Mardaani 2

Mardaani 2 (transl. Manly 2) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action-thriller film written and directed by Gopi Puthran. It is produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. A sequel to the 2014 film Mardaani and the second instalment in the Mardaani film series, it stars Rani Mukerji in the lead role alongside Vishal Jethwa, and Jisshu Sengupta. The narrative follows police officer Shivani Shivaji Roy's attempts to catch a 21-year-old rapist and murderer.

Mardaani 2 was theatrically released on 13 December 2019 and received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards its screenplay, direction and Jethwa's performance but criticism for its pacing.^[5] The film was a moderate success at the box office, grossing ₹67.12 crore (US$7.9 million) worldwide.^[6] A sequel titled Mardaani 3 was released on 30 January 2026.^[7]

In Kota, Rajasthan, a 21-year-old psychopath named Sunny kidnaps a young outspoken woman named Latika. He brutally tortures, rapes, and then murders her. Shivani Shivaji Roy, who has qualified in UPSC Examination has been appointed as the new Superintendent of Police of Kota, arrives at the crime scene and clashes with her misogynistic subordinate DSP Brij Shekhawat. The brutality of Latika's assault disturbs Shivani and makes her more determined to catch the killer.

Sunny, who has actually come to Kota from Meerut on a killing contract given by politician Govind Mishra a.k.a. Panditji, sees Shivani on TV when she publicly promises to find Latika's killer. He taunts Shivani by sneaking into her home and stealing her sari. He then dresses up as a woman, tricks a journalist named Kamal Parihar, and kills him; he also hires Pravin, a tea-seller near the police station, to kill Kamal's wife, Aabha Parihar, in a suicide blast, then takes Pravin's place as tea-seller to keep an eye on Shivani, introducing himself as a mute boy named Bajrang.

When Shivani brings in Lahanya, a child from the slums who had witnessed the blast, Sunny kills him. Following the media uproar on the failure of the police to catch the murderer, Shivani is set to be transferred from Kota. As the new investigating officer will take charge after two days, Shivani, along with her fellow officers, decide to catch Sunny within that time. Shivani makes peace with Shekhawat since his network of informers is very strong in the city, and he leads them to his contact, who reveals that the real mastermind behind Kamal Parihar's murder is a youth politician named Viplav Beniwal. Shivani arrests Beniwal's right-hand man Kunwar and tortures him into revealing Sunny's whereabouts. After Sunny kidnaps another outspoken woman, the police track him down. They discover his victim already raped and tortured, but barely alive, and manage to save her.

Sunny, posing as Bajrang, gets a lift from Shivani. Before he can strangle her, Shivani stops him, having realized that Bajrang is Sunny. The two fight but Sunny escapes. The police finds a video of Sunny taken by a bystander, and Shivani has it made viral across social media. Sunny kidnaps Panditji's granddaughter Priyanka for avenging his disrepute and threatens to kill her unless Shivani apologizes to him in a video made public. Shivani and the police barely manage to save Priyanka when another blast happens in the same spot. Shivani is running out of time to catch Sunny and bring him forward.

On the next day, which is Diwali, Shivani attends a live TV show on a news channel where she is questioned by Amit Sharma, the host, shadowing women's capabilities on grounds conventionally acquired by men. Shivani shuts him down by talking about the true shades of what a woman has to go through. When Amit claims that just because of the female superintendent, murder cases are escalating drastically, Shivani answers with wit, which is watched live by Shekhawat and his daughter. Shekhawat realizes his mistake and mends his ways, agreeing to help Shivani. Shivani discovers that Sunny's next target is a politician, Sunanda. That night, amidst the Diwali celebrations, Shivani and her team search for Sunny. She discovers him in the house of a local couple, having taken their daughter and Sunanda hostage. Shivani is knocked unconscious and tied up.

When she wakes up, Sunny is strangling Sunanda; to distract him, Shivani talks about Sunny's mother and his past, which she learned from his father, who is imprisoned in Meerut. When Sunny was a child, his father had tried to murder his mother, who had been an outspoken woman. Out of fear, Sunny's mother tried hiding behind a terrace, but Sunny told his father where she was; his father then killed her. The guilt and trauma of his mother's death has since caused Sunny to become unhinged and take that anger out on other similarly strong, confident women by raping and murdering them.

Shivani signals Sunanda and the other hostage to toss nearby buckets of paint onto Sunny, as he is asthmatic. She then gains the upper hand, beating. Enraged, Sunny with his own belt. She kicks him outside and continues beating him as the neighbourhood gathers to watch. However, Shivani then hands over the belt to Sunanda, who goes on beating Sunny. Right behind Shivani, the camera focuses on the Goddess Durga painting, highlighting the high contrary of the society.

On 10 December 2018, Yash Raj Films announced that a sequel to Mardaani titled Mardaani 2 would be written and directed by Gopi Puthran, the writer of Mardaani.^[8][9] Rani Mukerji was confirmed to be reprising her role.^[10] Vikram Singh Chauhan and Shruti Bapna were cast in pivotal roles.^[11][12] Vishal Jethwa was cast as the antagonist, marking his feature film debut.^[13]

Principal photography began on 27 March 2019.^[14] The film was extensively filmed in Kota and Jaipur, Rajasthan.^[15] Filming was wrapped on 29 May 2019.^[16]

The film collected ₹3.80 crore on its opening day. In the next two days, it earned nett ₹6.55 crore and ₹7.80 crore respectively. It grossed ₹67.12 in worldwide areas, consisting of ₹56.63 crore (Indian gross) and ₹10.49 crore (overseas gross).^[6]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10.^[17]

Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars describing Mukerji as "the force behind this gritty drama".^[18] Hindustan Times said that "Rani Mukerji steals the show in a soul-stirring and well timed thriller".^[19] NDTV gave the film 3 out of 5 stars calling Mukerji as ''Good As Ever In This Cop-On-A Mission Thriller.^[20] Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars praising the screenplay and performances of Mukerji and Jethwa.^[21] India Today gave the film 3 out of 5 stars praising Puthren's direction and Jethwa's performance.^[22]

A sequel titled Mardaani 3 directed by Abhiraj Minawala was released on 30 January 2026.^[7]

• Mardaani 2 at IMDb
• Mardaani 2 on Bollywood Hungama