Mohenjo Daro | A Period Film | Bollywood Movie Reviews

Ashutosh Gowarikar is a talented film maker and there are no two thoughts on that. He is often referred to as the one who makes lengthy movies. Actually there is nothing wrong in making lengthy movies, if they are gripping. And yes, you cannot score a century in each of your batting innings. The latest movie by him, Mohenjo Daro is in talks since many days with various reasons. We got a chance to watch the movies during recent holidays and we would love to share our views and reviews for it.

Mohenjo Daro is a period drama but not a historical documentary. So let us view it from the cinematic perspective only.

Book Plot:

Let us take a bird’s eye view to the story.

The canvas of the story is the time during Sindhu Vally (or Indus Vally) Civilization (2016 B.C.). The story belongs to Sarman, a youth who lives in a village named Amri. His parents are dead before many years due to illness and his uncle Durjan and aunt Bima raised him since his childhood. And, Sarman is grown up as a good human being. He is always there when the people needed him.

The people of Amri used to send all their crops to Mohenjo Daro, a city of dream as many of them believed. Durjan was also sending all his crops for selling there. Due to some mysterious reasons the heart of Sarman was dragging him to visit Mohenjo Daro, however Durjan never permitted him. But, this time, he have to, or other Sarman have plans to go there on his own, by keeping everyone in dark about his plans. Durjan however decide to let Sarman follow his heart and fate.

Sarman used to see a mysterious creature named Ekshinga (a creature with single horn, the head and torso of a horse and the rear and tail of a bull – it is often compared to the ‘Ekshringa’ of vedas. We discover later in the film that it is the symbol of Sindhu river and Sindhu was respected as a goddess in Mohenjo Daro. Sarman with his friend Hojo visits Mohenjo Daro.

On his arrival he meets with two important fellows, Lothar (the protector/guard of Mohenjo Daro) and Jakhiro, a mad fellow, who used to be wealthy before a few years. Jakhiro warns Sarman on his arrival by telling him that he should leave at once, as Mohenjo Daro is a city of Lust and Greed these days.

Over the period of time while he was trying to sell all his crops, he encounters Chaani, a girl of the preacher of Mohenjo Daro. He also got to know about Maham, Moonja and other greedy prominent figures of the city who are actually playing with the fate of the city and the civilization for their own personal gains. He decided to fight back and during his battle he got to know a lot more about the city and himself.

The rest of the story is good to explore on the screen.

The tale is interesting and Ashutosh made an honest attempt to justify it’s content as a director for sure. We are having a tendency to praise the movies that achieve commercial success OR are praised on the foreign soil. This period drama explores many things rightly about the civilization those days and how our greed (as a mankind or individual) periodically gave us many setbacks. The historical facts might be different (for example some historians say that rather than gold, the silver was considered as prominent material) but the facts about having rivers diverted by people, which occasionally resulted into death of the same, is not exactly unknown to mankind. When Avatar and some other films rightly explore that “playing with the nature is the biggest mistake of mankind, which is often result of greed and lust of a group of people” is praised (rightly of course); while a brigade of so called reviewers come to scold such attempt when made by a genuine film maker in our country.

Of course the movie has a few flaws, but it is one of the clean movie which you can view with your family. There are some fight scenes which require parental guidance, but there is no vulgarity, which is rare to see in the films these days. The trend to use abusive language and skin show to attract audience is rising. There are some exceptions for sure, and this film is one of them.

If we talk about the principal cast, Hrithik Roshan remains on the top as a fantastic performer. In fact Ashutosh Gowarikar mentioned at a place that Hrithik is the only one who can slip into Sarman’s character, and if he didn’t agree to work in the film, I couldn’t have made the film at all. One revelation is Nitish Bhardwaj. He is a talented actor as the matter of fact. He slips into his small character so effectively, that he looks it. It is worth the note that his character in the movie is quite different than his persona.

Kabir Bedi is effective, he keeps his charm at this age also. Arunoday Singh proves a perfect villain to match Hrithik in the film. Though his expressions doesn’t require that much versatility, he is convincing. Pooja Hegde does not have much to do. She is likable in some of the scenes. In initial segment of her part, her dialog delivery needed to be better. Diganta Hazarika and Narendra Jha are good talents who does justice to the roles of Lothar and Jakhiro respectively.

The background music is great. We cannot say that for all songs. Tu Hai is good and is kind of theme song. It is cool on ears and works like a symphony. Overall the album could have been better. It is worth noting that the music in the song is louder than the singer’s voice, making the impact and effect of some good lyrics, lesser.

Ashutosh fell in love with the locations near Bhuj and after Lagaan, he shot for this movie also there. The locales are filmed well. The sets are larger than the life and are effective. As only a few material is available for reference from the days of Dholavira, Hadappa (or Harappa), Mohenjo Daro and other cities. But the art director used the references well. Special effects are really good. There are a couple of places where you can expect them to be better.

Some of the scenes of the movie gives you Deja Vu feelings (including English films), but are effectively filmed. The cameraman knows his job and captures the things pretty well.

The good thing is, the director is in control. Rather than making Sarman’s character larger than the life throughout the movie, he kept him as a layman. He is volatile, following-his-heart person, who makes mistakes and learns from them. When you think that the film is almost over, as good won over the evil, the actual climax begins! This works in favor of the movie.

The box office reports come claiming the movie failed to recover the amount expected, are quite saddening. It is a genuine attempt to take a look at history and learn something about the shortcomings of mankind; which needs to be seen.

Overall, a nice movie which can be watched for sure.

Did you watch the movie? Or Are you planning to watch it? Which part of the movie you like the best? What is the most effective scene of the movie according to you? Is there anything you want to share about this movie or this article? Are you going to purchase it when available on DVD? Do not hesitate, go ahead and leave your comments below. And yes, do not forget to share this article with your friends over various social networks via Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and others. And yes, you may like to subscribe to our RSS feeds and follow us on various Social networks to get latest updates for the site to land right in your mail box.