Sherni Review: Doesn’t Reach the Expectations!

Sherni, directed by Amit Masurkar and starring Vidya Balan in the primary role, is a unique attempt to explore a significant topic that borders around “Saving Animals.” But unfortunately, it’s an unknown topic for us civilians who live in the urban cities as we only watch or read it somewhere on the news.

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However, people who go through this trauma and experience it first hand get their livelihood affected and may even lose their lives, and then there are political leeches who use this situation for their benefit. Director Amit Masurkar tried to shed light on this issue in Sherni, but in his execution, he failed to bring realistic aggression and brutalism and rather, made the film character-friendly and more appealing for the mainstream audience.

Sherni narrates the story of an honest Forest Officer (played by the uber-talented Vidya Balan, who gets transferred to a remote village. She strives for balance in a world of man-animal conflict while she also seeks her true calling in a hostile environment. The basic idea here was to tell people how these politicians take advantage of anything and how our once beautifully balanced universe is losing the balance because of them.

Despite the broader and relevant topic, Sherni, unfortunately, comes with its clichés. The screenplay, written by Aastha Tiku, is decent for what it is, and I’m not being too picky either as there are a handful of moments filled with thrill, humor, and fun to make sure the film sails steadily.

On to the performances, Vidya Balan is good, for the most part, but not great. Fans who followed her since her debut are well aware that she is a high caliber and well-equipped actor through and through. Sherni did not bring the best out of her and limited her acting skills.

Sherni was shot beautifully by Rakesh Haridas, especially the overview shots of the forest were a treat to the eye. The dialogues, written by Amit Masurkar, were serviceable, and the background score was a let down in my opinion, despite the perfect setting, storyline-wise.

Amit Masurkar can’t be blamed for everything because he tried his best to narrate an unconventional topic to the mainstream audience, Sometimes it’s all about the limits of narrow-minded writing and, even a good director can’t do much. Sherni lacks those basic vocal cords needed for the loud roar, yet it still roars on its own level. Overall, good, but we expected much better from Masurkar and Balan. Watch ‘Sherni’ on Prime Video here.

‘Sherni’ Rating – 3/5

Images via Amazon Prime Video