Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005)

I liked the whole atmosphere of the movie and the professional outlook. There should be more movies like this rather than the same soapy mushy mushy romantic movies.

The story built up nicely, from the point where Mangal (Aamir Khan) was just a normal soldier to the point of him fighting for freedom and leading from the front. The Foreign cast in the movie such as Toby also did a great cast in making the movie professional rather than a joke.

Heera(Rani Mukherjee) and Amisha did a good job although their roles were small. But it was needed since the emphasis was not them but Mangal.

All in all, a worthwhile movie. Although many dispute its originality and historical facts, with the amount of historical facts available, the movie was well directed and shot. Inspiring and the ending made my heart heavier .

Fmovies: I am amazed at the negative comments about this film, especially from India. I'll address those criticisms later after providing a summary of the film.

Set in 1857, the film tells the story of Mangal Pandey, a sepoy (private) in the 34th Native Infantry regiment of the Bengal Army (the army of the Presidency of Bengal, governed by the British East India Company and recruited largely from upper caste UP and Bihar stock). Mangal is depicted as an ordinary soldier who is offended by the introduction of the new Enfield rifle cartridges which were greased with pig and cow fat (the former anathema to Muslims and the latter sacred to Hindus). The movie shows him changing from a loyal Company sepoy who saved a British officer's life, to one who ends up questioning the logic of British rule. Other themes include his friendship with the same British officer, the officer's rescue and subsequent romantic relationship with a sati - a widow expected to burn herself on her husband's funeral pyre,and a prostitute who exclusively services the English brothels but falls for Pandey. The movie brings opium cultivation, corruption within the Company, the growing distance between English and Indians, as well as backward, traditional Indian attitudes into sharp focus.

All in all, the film is highly entertaining, a good story - well told, with powerful performances by the main characters. Aamir Khan is in his element, living the character of Pandey and conveying a fantastic portrayal of the soldier who realizes, bit by bit, that his loyalty to a foreign army makes him as "untouchable" as the low-caste man or prostitutes he scorns. Toby Stephens performance as the outsider in British India (Scottish, poor schooling, too fraternal with the natives) was brilliant and his chemistry with Khan was the high mark of the film's dramatic impact. The music by AR Rahman is louder than usual and some of the beats are frankly out of sync with the times ( the lesbianish gypsy dance number was a bit much!!).

The strength of the film was in conveying a sense of the time period - costumes,hair-styles, sets, manners ( the English officer's "Koi Hai"), were exactly what one could expect. The historical background was fairly accurate (sati was outlawed, opium cultivation was forced, the Company was beset by corruption, the English did have European only brothels) though the exact interpretation of events may have not been supported by history.

Which brings me to the criticism of the film. these seem to be of two variants - one, the film was not entertaining enough, and two, the anguished howl of the historians who decry its historical illegitimacy in the hope that no one may turn nationalist by seeing this film.

I will dismiss the first criticism, since that may be a matter of taste - certainly, desi (Indian) audiences raised on simpler story lines and poorer production values (see Asoka and n number of Indian period dramas) may find The Rising a bit heavy to digest.

Historically, the film may be inaccurate in the sense that Mangal Pandey may not have been the nationalist as portrayed, the relationships with the English officer and the prostitute are probably fictitious. But are they impossible? NO. The film has a paragraph disclaimer about inaccuracy at the beginning but this does not satisfy the history lobby. Why is it not possible that the official version about Pandey - that he was under the influence of bhang ( a hallucinogen) when he shot and killed an officer and then tried

Kudos to Aamir Khan for the dedication he put into the production of The Rising, an unfairly over-hyped film, that sets out to deliver the story of Mangal Pandey.

The fact that Aamir took 4 years to make this film complete with growing his locks and that awesome moustache along with tons of research is an anomaly in the Bollywood film industry. Films are churned out 3/day at the last estimate, but Aamir being the professional he is, waited years to make this movie after the unprecedented success of his Oscar nominated Lagaan.

Without a doubt Aamir carries the film on his shoulders. There were many naysayers about the fact that Aamir may have been a bit lacking in the height department for the role of a freedom fighter, but when you see his towering performance on screen, his small frame is all but forgotten.

The man is Indian Cinmas answer to Edward Norton from Hollywood. A great actor for his generation who is going to continue to bring Indian cinema (not bollywood masala flicks) to the international audience....i think it's his calling. Amitabh Bachchan seems to have chickened out of this task of elevating Indian cinema to an art rather than a mockery that it usually is.

Without a doubt another actor who comes close to stealing the film away from Aamir is British actor Toby Stephens... i was under the impression that his role would be quite small. Instead he has a fully fledged three dimensional character who is in the entire movie. And on top of that, he acts the entire movie in Hindi. A best supporting actor nod is in order.

This film could theoretically get an Oscar nod (unfortunately a win maybe a hard sell). The songs are probably distracting for a Western audience, but they'll have to live with them.

