Mohenjo Daro

If you had to recreate an ancient civilisation, what would you do? If you are Ashutosh Gowariker, and have had lots of experience in excavating the past (Lagaan, Jodhaa Akbar), you would scale it up. Instead of a few hundred years, you would go back a couple of thousands, ditching the merely old for the seriously antique.

Mohenjo Daro, set in Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilisation, is bigger but certainly not better than these two Gowariker's earlier outings. The sepia tone of the earth and the dwellings is balanced by an array of costumery: everyone looks like they have been handed out unstructured earth-toned garments, which follow the latest fashion du jour. And lest you thought they were not accessorised to the hilt in 2016 BC, perish it: the villainous chief wears a headgear of horns (the happily hamming Kabir Bedi, who carries it off with a raffish air) to an alarmingly tall crown of what looks like feathers, coins and shells sported by the leading lady (the debutant Pooja Hegde, who looks much better without, and may fare better in her next).In between is leading man Hrithik Roshan as poor indigo farmer Sarman, a resident of village Samri of the Sindh province, who has set his heart on going to neighbouring big town Mohenjo-daro. That is where, he is convinced, lie his fate and fortune, and an animal with one horn.Right from the build-up, featuring what is meant to be a thrilling boat ride and a fight with a fake-looking crocodile, all the better to show off Hrithik's rippling chest and ripping valour, Mohenjo Daro is a plod, and a heavily borrowed one to boot: the entry into a forbidden town (which strongly reminds us of Baahubali), the romance with a pretty stranger, the rivalry with a muscle-bound fellow, the unravelling of dark secrets, the saving of a town from a beastly ruler—we've seen so many versions of it before.It beats me how so much time and effort can be spent on creating something meant to be jaw-dropping, but which leaves you sighing at the sheer waste of it all. Just when you think the plot is shifting just a fraction, out pops yet another item number, complete with whirling dervishes (remember Jodhaa Akbar?) and belly dancers: how can you have a Hrithik film without getting him on the floor, even if it is daubed in mud?In Lagaan, there were the evil Brits who wanted more tax from the poor 'gaon-waalon'. In Mohenjo Daro too, along comes the demand for more 'kar-vasooli'. Gowariker also filches from the many Hollywood epics which dump their heroes into an arena and have them fight for their lives: Hrithik faces off with two iron-chested cannibals (Bedi terms them, helpfully, 'narbhakshi') who grunt and growl.

And just in case we were missing something, Sarman does a Noah, launches a massive rescue op, and saves scores of humans and animals, to swelling background music. By then, we're so exhausted that we let the waters of Sindhu Ma float over us, and wait for things to get over.

It's not really bad. But not very good neither. The crocodile is playing really good, very good actor! The unicorn also he plays well. The horses are OK too. I do not want to hurt the humans so... Kabir Bedi was much better when he was younger and even more beautiful in "The Black Corsair"Il corsaro nero(original title)(1976) and "La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!"(1977). Pooja Hegde is pretty. The girls dancing on her side are even sexier. Hrithik Roshan he does what he can do. The music and dances are beautiful. If you got nothing else better to do or you are like me and you want to watch all the movies in the world... Seriously now, watch any film by Fellini, Sergio Leone, Antonioni, Bertolucci, De Sica, Monicelli, Risi, Pasolini, Elio Petri, etc.

How much we knew about Mohenjo Daro before watching this movie? now I analyze how much do I know about Mohenjo Daro? As we all know from our text books that nothing much is available about this civilization but only the ruins which were discovered around 1920.

So it is safe to say that we see an outright fictionalized account of Mohenjo Daro, it is centered in 2016 BC, where farmers from a small village grow indigo and sell it in Mohenjo Daro. Sarman (Hrithik Roshan), a young man, who sees visions of one-horned animal, vows to go to Mohenjo Daro as he ruminates and thinks he has a connection with Mohenjo Daro. His father Durjan (Nithish Bhardwaj) sends him reluctantly, giving an amulet and warns to open it only when in extreme jeopardy. He comes to Mohenjo Daro, got besotted by Chaani (Pooja Hegde) and engulfs himself in the malevolent and evil practices of the king Maham (Kabir Bedi) and his son Moonja (Arunoday Singh).

We see large set depicting the old era, where Sarman fights with an artificial Crocodile and it looked atrocious, we are living in the period where we have seen an immaculate versions of CGI technology, people cannot distinguish real or fake. Why can the filmmakers not make use of it? And why are they presenting these stale graphics to the people who have seen Bahubali and some of them just seen The Jungle Book?

The screenplay is filled with clichés because once it is a loud love story then a revenge saga then a rescue operation of mankind against a goddamn dam.

The characterization is hackneyed as characters were introduced by characters. Here we again loose the leading lady, she has only one expression and could not even do justice to a scene where her father dies. Other actors play their parts flawlessly as everyone were seasoned. However, a sloppy script has never been saved by an ensemble cast.

The costume design is appalling; it could have been better because we can see the amount of money thrown into every frame. A.R. Rahmans's music is ordinary and it does not have the melody which we have heard before.

Overall, a boredom with cheesy script and clichéd characters. If you are a hardcore Hrithik Roshan fan and want to see one or two good fight sequences, watch it or wait till it airs on one the TV channels.

5/10.

first of all if you want to see new plot then this movie is not for you.I think this movie is like a pioneer and enjoyable if you watch with family or with friends.

Story line : 5 (predictable) Picturisation : 8 (Good one because i think they succeeded in creating old historic time) Action: 7 better than other Bollywood movies which have stupid type action scenes. Acting : 6 Hritik(Hero) done just fine but Pooja Hegde(heroine) just looks beautiful and lovely. Music/Background : 8.5 Rahaman done another good work you. Special Effects : 7 Good Work. So Overall movie is little loose in Story and Acting but if you keep your mind close to movie you will definitely like the movie.

Historical drama is not Bollywood's forte and it has never been treated seriously. Making a captivating historical drama, despite being fully factually correct, requires a great deal of unlearning and relearning, which Ashutosh Gowariker could not dare to do much for 'Mohenjo Daro'.

Making a film on 5000 years old Indus Valley Civilization, with scantly available research data, is a herculean task and it requires great labor and vision to make a compelling story out of it. Gowariker tried its best to deliver in every aspect of the film, but, unfortunately, he could not create a story as big as its characters and setting. He also did not shy away from falling in the trap of traditional Bollywood winning formulas i.e. run-of-the-mill romance.

The film is not a failure but the disappointments are too colossal to handle, especially when these come from the maker of films as great as 'Lagaan' and 'Swades'.

Hirithik Roshan, however, shines in 'Mohenjo Daro'. He has given one of the memorable performances of his entire career and has single-handily saved the ship from sinking. On the other hand Poja Hedge, the pretty girl with cute smiles, does not have much to deliver. Kabir Bedy, a very big name, could have done better if his character was not written in haste or without giving it shades and depth.

The background score of the movie, done by maestro A. R. Rehman, is breathtaking and epic in all senses. But the songs are ridiculously too modern to believe these could have been popular in 2016 BC.

The language is hard to understand fully, especially by Urdu speakers, but it sounds very powerful and great. Sindhu Ma (Indus river) takes center stage in the story and a huge thumbs-up for that, as this was one most satisfying experience in the whole film especially for the history lovers.

'Mohenjo Daro' is the first of its kind effort of making a film of this scale on the mysterious and very less known part of the human history. Either it succeeds or fails in impressing the audiences, it will be remembered as an effort of taking the road less traveled and telling less known stories.