‘Gandhari’ review: Film about child sex trafficking is all a blur

It’s a particularly busy day in Joypurra town in Bengal. Bani (Taapsee Pannu) and her husband Gokul (Ishwak Singh) lose their daughter Mishty to sex traffickers. Bani suffers temporary vision loss while chasing the abductors. On this very day, police officer Kabir (Jatin Sarna) arrives in Joypurra, intent on dismantling the Blackhole trafficking gang.

Enraged by the local police’s apathy and undeterred by her condition, Bani decides to rescue Mishty all by herself. Her mother Jhunu (Mita Vashisht) happens to be around, concealing her ninja skills by selling jhalmuri. Blackhole’s leader Dada (Prashant Narayanan) keeps talking about a Plan Zero, which involves holding scores of abducted girls within Joypurra and waiting for the opportune moment to smuggle them out.

Kabir’s big idea to combat Dada’s ploy is to cordon off Joypurra. Rather than meeting Bani and Gokul, or listening closely to information about Joypurra’s geography that would make his life easier, or simply interrogating openly suspicious characters, Kabir spends weeks hanging around looking purposeful – and lost.

After a bustling beginning, Gandhari lapses into a kind of nervous languidity. Written and produced by Kanika Dhillon and directed by Devashish Makhija, the Netflix release tries to draw juice from low-hanging fruit – child sex trafficking is one of...

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