The film does fall short of being an all time classic. But i think we may have to wait for the initial hype to settle down, because the movie is without a doubt the best one of 2005.

The film is slow to start, with the first half being an introduction of all the characters. But pre-interval, the story and Aamir Khan rev into the 6th gear, getting ready for the inevitable Rising post interval.

Get this. I think the movie could have been a bit longer. A little more development was needed with some of the glossed over aspects of British rule.

But, all in all, a magnificent effort from all involved, especially Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens.

8/10

Mangal Pandey: The Rising fmovies. I saw the movie Mangal Pandey yesterday and the images are still quite vivid in my mind. I attribute this to the wonderful cinematography and the colourful canvas that Ketan Mehta uses to unfold the story before his audience.

The madness in Mangal Pandey's, roughly translated as "junoon", can only be portrayed by a great actor. A. R. Rehman's music is so good that it can make your hair stand on end. The four story tellers atop an elephant visiting villages as they tell their story is a great narrative technique.

The reviews of the film in the Indian film media shocked me. I fail to understand the motive or even the thought process behind them unless it is that we are all in the danger of succumbing to cheap cynicism when feelings or ideas of patriotism come up in a creative form.

People have complained about the colour and the song and dance that Ketan has used. I believe this is because of two reasons--one is that Ketan has a theatre background and this is a part of folk theatre -to use music and dance to convey messages. The other reason is that in a movie dealing with the tragic consequences of brave actions it is important to to provide some kind of relief.

Even the presence of the two women which has has been criticised, is important to give the feel of the time. Mangal Pandey had to be shown as a real living human being not some flat lifeless character unearthed from dusty history books. One of the female characters brought to light the repugnant practise of Sati whereas the nautch girl was used to depict the presence of pleasure houses for the company employees. Both are necessary to give us a realistic picture of that era.

A comment was made elsewhere that the younger audiences found it hard to connect with the historical character. Is it easier, then,for the youth of modern India to connect with MTV and reality shows with no content? And if this is so then does it not become even more important for our film makers to produce films with real content that may inspire pride in our culture and history?

Mangal Pandey is a great film. From the first scene to the last you can see the immense amount of hard work that has gone into its making.

The only thing that rankled was the voice over provided by Om Puri. It was unnecessary.

I think the movie deserves great accolades.

I saw The Rising on Saturday at the 3p.m. show at Naz8 in Lakewood,Southern California. I loved it so much that I went to see it again at9.30 p.m. show at Cinema City in Anaheim Hills which is nearer my home in Yorba Linda.This time I loved it even more.On Sunday I saw it for the third time with my son and his wife and a cousin of mine.That is three times in two days. I plan to see it again tomorrow with my wife and some friends.I do not want to describe a scene or give away any part of the story because I might be accused of being a spoiler.My point is to inform my readers that finally a film has emerged from India that takes us back to the golden era of movies, when dedicated filmmakers like MehboobKhan, when geniuses like Naushad and Majrooh Sultanpuri,when committed filmmakers like Guru Dutt touched our hearts and our souls.When K.Asifmade Mughal-E-Azam which retains its magic and luster even forty-five years after its release.The Rising is that kind of movie.It tells us, in no uncertain terms,what a movie can do and what movie magic is all about.After MehboobKhan, Ketan Mehta is another gift from Gujarat to the Bombay film industry.He has directed The Rising with amazing dexterity and professional competence.His cameraman Dhamija is almost as good asFaredoon Irani, Jal Mistry or R.D.Mathur.And they as everyone knows were giants.The art direction, the editing, the choreography is topnotch.And as far as performances are concerned it will be a long time before somebody even comes close to Aamir Khan.He has stretched himself to the limit and then gone beyond it.Toby Stephens gives him excellent support.Rani and Amisha in their small roles are effective.The team ofJaved Akhtar and A.R. Rahman are once again at their very best.Rahman'background score, though unobtrusive, is awesome.This is a movie that keeps you absorbed from start to finish.It is gripping, entertaining and what's more enlightening.And with each viewing you like it more.It deserves to be India's entry for the Oscars.If it is sent by India,it will definitely be nominated in all eligible categories and win inmost categories, especially in the best foreign film category.The entire team behind the creation of this great movie deserves to be applauded and congratulated.They have made India proud.

I went to see this movie with a friend of mine from India. I was going because of her, expecting to be bored to death. I was wrong! The Rising is one of these movies that are larger, bigger than life. The amazing powerful music sets the tone to a legend of a great folk hero for Indians. The acting, in most cases, was haunting. The cinematography was breathtaking and the songs, and I am not a big fan of people singing and dancing in movies, were magical and helped move the story along. Of course, it was a big history lesson form me (though the producers warn you that some of this is fictionalized), but I have a better understanding of the Indian culture now. I finally get to see Toby Stephensplaying a role that doesn't involve him being mean, a villain or plain evil.