Mardaani 3 sees the return of the woman who fights like a man. The threequel wastes no time in justifying itself, beginning with a business-like opening scene that plunges us into the latest social evil that will be tackled by Shivani Shivaji Roy.

Shivani (Rani Mukerji) has been progressing steadily since we first encountered her in 2014. This Durga in human form and a police uniform, who is obsessed with the safety of girls and women, is now with the National Investigation Agency in Delhi.

Shivani’s attempt to locate a diplomat’s young daughter, who is kidnapped along with the domestic worker’s daughter, leads her to the fearsome human trafficker Amma (Mallika Prasad). Amma is as nasty as they come, her own exploitation as a girl having inured her to the suffering of others.

Mallika Prasad in Mardaani 3 (2026). Courtesy Yash Raj Films.

With the help of social worker Ramanujan (Prajesh Kashyap) and the enthusiastic police constable Fatima (Janki Bodiwala), Shivani rolls up her sleeves (her trademark gesture), drops a few “chailaas” (a throwback to her Maharashtrian roots) and gets to work. Some of her actions are strictly not by the book, but that too is par for the course in this franchise.

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Directed by Abhiraj Minawala, based on a story by Aayush Gupta, and a screenplay by Gupta, Deepak Kingrani and Baljeet Singh Marwah, Mardaani 3 gets the job done – just like Shivani. The 137-minute movie is fleet, efficient and gripping, neatly balancing its heroine’s stardom with a plot that ticks all the right boxes.

Rani Mukerji, an apt fit for the plainly dressed and fearless cop, never gets in the way of material that is built around a monomaniacal character who sacrifices her family life for her job. It helps that Shivani is up against formidable villains, who are as unabashedly evil in their intentions as Shivani is committed to her duties.

Streaming shows are awash with female police officers on messianic missions. Shivani, who got there before all of them, shows how it’s done.