It was my first ’ first day first show’. I have been long awaiting this much talked about film. Unfortunately, Mangal Pandey fell short of my personal expectation.
Its a good film, but there were few glaring moments / sequences which push the film into <’’just above mediocrity’’> category. The film looses direction and just ambles along for about 45 minutes before the interval... the build up of romantic angle could have been dealt more subtly. Unlike Lagaan ( which one would obviously compare this film to) all songs are out of context and could have been avoided... especially the item song by 2 ’sexy looking’ vanjaara girls.. pushes this film and topic into depths of commercialisation. The songs in Lagaan had a rustic and folk touch to it... am surprised how a talented and thinking director like Ketan Mehta and producer bobby bedi could fall for it. The Holi song and quwaali was not necessary. The quwaali looked almost like Ketan mehta doing a ’Manmohan desai’ social integration message. Bottomline : the songs slackened the pace of the film.
iIf the songs were avoided or used in context the film could have got a crisper feel.
As for the positives, the performance of Aamir was superlative and so was of Tobey stevens.. between them they occupy atleast 90% of the film and are the only 2 who have meaty roles. The rest of the ’star’cast only had ornamenttal value... especially Rani and Amisha.. who had no role at all. Among the other performers... the Indian muslim who acts as the commander was also good, and the boys who belong to Aaamir’s regiment and the sweeper boy.
Talented actors like Kiron Kher, Sulbha Arya ( only dialogue is to groan), Mona Ambegaonkar ( I wondered thru the film as to what her significance was.. except for one of the last scenes) were wasted...
All in all.. the crux of the film about Mangal Pandey being the inflexion point in the first fight for freedom is well communicated. I just wish the really talented team had done a crisper job. The film definitely falls short of the benchmarks set the earlier works on the same topic lik Lagaan, Legend of Bhagat Singh, Swades.
My recommendation to all would be to definitely watch the film to appreciated the Mental strength and courage of mangal Pandey , it a character we should try to imbibe.