Story: Bani (Taapsee Pannu) and her husband Gokul (Ishwak Singh) are shell-shocked when their five-year-old daughter Mishty is abducted in broad daylight from Joypurra, a fictitious town in West Bengal. Consumed by guilt over her perceived negligence, Bani joins Gokul in a desperate search for their daughter, which eventually leads them to a child-trafficking racket. Things take a dramatic turn when Bani loses her eyesight. Can she still find her daughter and bring her back?Review: With its Bengali backdrop, missing-person mystery, woman-on-a-mission narrative, revenge angle and vulnerable protagonist, Gandhari seems designed as a spiritual successor to Sujoy Ghosh‘s terrific Kahaani (2012). But while Kahaani drew its power from atmosphere, restraint and a riveting central performance, Gandhari keeps reaching for bigger and louder moments without earning them. Vidya Balan‘s performance in Kahaani immersed you in the world of an unsuspecting woman driven by fear, grief and determination. Taapsee Pannu, meanwhile, is pulled in too many directions here. The film turns her into a full-fledged theatrical action hero, complete with elaborate fight sequences, but in doing so, it loses sight of the actor and the emotional complexity she can bring to a character.The biggest problem is the writing. Gandhari seems determined to incorporate every thriller trope in the book—abduction, child trafficking, revenge, a mysterious woman, a morally ambiguous antagonist, a physical disability and an action-heavy climax. Instead of enriching the narrative, these elements compete with one another. The story moves at such a frantic pace that it rarely gives tension, fear or emotional turmoil enough time to breathe.The twists feel engineered rather than organic, and several developments are far-fetched enough to weaken the emotional investment. The film wants the audience to feel the desperation of two parents searching for their missing child, yet the writing never quite creates the empathy or anxiety that the premise demands. You remain aware of the mechanics of the plot rather than becoming emotionally consumed by it.Ambiecka Pandit’s recent crime mystery-thriller Babita Singh Reporting, starring Nimisha Sajayan, is a terrific example of how a female-led drama can explore multiple conflicts while remaining firmly rooted in its central theme. It finds nuance in its characters without sacrificing the thriller elements. Gandhari, by contrast, seems so determined to be an all-rounder that it keeps moving away from the very story it should be telling. The result is a predictable chase thriller that occasionally feels like a throwback to 1990s cinema. The dated villain close-ups, the exaggerated face-off and the south-style action climax sit awkwardly against the film’s otherwise contemporary premise. Female-led films have come a long way in recent years, and you miss that contemporary sensibility here.Among the cast, Swastika Mukherjee makes the strongest impression. Playing a silent watcher with ambiguous motives, she brings an unsettling stillness to the film that it desperately needs. There is something sinister and intriguing in her presence, even when the screenplay refuses to fully capitalise on it. Chhaya Kadam does what she does best, but for an actor of her calibre, the role offers little challenge. Taapsee Pannu handles the physically demanding action sequences well, but you miss the performer beneath the choreography. She is capable of far more, and this feels like a performance she needs to break free from. Mita Vashisht lends the film gravitas simply through her presence, while Ishwak Singh, Jatin Sarna, Prashant Narayanan and Priti Shroff are all grossly underused and deserved considerably better parts. The title Gandhari carries an obvious metaphorical weight, so it doesn’t take long for the viewer to connect the dots. But the metaphor never acquires the emotional or thematic depth it promises. The central abduction ends up frustrating you more than frightening or angering you, partly because the screenplay keeps reminding you that you are watching a constructed thriller rather than allowing the situation to feel genuinely terrifying.Writer-producer Kanika Dhillon has previously created fiercely rebellious, complicated characters in films such as Manmarziyaan and Haseen Dillruba. Her collaboration with Taapsee here, however, feels surprisingly forgettable and generic. Director Devashish Makhija stages Gandhari like a 90s revenge drama, complete with an over-the-top action finale and a theatrical villain confrontation. There is a potentially powerful film buried somewhere inside Gandhari, one about parental guilt, female rage, helplessness and the lengths to which a mother can go to reclaim her child. Unfortunately, the film’s need to constantly escalate the drama prevents it from finding that emotional core. The production also lacks a sense of authenticity. Despite being set in West Bengal, the film often looks unmistakably like it was shot in Mumbai, never convincingly recreating the texture or atmosphere of the region. The cops’ angle, too, feels like a missed opportunity, introduced without enough purpose or payoff.Gandhari has the ingredients of a gripping thriller, but not the restraint to let them work. It tries too hard to surprise, too hard to entertain and too hard to turn its protagonist into an action icon. In the process, it forgets the simplest thing a thriller needs: a reason for the audience to care.