A Colossal Disappointment. Review on Mangal Pandey - The Rising

What happens when immensely talented and proven artists like Ketal Mehta, Aamir Khan, Rani Mukharjee, A.R.Rahman, and Javed Akhtar plunged themselves into oblivion for 3 years and makes historical based on India’s First War of Independence against British East India company in 1857? Will it turned out to be masterpiece and great cinematic achievement of Indian movie industry?

Let me first say, Mangal Pandey- The Rising could have been better, much better, may be classic. It had great chances to be another Mughal-E-Azam. If you have huge expectation of any movie, doesn’t matter how above average movie is, if its falls under your expectations, it’s always become colossal disappointment. Mangal Panday is prime example of how screenplay can ruin powerful premise. Even powerful acting performances can’t achieve anything if script itself is weak.

Story

Mangal Pandey is an epic tale against the backdrop of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. British colonial rulers are plundering the country, treating the locals unjustly, and using the Indians as sepoys, the infantry of the army to control and regulate the population.

'The Rising' tells the tale of a heroic sepoy Mangal Pandey (Aamir Khan) who saves the life of a British commanding officer William Gordon (Toby Stephens) in a fierce battle in the Afghan wars of the mid 19th century. The event creates a strong friendship and binding loyalty. The friendship is soon challenged by the introduction of controversial new gun cartridges among the troops.

The new cartridges require soldiers to bite through their greased casing, made of animal fat and suspicion spreads that the British are ignoring religious beliefs in favor of cheap weapons and polluting their Muslim and Hindu soldiers. Indian soldiers in the infantry refuse to use them and Gordon assures Mangal that the cartridges are free from pollution. Demonstrating total trust in Gordon, Mangal bites the cartridge only to discover that it really is animal fat. With rumor spreading that the cartridges will be widely used, it is this act that ignites the resentment in the country.

Mangal Pandey leads a mutiny against the British, thereby setting off a first wave for India’s freedom from its imperialist rulers.

Pros

There are many things I loved about Mangal Panday - Rousing action sequences, performance of lead actors especially Aamir Khan, authenticity of cinematography – sets, locations, wardrobes, and dialect delivery of 19th century India.

Most of all action sequences including cartridge controversy, war of independence is well executed, up to mark of excellence, and heart throbbing. Some sequences are really standout – Afghan war, Aamir bites cartridge, Aamir’s first revolt by putting his body against cannon, glimpse into cartridge factory, mutiny war, and climax of Aamir’s publicly hanging.

Aamir Khan as Mangal is outstanding. I don’t have any words to praise his acting skills and dedication. The way he changed his body features to associate himself with Mangal was amazing. His eyes speak everything for him – his stubbornness, arrogance, shame, and anger. His transformation from ordinary soldier to ferocious rebel is commendable. He has stretched himself to the limit and then gone beyond it. This movie shows us why he is one of the finest actors of our time.

Cons

One of the prime reasons why Mangal Pandey failed from my point of view is its wayward screenplay, underdeveloped main character, distorted facts, and unnecessary subplots.

All character based historical movies are must be treated as biography with single vision. Great biographies like Patton, Raging Bull, and Gandhi always concentrated on main characters never deviated deep into any subplots. Mangal Panday has stark similarity with Oliver Stone’s Alexander where both movies deviated far into distorted facts. I wish movie followed Mangal Panday’s day-to-day life more in detail. I wish movie concentrated little bit more on independence war strategies of Nana Sahib Peshwa, Tatya Tope, Rani Lakshmi Bai, and Last Mugal emperor Bahadur Shah. I also wish they have shown us why Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Nizams didn’t join the Sepoy Riots.

Instead of concentrating on freedom fight and Mangal Panday’s life, movie deviates to three huge childish subplots. First is Aamir and Toby’s relationship. They say there was one British officer helped freedom fighters in 1857 but that doesn’t mean he is best friend of Mangal Panday himself. Second and third are Rani and Amisha’s stories. Both Toby and Amisha and Aamir and Rani’s stories weaved in the movie for commercial reason. You can’t have commercial subplots when you make movie based on historical facts. I don't have any problem with social issues of 19th century of sati pratha, caste systems, and prostitution as long as it’s logical. I am not complaining about acting ability of lead characters especially Toby, Rani and Amisha but their roles were totally unnecessary or wrongly referenced. I still don’t understand, why talented actress like Rani accepted this project. No wonder Aishwarya Rai pulled herself out of this project.

Another problem with screenplay is its overall structure. The way screenplay intervene flows of superb rousing action sequences with lengthy pale subplots mars overall effect. Both inconsistent editing and pale screenplay makes it uneven ride. Sometimes you can’t get out of couch and glued your eyes on proceedings and sometimes you loose interest. Personally I believe Farrukh Dhondy (Person who wrote another poor effort – Subhash Ghai’s Kisna), as screenplay writer is main reason why titanic ship called Mangal Panday sank down.

A talented director Ketal Mehta is great example of wasted talent. He shot himself to fame with bang in Mirch Masala, since then he directed nothing but mediocre dramas. Music of A.R.Rahman is below average according to his standard. I liked “Managal Mangal” theme in initial reels of movie. All other songs were totally unwarranted, misplaced and seems forced into narrative for commercial reason. Whereas music is hindrance in movie, Rahman’s background score is masterful especially in all infantry sequences.

Conclusion

Mangal Panday is the movie of epic proportion without soul and brain. If you watch Mangal Panday as a commercial fare then it is very well made movie, but if you watch it as serious periodical drama then its non-historical subplots make it unacceptable hence forgettable. If you really want to like this movie then don’t expect it as historical fare and just see this as another Indian masala movie. As long as my concern, I am not watching this movie again ever. It’s a colossal disappointment.

Story is based on DVD text