The public had great expectations from the movie. In fact, the critics & makers of the film were quite sure that this movie might do better than ’Lagaan’. Mangal Pandey had been marked as the most expected release of this year. But, it failed to fulfill expectations.
The biggest hype of the movie was the comeback of Aamir Khan after a long break of 4 years.
He was also expecting something great from the film.
The Story...
Well, nothing much to say about the story. This movie depicts the reason for the sepoy mutiny of 1857 just like how I studied it in my 8th standard at school. Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the British forces saves a British soldier, namely Gordon( Tobey Stephens). Their friendship develops. The Indian soldiers refuse to bite off the Enfield cartridges as they recieve information that the cartridges have been smeared with cow & pig fat. But, after Gordon, promises the soldiers that there is no such thing( Actually, he lies), Mangal Pandey, who is a loyal friend of Gordon believes him & bites off the cartridge. Finally, the soldiers confirm that the rumour of the animal fat is true. Mangal gets very angry & breaks his friendship with Gordon. This is where, the mutiny begins.Pandey finally dies, being executed by the British.
The other social factors involved in the film are abolition of Sati, which is depicted by showing Gordon saving a widow(Amisha Patel) from Sati & later on accepting her as his wife.
The Reasons for the film’s failure...
The main reason for the film’s flopshow seems to be the unwanted stuffs invovled. The scenes where Mangal & the prostitute(Rani Mukherjee) converse & get close seems to have raised too much aggresion among the people of Uttar Pradesh. The director, Ketan Mehta, has assumed too many things, only because little information was available about Mangal Pandey. However, this film got a standing ovation at the Locarno film festival, especially where Mangal says ’Halla Bol’
The Songs, at a glance..
A.R.Rahman, has done a mediocre job at music for this film. His tracks for Lagaan were far better than Mangal Pandey. But, there a couple of songs which sound really good. These are ’ Mangala.. Mangala..’ by Kailash Kher & ’Holi Re’. Others songs are boring & unwanted.
Performances...
The performance by actors have been good. Here, I need to give special mention to Tobey Stephens , who has done a breathtaking job in the film. My views on the actors is that, every one has done their homework.The narration by Om Puri has been outstanding. I felt that, it was even better than Amitabh’s in Lagaan. Aamir Khan’s new look also adds to the hype of this film. He grew his hair for 2 years & the movie was shot for 180 days.
For Aamir, this film will be surely a good experience as he would have got to know more about the past struggle.So, is this movie a good successor for Dil Chatha Hai.... Mangal Pandey, the Rising has become The Falling... Well, I dont claim that the movie is bad, it’s OK. Paisa Vasool!