Absolutely Fantastic

Absolutely brilliant

A Brilliant Conflict

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

An Aamir Khan film is special.A slice of history that explores the mutiny of 1857, Mangal Pandey balances form and content beautifully. Lavishly mounted and recreating the era with precision, Mangal Pandey suits the term 'landmark cinema' and has all it takes to help Bollywood take a giant step into world cinema with pride.Recreating history is difficult and making you glued to your seats for the next 3 hours could be taxing if the content doesn't live up to your expectations. But Mangal Pandey talks about the martyr, his heroism, his contribution to India's freedom movement so effectively and immaculately that you can't help but salute the great freedom fighter. Ketan Mehta's execution of the subject leaves you tongue-tied, the visuals appear true to life, the performances which is so essential in a film of this genre are absolutely spellbinding, the sequence of events that led to the mutiny are carefully explained. Result: The viewer cannot help but get transported to an era when British ruled India.To sum up, Mangal Pandey is a brave attempt on the part of its makers to bring to life an important chapter from history. And make you realize that the freedom we enjoy today is only because of our predecessors, who gave their blood for the nation. The film succeeds in arousing patriotic feelings without a shred of doubt!The songs seem forced in the narrative. Ideally, the film could've done with two songs, 'Mangal Mangal' and 'Teri Adaon Pe Main Vaari Vaari'. The Holi track as also the romantic song filmed on Aamir and Rani, Toby and Amisha can easily be deleted since they only act as barricades in the otherwise smooth narrative.Another drawback is that certain characters remain underdeveloped. The women don't have much to do in the film. Even the track of the maid Mona Ambegaonkar, who feeds the British woman's infant, appears incomplete.Since the film deals with history and British rulers specifically, the usage of English language is imperative, but Om Puri's voice-over in those scenes makes it easier for the average Indian moviegoer to decipher and fathom what's being spoken on screen.Toby Stephens is simply amazing. For an English actor to deliver lines in Hindi and match it with appropriate expressions is no ordinary task. The actor compliments Aamir at every step and delivers a knockout performance that would only draw applause from Indian moviegoers.Both Rani and Amisha don't get ample footage. Rani is wonderful in a small role, but Amisha is relegated to the backseat completely. Kiron Kher is effective in a neat cameo. The film has a number of actors, but those who make their presence felt are Mukesh Tiwari, Sohrab Ardeshir and Amin Hajee.Mangal Pandey would look incomplete without Aamir's awe-inspiring portrayal of the great hero. Not once do you realize that the role is being 'enacted'. It's Aamir's splendid performance that makes the film a memorable affair, besides Mehta's storytelling of course. It goes without saying that his performance in Mangal Pandey should rank prominently in his enviable repertoire.

It is natural for people to expect this movie to be in the league of the super-hit 'Lagaan' - but for them, I hate to say that they are going to be in for a big disappointment. Aamir Khan's performance in this movie, as I mentioned in the title, justifies his position as one of the best actors in the world - he gave 100% effort into it as always. Unfortunately, that is the only positive side to it.It seemed to me that the whole movie revolved around Aamir, and all the others were mere puppets. Also, in my opinion, the friendship between Aamir & Toby was unnecessarily exaggerated, when it should have been portrayed in a much more professional manner - friendship is always built upon mutual respect and admiration for each other & not by wrestling, getting drunk & singing songs! Perhaps the film makers should have focused on this more, and less on the pointless roles of Rani Mukherjee & Amisha Patel.All-in-all if you are a die-hard Aamir Khan fan who doesn't expect too much from the script of his movies, you will enjoy watching this one. But don't think that this will be anywhere near Oscar material, as it definitely isn't.

A colourful Bollywood film, typically melodramatic, which co stars Toby Stephens as a native-sympathetic Engish officer on the eve of the First War of Indian Independence (formerly the Indian Mutiny, 1857). Aamir Khan looks good but is a bit lightweight and without depth as the central hero. Well staged and photographed, the long (210mins!) film suffers from some intrusive narration and several needless songs, which detract from the required gravity of events. Also it failed to transmit any real, necessary, social outrage at British rule a la Braveheart - instead substituting stereotypes for historical accuracy. Good to see the British in a less than positive light in this imperial context though, while Stephen's Indian dialogue, which didn't seem to be dubbed, was very impressively carried off. Film included one kiss, as well as some overt, non-symbolic lovemaking - a refreshing sign of the new Indian censorship policy. But it was all more entertaining than the plodding JINNAH (1998), also seen of late, in which another English actor, Christopher Lee, has a central role in playing similarly momentous events - this time as the founder of modern Pakistan. Another film handicapped by unimaginative incidentals, this time a clumsy framing device.SPOILER Best moment: at the end, when the hero, about to be hung for his part in the uprising, shouts ATTACK!!! is hoisted upwards to infinity while the appalled crowd of native onlookers surge forward to start the revolution. Even Prince Charles apparently clapped at this at the premiere...

Kehtan Mehta is one of the worst directors to walk the earth this movie was bad songs were bad acting was just terrible this movie failed at the box office and i'm pretty glad the script was terribly written by few selected writers who's idea was to make this movie what happened to Aamir Khan after 4 years in Lagaan he was the man what happened in this movie maybe the director is just bad and doesn't know how to direct how could this movie be a success terrible thumbs down to the director scriptwriters basically everyone who was involved with this movie i'mm just a biased commentator who's saying that every scene was a piece of nonsense what the hell is this and where did they come up with this stuff truly one of the worst movies made should be the tagline of this movie if you're a one-sided commentator then you'll hate this movie i really hated it