1857- Will it rise to our expectations??. Review on Mangal Pandey - The Rising

1857- The Rising

What?s in store for us?

Aamir Khan is one of the very few actors in Indian Cinema who has managed to create interest in the minds of Indian people not just by his looks on screen but also by his sheer presence.

The basics of the whole movie

Firstly, people would get to see Aamir Khan after a gap of 4 years and mind you, it is really a huge gap and lot of things has changed in these 4 years. For example SRK has achieved a demi god status (which was already) in the Indian cinema and the hold has just got tighter.

Cast

Aamir Khan - Mangal Pandey

Rani Mukerji - Rani

Amisha Patel - Jwala

Toby Stephens - William Gordon

Coral Beed ? Emily

Directed by ? Ketan Mehta

Produced by- Bobby Bedi

Music- A. R. Rahman

Story

The story is set at the backdrop of Indian mutiny of 1857. This year is called as the year of the first war of Independence.The film has been filmed exclusively for 6 months with a mix of Indian and British crew.

Strong friendship develops between an Indian soldier ( Mangal Pandey) and his British officer (William Gordon) during an Afghan battle where Mangal saves the life of William Gordon. This event creates a strong friendship and binding loyalty between them that transcends consideration of rank and race.

Meanwhile, the friendship stands challenged by the coming of Emily and also by the introduction of new cartridges among the troops. The friendship faces another challenge when Gordon saves a young girl Jwala from the funeral pyre of late husband and ends up falling in love with her.

Now, the new cartridges require soldiers to bite the greased casing which is rumored to be made of animal fat. Gordon assures Mangal that this is not true and Mangal trusts him and bites the grease only to find that it was indeed made of animal fat. Trust soon turns into betrayal and what follows is mutiny, the first war of Independence under the leadership of Mangal Pandey.

What to watch out for ?

1. The first and foremost thing that I would vouch for would be Mr. Aamir Khan, whom we will get a glimpse of after 4 years.

   
   




2. The story though of similar lines of Lagaan surely seems to be different both in terms of the way it is handled ( ofcourse I hope there are no cricket matches in this movie).

   
   




3. Of course, after the success of his last full length movie ''Swades'', ARR is back in the reckoning and even the moderate success of the music of Kisna ARR looks set for yet another hit movie album.

   
   

We have discussed the pros of the movie so far, let us just have a look for a con in the whole movie!!