Mohenjo Daro

When you look at the extensive production design and the kind of blending of the one liner history of Mohenjo Daro, there is something in this film that asks for a little bit of an appreciation. But still the latest Ashutosh Gowariker film’s main drawback is its lack of a surprising story. From Gladiator to Bahubali, the story is the collage of all the clichés we have seen in the silver screen and the movie ultimately becomes a set piece oriented uninteresting story telling.

The movie is set in 2016 BC and Sarman is this farmer living in a village near the city of Mohenjo Daro. After many attempts, he convinces his uncle and gains the permission to go to Mohenjo Daro for business purposes. What awaits Sarman there and how it ultimately ends up being the story of Mohenjo Daro is what Gowariker trying to depict in this two and half hour long movie.

If you go in to the attention to detail factor of this film, there are many laughable things you can find in it. Like how stylized are the people there, Hrithik’s beard is always perfectly trimmed, Pooja Hegde’s costumes are pretty similar to some of what we see in Fashion shows and a few more are there which easily justifies the disclaimer they have put in the beginning. This film is just a thought to place a love story in the middle of this Indus Valley civilization and use the historic elements we know as plot elements. Harappa gets mentioned as an enemy land, there are Neanderthal man eaters and of course the destruction of the civilization in that huge flood. So it is better to look at it as a Bahubali as we do know that the things mentioned in a film like Bahubali is total fiction.

Hrithik Roshan delivers an earnest performance and the guy seems to have taken a lot of effort for the character of Sarman. Debutante (in Hindi) Pooja Hegde looks pretty and that’s what the only thing her character in this movie demanding. If it was her actual voice, I must say it sounds pretty similar to that of Alia Bhatt. Kabir Bedi and Arunoday Singh are the villains in this beta epic and all they are doing is staring and yelling. Nitish Bharadwaj (iconic Television screen Lord Krishna) is there in this movie and I have to say seeing him in that shape might make you feel old.

You cant even compare Mohenjo Daro with Ashutosh Gowariker’s classy films like Lagaan, Swades or Jodha Akbar. When I look back at the story, I really feel that the movie had the potential to be a wonderfully interpreted movie. But Gowariker only touches those elements that you may have studied in your fourth standard and there isn’t much of a convincing attempt to take us to that civilization’s inherent beauty. The story is way too easy to predict. This lack of surprise gets a little bit of cover up through those set pieces which as per the quality of visual effects in Indian movies was pretty impressive. The cinematography was really good and so were A R Rahman’s tracks.

Expecting another Lagaan would be a big mistake if you are planning to watch this one. I wont say it is terrible. At the end I felt disappointed because of the lack of creativity in the writing department of Mohenjo Daro.

Rating : 2.5/5