I have seen this film on a pirated print but never wrote a review because in these prints always some important scenes are missing and the video n audio quality is simply pathetic, I waited for the original DVD and yesterday I have seen it.

It feels sad that the most awaited film of the year did not scored upto the mark, although the huge budgeted film was above average in India but it was not the status that all movie buffs specially Aamir Khan’s fans were looking forward for, all were expacting Mangal Pandey a sure short super hit if not block buster and recird breaker.

But there are solid reasons for this lower box office status and also unmet expectations of most of teh people.

1. The film took four years in making.
2. There was extra ordinary hype around this filom, much more then Lagaan.
3. People were expacting a film as entertaining as a yash chopra’s as well as intelligent as a shyam benegal’s.

So basically due to the shi-fi expactations the film was not upto the expactations, despite of the fact that it was an entertaining and well made flick that fulfilled all the essential requirements of teh box office.

Another fact is that that very little is known about the life of Mangal pandey as Aamir khan has said in one of his interview that ’’ After a long research on Mangal Pandey for the film, now I come to the conclusion that why there was so mcuh little written in our 7th standard books on Mangal Pandey, there is no trace of his childhood, his early youth and his personal life’’.
This is an acceptable excuse but not an enough excuse to show prostitutes as Mangal Pandey’s soul mate and love interest and an about to be satti innocent woman as a Britisher’s mistress.

Also there were some really irritating, mis placed, un wanted songs that diluted the impact of the film to a major extent like ’’Rassiya’’ and ’’Dekho aai holi’’. These two songs were totally unnecessary and acts as a major dent in the quality of the otherwise a fairly decent movie.

Moreover the show off of heave cleaveges specially of the sobar lady ’’kiron Kher’’ was very very cheap.

Now the poitive sides. Aamir’s performance was undertoned and he performed his role with so much understanding of the character and presented a profound portrayal of MAngal Pandey despite of the scatchy character and no background for Mangal’s life. RANI mUKKHER Ji was obviously not as great as was in Black but still she manages to portray a prostitute with all the required flavours and expressions. Toby’s was equally good as Aamir and gave a very intelligent performance. Ameesha looked very innocent and pretty after Gadar... but was there any role for her in the film at the first place?????

Music was not bad but sounds average in front of the grandeur of the film. I personally liked ’’TAKKEY TAKKEY’’ and ’’Ya madad Moula’’.

ketan Mehta’s direction was good if one considers this as a routine fare with average expectations, but for a grand grand film that took four years in making the direction was a bit ordinary and some times jerky and shallow.

On the whole, do not expact a very profound and insightful historical masterpiece, just watch and enjoy like any other entertaining bollywood film, enjoy the war/action sequences, enjoy Aamir;s and Tobey’s performances, enjoy Rani’s mujraas, women ’s cleaveges (if u r a sick minded one ;) ), some nice dialogues here and there, some crispy cinematography and enjoyable treatment. If you dont rise your expectations for The Risinf, I am sure you will not be disappointed. Also one should keep in his mind that not every film can be a Mughal e Azam, Lagaan, Sholay, HAKHK and DDLJ.

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Not revealed
Best to watch with:	Friends
Movie Genre:	No Comment
Best part in the movie:	No Comment