The Rising
More than a decade ago, ace director Manirathnam came out with his version of the Mahabharath in which Rajnikanth played Karna and Mamooty played Dhuriyodhana, Now years later producer Bobby Bedi who is fresh from his latest release 'The Rising- Ballad of Mangal Pandey' has decided to bring out the celluloid version of the epic in the form of a trilogy directed by none other than Manirathnam himself.
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to watch the most hyped Indian film of the year, 'The Rising' which marked Aamir Khan's return to the screen after a four year sabbatical, the movie has had raving reviews floating around and I had no different an opinion. Aamir's performance was rivetting and so was Rahman's music. Aamir's intensity & amazing screen presence reminded me of a post scientology Tom Cruise.
The plot- The East India company introduces a rifle that used cartridges that sepoys had to bite into to release the powder into the barrels, the cartridges were sealed by cow and pig fat. At first, trusting the Company lie that the cartridges do not use pig or cow grease, Mangal bites the cartridge, but when the truth is revealed, he leads a rebellion against the British Empire, more like a wake up call for the Indians, who post 1857 started revolting against the 'goras' but attain freedom from them only about a century later. Rani Mukherji plays a prostitute in the movie, a character I felt was totally needless.
I remember my history text books with chapters about the 'Sepoy Mutiny' tipped as the 'First war of Independence' by Indian historians where the mention of Mangal Pandey was limited to about a line or two and now it is good to see that Ketan Metha has come up with a three hour saga on the hero. The movie also stars Toby Stevens, Rani Mukherji, Amisha patel and Om Puri as the narrator.
The movie seems to be drawing huge crowds even in Chennai where Hindi movies are'nt really a priority. In an innovative effort to promote the movie with msn, Aamir launched his own blog at
http://spaces.msn.com/members/mangalpandey/
Since its release, the movie (and its lead actor) has been plagued by numerous controversies, including distortion of historical facts, the government of U.P had even called for a ban on the film. Against all odds Aamir keeps rising!
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to watch the most hyped Indian film of the year, 'The Rising' which marked Aamir Khan's return to the screen after a four year sabbatical, the movie has had raving reviews floating around and I had no different an opinion. Aamir's performance was rivetting and so was Rahman's music. Aamir's intensity & amazing screen presence reminded me of a post scientology Tom Cruise.
The plot- The East India company introduces a rifle that used cartridges that sepoys had to bite into to release the powder into the barrels, the cartridges were sealed by cow and pig fat. At first, trusting the Company lie that the cartridges do not use pig or cow grease, Mangal bites the cartridge, but when the truth is revealed, he leads a rebellion against the British Empire, more like a wake up call for the Indians, who post 1857 started revolting against the 'goras' but attain freedom from them only about a century later. Rani Mukherji plays a prostitute in the movie, a character I felt was totally needless.
I remember my history text books with chapters about the 'Sepoy Mutiny' tipped as the 'First war of Independence' by Indian historians where the mention of Mangal Pandey was limited to about a line or two and now it is good to see that Ketan Metha has come up with a three hour saga on the hero. The movie also stars Toby Stevens, Rani Mukherji, Amisha patel and Om Puri as the narrator.
The movie seems to be drawing huge crowds even in Chennai where Hindi movies are'nt really a priority. In an innovative effort to promote the movie with msn, Aamir launched his own blog at
http://spaces.msn.com/members/mangalpandey/
Since its release, the movie (and its lead actor) has been plagued by numerous controversies, including distortion of historical facts, the government of U.P had even called for a ban on the film. Against all odds Aamir keeps rising!
posted by GS at 9:30 AM
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