Hum is Desh mein rehkar bhi achoot hai
Mangal Pandey, 1857
Ok, One Word One Thing, Watch IT
You might feel by the end of this movie that Mangal Pandey rose to the occassion and still he wasnt as willed and wise as for that matter Bhagat Singh was, BUT and thats a big BUT, Mangal Pandey was a SEPOY a soldies who knows only to fight and win wars for his Company and Platoon, The Company: East India Company, The Platoon: 34th Infantry, He is even clueless that what actually the company means, he kills no matter they are his own countrymen, Coz he is afterall a soldier. Mangal Pandey for a sepoy caught between the facets of Nation and his loyalty as a soldier to the company, Mangal Pandey rises and with him Rises the whole Nation. Jaage hai Ghar Saare, Jaage Nagar Saare
A Succint Extract from the History on which the movie is based.
The British East India Company has now over 100 years of rule in India, they Trade and they Trade with the War Trade as there game plan, using more than 300,000 Indian Soldiers to fight for them, The company Introduces ENFIELD rifle for which there is a new kind of bullet in use called KARTOOS, the fact remains that this Kartoos is required to bit before use which is in turn made up of Greased Fats of Pig (Forbidden for Muslims) and Cow (Holy for the Hindus), Mangal Pandey a Sepoy rebelled against this killing 2 British officers and in tun was hanged to death leading to the First Indian War of Independence.
The Movie
Its fictionalized to an extent to make us watch a watchable movie, You dont expect a Old DD serials based on Indian Independence that make you yawn rather then evoke the adrenaline, Mangal played by Aamir Khan is a Sepoy who saves the life of a British Officer William Gordon played by Tobey Stephens, This bonds them into friendship and trust, The introduction of the Bullet and new rifle brings the testing times of friendship which unfortunately fails in the circumstances, Mangal betrayed by a friend who hides the truth of Kartoos from him, Dejected and feeling like a person who has just failed to his religion, his community becomes a rebellion and rest is history, his love interest (Indian Moviesss) played by Rani Mukherjee who portrays Heera and Amisha Patel plays Jwala. Plus there are parts added as fictional elements as British Actors.
Honestly, The Movie moves fast and hookes the viewer to the screen, The initial is spellbinding when the Mangal Mangal song hits the screen with people folkloring on an elephant and informing people about Mangal, The story moves in flash back with Gordon remembering the whole episode, The Afghan war and Visuals plus the confrontations and happiness between Aamir and Tobey have been portrayed well, But there is a slight sluggishness with the Englishmen conversing in English and might just irritate hardcore movie audience but alls well when Om Puri makes a apt voiceover as a sutradhaar, Watch the movie for the Visualistic grandeurs that really grip me as a viewer like the Troops Marching, The Mashaaal scene the Parade Ground scene (That you see in the TV Promos). The good thing about the movie that along with being a Tale of a Period it informs you about pretty unknown phases in history and also it entertains and it isnt a serious period drama that the so called Bookies made it to look like and wrote the film off, Damn them.
The scenes which grip me are the ones
1) Aamir saving Rani from the British officer and the scenes following them
2) Mangal asking William Gordon about what is a Company?
3) Aamir's rebellion in the Parade Ground (Its a Whisteling and Clap Shattering experience)
4) Mangal Holding his own against a British Soldiers.
Plus all the scenes between Mangal and William Gordon.
The loose links in a movie of this scale that has to balance between a serious period fact plus has to entertain a audience are there but they dont bring down the movie that much, like
1) You might feel William Gordon taking more screen time then Mangal
2) The flow broken by songs especially the unneccesary ones like Rasiyaa
3) The Portrayal of the Maid working in the Britishers house
4) The court scene wherein Mangal doesnt say much in his defence.
5) Some scenes of British couples mingling and love making which is although brief but surely can be avoided.
But all said and done the movie is perfectly Watchable, It informs, It entertains and ofcourse it has Aamir Khan after 4 years on screen.
Technicalities
To be honest I had my fingers crossed when I saw Ketan Mehta as a director but somehow I give him 7/10 for his work, he really surprises me with lot of scenes plus also makes some mistakes which I thought could have been avoided, like the finale wherein he could have given a bit more screen time and dialogues to Mangal to really spark the fire.
Cinematography hehe you will kidding to pick flaws in this and Editing which I feel would require to sit with few scissors to cut the songs out of otherwise a perfectly flowing story. Action is perfect portrayal of the times, remember Tipu Sultan the canons, the swords, Abbas Ali Moghul gets 5/5 for it. Nitin Chandrakant Desai has done a polished perfect job for creating the times, remember guys this is 1857 ,150 years ago.
Music by A.R.Rahman is to the situation with Mangal Mangal already a hysteria and Main Vari Vari finding flavor with ladies too, For more read my Music review of the same, the BG score is 10/10 and Lyrics PERFECT.
Performances
Aamir Khan is back and he is back perfectly balanced, no overt shouting, no overshadowing your Co Stars and ofcourse INTO the character. He looks the Mangal which he made us wait for 4 years.
Tobey Stephens to be honest is just so good, I mean he gets nice amount of screen time and he plays it superbly and a special mention to his Hindi which is the best among the funnily worst of other British counterparts.
Rani has a small role but she excels and does extremely well with her expressions in that Song, Amisha is there as a filler to be honest and again I find her gasping for breath.
The Support cast cannot make mistakes in a movie of this scale and it doesnt, Especially watch the people of all communities tied to there Hookaa and discussing and making fun of Britishers, that was done well.
All said and done, Mangal Pandey is watchable ofcourse and it has few glitches but not something that can deter my excitement for a second time watch.
A Special Mention about Mangal Pandey's character that was
You find Mangal killing his own people for Britishers, You find him clueless many a times and you might also find him weak in some scenes and frames BUT people before you pass a Judgement, Mangal Pandey was a Soldier who didnt knew much about Human Feeling of Freedom, he thought whatever wrong he did was his duty as a soldier and hence the time and circumstances awakens the Indian in him and thats the Mangal Pandey that is known as the first martyr of India
Cticize's Quote:: ''WATCH IT''
Rate and Comment and lemme know a few things
PS:: ~~My advice would be watch this in a Single Screen to get the real feel of the movie with Whistles, Cheers and Clap Shattering~~
