Sherni trailer is not very exciting

Correct me if I am wrong. But I feel of late, a note of complacency has crept into Vidya Balan’s performances, a know-it-all overconfidence which is the beginning of the end for any artiste.

There is a sequence where Vidya taunts Sharad Saxena (long time no see) who plays one of those bullheaded brainless government officers who is easy to make fun of when the one making the fun is the film’s protagonist , about making horoscopes for tigers. Ms Balan’s hangers-on are seen laughing. I don’t think the audience will be amused at her weak attempts at putting down patriarchy.

To be fair, the trailer of Sherni is dreadful. There is no way of softening the blow, I am afraid. And I am surprised that a trailer so limp and listless has been allowed to go. What were the producers thinking? To simply have Vidya Balan posturing as a forest ranger looking to preserve tigers, is not enough reason to put the entire eco-system of one particular area under grave risk, as the shooting unit could be a living nightmare for wild animals who live in the forest area.

The risk of enraging the animals just doesn’t seem worth it here. Sherni seems to have little story to tell besides pitching Ms Balan against a poaching mafia. The trailer shows no spark of humour, not a wisp of wit. Talented actors like Vijay Raaz and Neeraj Kabi float in and out with guns and homilies. They barely get a word in edgeways before Ms Balan is smirking at them. Oh these men, I tell you!

Clearly Ms Balan and the man-eating tiger are the focus of attention, though I didn’t see any tigers in the trailer, except a man wearing a tiger’s mask. Maybe he was trying to tell us something. But after seeing the trailer we really don’t want to know anything.