By Rajesh Ahuja New Delhi, Jul 23 (UNI) Lone avengers successfully taking on the establishment has formed the subject of successful films like 'A Wednesday' and 'Rang De Basanti' earlier. Being promoted as another drama about an ordinary man embarking on the path of revenge from the establishment, seeking answers for the wrongs done to him, 'Madaari', however comes across as a cliched revenge drama. 'Madaari' is the story of Nirmal Kumar (Irrfan Khan) who, after losing everything he has in a man-made disaster, starts the journey of seeking answers, and asking for accountability. The journey, however, leads him up on a deadly path. In his path to take revenge, Nirmal affects the kidnapping of Home Minister Prashant Goswami's (Tushar Dalvi) only son Rohan Goswami (Vishesh Bansal). However, before the kidnapping Nirmal studies the activities and movements of Rohan and manages to kidnap him after drugging his food. The kidnapping shakes not just the Home Minister and his wife, but also his cabinet ministers. The sharp police officer Nachiket Verma (Jimmy Shergill) is assigned the job of bringing back Prashant Goswami's son. However, when the kidnapper Nirmal calls up Prashant, the latter who was expecting a ransom in the form of some money, is shocked to hear Nirmal's strange demand. Amidst all this, Nachiket and his team manage to track down Nirmal and his whereabouts. At the same time, Nirmal calls Prashant and asks him to have an open discussion before the general public, which Prashant agrees to. Meanwhile, Nachiket instructs his team to shoot Nirmal the very moment they see him. The rest of the story is about whether Nirmal is able to meet Prashant in front of everyone and as to why is Nirmal doing all this. The promos of the film had raised hopes of being another engaging drama on the lines of 'A Wednesday'. What contributed to the success of 'A Wednesday' and 'Ghayal' before that was these films' heightened drama and edge of the seat thrills. That, however, seem to be missing in 'Madaari'. After an interesting start - the kidnapping of the Home minister's son in the beginning peeks your curiosity- the film tends to lose pace as the story progresses and fails to keep the audience engaged. Though the first half has some engaging sequences, it is the second half that comes as a letdown with the director failing to keep the interest of the audience alive. As a director, Nishikant Kamat, who gave us engaging drama like 'Mumbai Meri Jaan', has disappointed with 'Madaari'. While one had expected 'Madaari' to be another'edge-of-the seat' thriller like 'A Wednesday' and 'Ghayal', it comes across as a clichéd revenge drama. While the story of 'an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances' had a lot of promise, the promise remains unfulfilled due to a weak screenplay. Also, excessive melodrama mars the thrill element in the film. Also, most of the time the film moves at a languorous pace. Much had been expected from the film with Irrfan in the lead. While Irrfan again does a superlative job as the common man frustrated over the death of his son who decides to take on the system, he fails to rise above a weak screenplay. In terms of performance, Irrfan has come up with another brilliant act as a person trying to seek answers from the establishment for the 'wrongs' done to him. It is another award winning performance from the actor. Another highlight of the film is Jimmy Shergill, who gives an excellent performance as the police official Nachket . He is brilliant as the police offices who is razor sharp . As the Home minister's son,child actor Vishesh Bansal does a commendable job. He wows us with his 'natural' act as the child who transforms from 'rich spoilt kid' when he is kidnapped to one who is empathetic to Nirmal's plight. He also matches the histrionics of Irrfan all through the film. There is an excellent chemistry between him and Irrfan.The rest of the cast provides able support. The music of the film is ordinary. However the background score is good and carries the film forward. 'Madaari' is a subject which held a lot of promise and potential which has, however, been lost due to the film's weak script. The film is worth watching only for the brilliant acts by Irrfan and Jimmy and the excellent chemistry between Irrfan and the child actor. Rating: 2.5/5 (one for brilliant performances by Irrfan, Jimmy and the child actor, one for the chemistry between Irrfan and the child actor and 0.5 for the background score). UNI AR PY ADG 1005