bani’s anger, determination, and physical exhaustion, but the script rarely gives her enough quiet moments to reveal the woman underneath the action hero.

Ishwak Singh is dependable as Gokul, while Swastika Mukherjee brings an intriguing unease to her scenes. Prashant Narayanan’s antagonist, meanwhile, arrives too late to make the impact the film seems to be expecting. By the time the credits roll, you remember Taapsee’s physical performance, but not necessarily the emotional devastation that should have followed a story about how real and enormous the issue of child trafficking is.

So, should you watch Gandhari?

Despite its flaws, Gandhari is not a complete misfire. It has a compelling premise, a committed lead, and an atmosphere that keeps you curious about what is really happening in Joypurra. The film also deserves credit for putting a woman at the centre of a revenge thriller and allowing her anger to drive the story rather than simply making her a victim.

Taapsee carries the film, and the subject matter gives the story a seriousness that prevents it from becoming just another action thriller. But the film is also too determined to prove how thrilling it is. Had the screenplay trusted the power of raw emotions a little more, Gandhari could have been a far more impactful film.

Can you watch Gandhari with your family? Yes, the film doesn’t contain any explicit scenes or obscene language.

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