Movie: Mohenjo Daro Release Year: 2016
Country: India (Bollywood) Language: Hindi
Genre: Adventure, Action, Drama
Mohenjo Daro Movie Review:
When I was told Mohenjo Daro is directed by the man who gave us Swades, Lagaan and Jodha Akbar, my expectations from the film increased many-folds and I ended up watching it today. BIG MISTAKE!
The film is such a disaster that writing the review also feels like a waste of time. The opening scene paints a larger than life picture of the orphaned small town Hero who longs for big city charms. Sounds familiar??? Well, this is just the beginning. The film is the same song and drama that has been done to death in Bollywood. I was shocked to see a Director of Ashutosh Gowariker’s calibre couldn’t give a single creative twist to the age old story. The film partly reminds me of Baahubali and partly of Harry Potter but neither it had the grandeur of the former, nor the magic of the latter.
The only ