The Rising starts with the song ’’Mangala Mangala Mangala’’. In case you enter the Cinema late and have missed the song...worry not you’ll get to hear it and see it 100 more times in the next 2 hours. Now, I have nothing against the song and used to like the song but elders say ’’Too much is too bad’’ and Ketan Mehta should have listened to them. By the time you come out of the movie hall all you will doing is just humming the song.
The movie revolves around the happenings which lead to the First War of Independence. Toby Stephans as Captain William Gordon has given a real good performance. The fact that he is theatre artiste in England should have helped a great deal but the transformation from a baddie in a bond movie (Yes - he was the villain in Die Another Day !!!) to a Captain whos wrestles with Mangal Pandey in the ’akhada’ is phenomenal. Rani Mukherjee and Amisha Patel were in the movie for ornamental purposes. Amisha had more crying scenes in the movie than dialogues and Rani has more songs than dialogues !! Talking of songs - thats a big disappointment !!! Suddenly out of nowhere you find yourself watching a song and you try to think what exactly is that song doing there among the war of independence !!! I have saved the best part for the last - and that of course is Aamir Khan. One has to see this for the dedication this fellow has in his work. All other actors pale out in comparison. The story line is also fabulous and Aamir has done full justice to the role of Mangal Pandey.