'Sherni' review: A righteous forest officer confronts two threats in this minimalist, ironic tale of 'human vs. wild'

Amit Masurkar's Sherni released yesterday on Amazon Prime Video. The picture is headlined by the likes of Vidya Balan, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala, Sharat Saxena among others. Here's the review of this drama-cum-thriller.

One reason why I was so hyped for the release of Sherni was that its' director Amit Masurkar's previous venture, Newton, is one of my favourite Indian films of this decade. Newton beautifully captured the angst of a dedicated and righteous government officer, when faced with a rotting and flawed electoral system and a deceitful arena of tribal politics. In Sherni too, Masurkar crafts a world similar to Newton- a hardworking DFO, recently posted to a forest-laden region, pitted against dual threats- one, the danger of a tigress loose in the human habitat, and the other, a decaying system of corrupt officials, red tapes and, yet again, the opportunistic politicos. For Vidya Balan's Vidhya Vincent, the tigress roaming human settlements is the least of her troubles. The system isn't helping her, neither are her superior officials. Her only go-to person here is Hassan Noorani, a zoology professor, who often advises that the tiger be set free in her natural habitat, the jungle, rather than being captured and shot. The pressure mounts when politicians enter the fray- here, two opposing camps are depicted, both of which want the tiger dead, along with holding the other party accountable. While being caught in this mess, Vidhya and Hassan have to face additional pressure from an influential bounty hunter Pintu Bhai, played flawlessly by Sharat Saxena. 

Vidya Balan in Sherni

Masurkar's immense attention to detail and his commitment to do justice to his interweaving tale of the bond between man and nature surely makes him a director to watch out for. Newton dallied with a similar narrative- a marginalised community whose travails only get the attention of politicians when election season arrives. In Sherni, Masurkar details this angst too, how the lives of the villagers in the depicted regions are closely intertwined with the surroundings they live in; so deeply intertwined that an instruction by the forest officials to refrain from venturing into the forest, while the tiger is loose,  doesn't get much adherence by the residents of the village. When looked at closely, this supposed 'ignorance' is the outcome of man-made, bureaucratic interventions, which Masurkar does not fail to mention in his script. Here, the pleas of the villagers become fuel for self-centred politicians to gain mileage, as they fan the flames and shift the finger of blame towards an inept bureaucracy and to their opposing camps. 

The political bigwigs in the village enjoy so much clout, that, in one of the film's few few hilarious scenes, a leader and his henchmen chase Brijendra Kala's character, a stained forest officer, across the office. He takes shelter in an abandoned repository of office files, shrouded in cobwebs, dust and whatnot, a subtle, yet brilliant acknowledgement of the indifference of babus towards the matters at hand. The close ties between the politicos and officials are shown when the leader of one of the parties ropes in the aforementioned Pintu Bhai to hunt down the tiger, in a bid to gain popular support and to challenge the forest officers who have set out to achieve the same task, all with the open support of the bureaucrats at the top brass. 

Which brings me to Pintu Bhai. Masurkar writes in a character that shouldn't have gone unnoticed when scripting such a relevant matter. Saxena appears on the screen, introducing himself as a 'conservationist', an ironic designation when he all he does is brag about how many tigers he has shot and killed, legally and illegally. He doesn't even bother whether the tiger he sees is the one the entire forest department is looking for; for him, it's just another feather to his cap. Pintu Bhai is so arrogant that even when the forest rangers deem a set of droppings as that which belongs to a leopard, he irreverently dismisses their explanations and calls it that of a tiger. 

Vidhya seems to be the one stuck in this convoluted quagmire. She has the backing of a legal system that could strongly penalise animal murderers and intruders. Yet, the officer fails. This is resonated when Vidhya asks her subordinate officer to mention the legal clauses that could land Pintu Bhai and his hunter buddies in jail for trying to kill an animal and go hunting at night. While this works out in driving them away, Vidhya finds herself later hapless when things go south and her superiors turn a blind eye to her pleas. 

Spearheading this well-made film, Vidya Balan is exceptionally brilliant. In Sherni, Vidhya Vincent, our protagonist isn't that monologue-spewing, your run-of-the-mill bureaucrat who calls off wrong when she sees them. Early on in the film, an awareness program conducted by Vijay Raaz's character to warn the villagers of the tiger intrusion is interrupted by a political leader, who uses the stage for his own political campaign. You would expect as an unbiased bureaucrat, Vidhya would heroically reprimand them. But both the director and Vidhya Vincent know that it isn't that easy. The stakes in front of them are quite high, and surmounting them is tough. Vidya Balan has done well in grasping the true nature of her character; she is equally stoic and vociferous but in separate circles. She doesn't bend to political pressure, but she doesn't vocally challenge them either. Truth be told, that's just the way it works. What makes Vidya Balan likeable in Sherni is that we see, for real, how the character evolves throughout the film; and Balan is convincing in that role. 

I wish I saw more of Vijay Raaz in the film. The talented actor he is, I felt that he was unjustly underutilized. On the other hand, Sharat Saxena and Brijendra Kala are given ample space to perform, both being able to deftly execute their roles. Sharat Saxena, as the rough and tough Pintu Bhai, is still a treat to watch after all these years. Brijendra Kala, as the easily influenced Bansal, brings that sense of levity to a serious role, the kind Pankaj Tripathi brought to his Aatma Singh in Newton. 

Masurkar is very minimalistic in his making and does his best to engage his viewers with its serene visuals, the shots of the animals roaming the jungle, all serving as a backdrop to his chaotic narrative. As I mentioned before, the director pays heavy attention to detail and in some places, the parallels are simply awe-inspiring. Sherni's climactic sequence is eerily haunting, in what is one of the best scenes of the film. All that I felt was, with the talent at hand, Masurkar could have done a better job in creating ironic, dark humour, especially in a film about a corrupt bureaucracy and politics.

Sherni has to be watched for its detailed depiction of a human vs. wild conflict, in the backdrop of a chaotic amalgamation of opportunistic politics and a hesitant governmental system. By reminding us once again that we are the reason for our own dangers, Masurkar subtly highlights a relevant message. With likeable and relatable characters, played out by capable artists, Sherni uses its documentary aesthetic to become a must-watch in a seldom-visited genre.

Reviewer^© rating: 4 stars

Runtime: 130 minutes

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