August 13, 2016

"Mohen-Jodaro" (Hindi Film Review): Neither Entertaining, nor Authentic


Asutosh Gowarikar was one of India’s finest directors when he burst on the scene with “Lagaan”. As a director who immensely enjoys the process of research preceding a piece of history, he revels in the creative churn that precedes the shooting of a film as much as the post-production part of the film. His attention to detail and sparkling clean sense of cinematic opulence have always brought out the lesser-known nuggets of Indian history which are not as widely-reported as other facets. Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar were all about such missing chapters which not many could refute. Because he selects historical settings with under-researched anecdotes or imagined stories, his films are seen for the figments of creativity rather than as records of authenticity.

Mohen-Jodaro had therefore raised excessive hype with lilting music videos and extensive interviews about the making of the film. The civilization that predates India before the world knows us was always  interesting - it has bits and pieces remotely remembered from high-school history books: a unicorn, pieces of currency, goddess Sindhu, the great public Bath, the multi-storey housing colony with higher and lower cities and the advanced irrigation system more than few millennia ago.

What makes Asutosh’s films different is the cinematic high it gives viewers from the creative liberties he takes in re-imagining a world now forgotten and lost in translation. Coming from that background, Mohen-jodaro  had lovely music, a great-looking heroine and an angular hero who looks sturdy and stressed to represent a character that’s improbable. It also has the most menacing villain combination of Kabir Bedi and his wicked son. But the magic of Gowarikar is clearly missing. It is missing in the sweep of scenes selected to highlight the cultural aspects of a civilization. It is missing in the hopeless fare dished out in the name of a story that resembles a cross between a Bahubali, Game of Thrones and Gladiator. It is missing in the overall lack of feel-good sense except in the goodness of a song or two.

The story  has no authenticity or coherence;  it just stitches up a romantic story between an indigo farmer Salman (Hrithik Roshan) and Chaani (Pooja Hegde) blended with  a predictable fight of an under-dog out to avenge his father’s death. The only attempt to authenticate this plot is the climax of a spectacular water wave which engulfs all life. It is not proven in archaeological studies whether water which is the life-blood of the Harappan civilization has actually blown away the Indus Valley civilization to smithereens. Historians always opined that apart from building flood defences, the highest recorded rainfall was a measly 13 cms but the film showed a gigantic downpour which almost vanishes the Indus Valley population. There were other liberties also taken like showing grapes and coconuts (these may have come later and resemble today’s lot), Arabs and Mongols (who probably invaded India much later atleast two thousand years later).

To be fair, there are some highlights. Apart from showcasing jaw-dropping infrastructure like the Great Bath, the rectangular gypsum-coated bricks built with  stunning finesse, director gives a taste of action in the first half and second half with the deadly fight against the alligator or the exhausting clash of the hero with two man-eating titans. The rest of the motifs pass without an excuse and fail to prompt any emotions –it is so dead-pan unlike Asutosh Gowarikar.

Music by Rahman both in BGM and the songs stands out. The song “Tu Hai” actually could have been better edited on screen because the beauty of the melody gets lost in the elaborate buildout – which is not as taut as the promotional video song. Hritik Roshan gives a convincing performance as a jaded Indigo farmer with werewolf costumes and under-emoting. Pooja Hegde looks ravishing in her skimpy dresses with enough skin popping out of all curves in the body. But she sure doesn’t know how to kiss Hrithik in the film despite the length of the scene ( a real surprise in Asutosh films which are otherwise sober and subtle). A perennial problem with Asutosh is the elaborateness of motions before characters are established and the story moves. It looks the editor always takes a  nap in his films; this film is excruciatingly longer without the usual impact  at 167 minutes. The SFX is patchy and not segued well with the visual canvass Asutosh projects in his films. Cinematography is to blame for this gap between effects and visuals.

ON the whole, this is a film that is a botched attempt in unearthing a visual interpretation of an ancient civilization but the talent and money being wasted  for this pursuit is colossal – it could have actually gone into research of the over 1000 plus settlements that the Civilization inhabited in its march from Afghanistan to Mumbai. Instead, Asutosh gives us an unexciting adventure that you have seen in many period films. Director now has to get back his mojo by investing his time on a better narrative with a historical context. If you skip the film, a better alternative is to  catch up on some of the umpteen well-researched documentaries on Mohan-jodaro rather than go by the director’s half-baked version of history.


Rating: 2.5/5

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