Mangal Pandey Disappoints

Although I appreciate the exploration of a very interesting historical subject, on the whole I was disappointed by Mangal Pandey as a film. Although the acting by both Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens is commendable, the entire film just does not come together effectively. It seems disjointed. Loosely structured. It fails to create empathy for the lead character. It gets lost in building several sub-plots which tend to distract and further remove the audience from the main story in the film. And although the songs are actually pretty good when listening to them on a CD, they become another source of distraction in the film - with several instances where the film cuts from a pretty intense scene directly into a totally unrelated song - wasting the emotional energy that might have been built up by the prior scene.

The canvas of the film did not seem as grand as they could have ... should have been. The trip to Afghanistan seems like a waste - for a meager 5 ordinary minutes in the final cut. It seems that in the interest of casting a somewhat known "white" actor the director lets the story of Gordon Williams dominate the screen - instead of focusing on the main protagonist: Mangal Pandey. My hypothesis is that the script would have been a lot tighter had the movie jumped straight into the main plot - and stayed with it.

I know there is a continuing debate about the historical inaccuracies portrayed in the film. Just google "mangal pandey + historical inaccuracies" and you'll find plenty to read about this subject. My take on this: sure as a filmmaker you can adjust your frame of reference - but ... BUT ... if you start to stray from the essence of history than you are doing your audience a disservice. But let's get real - moviemaking is a business - and producers are constantly going to look for ways to brand a film "as a true story" and yet fill it with "all that sells" ... be it sex, violence or in the case of Mangal Pandey - a girl-on-girl dance that was fun to watch - but did it really belong in the film?

On a technical note, although I was not impressed by the cinematography and sets on the film, I was impressed with the sound design. This is an area where Hindi films have made a lot of progress in the past 5 years - and I was happy to see it take another step forward with MP. So should you go watch it? Sure, why not? At least that way you will have a right to have your own opinion! :)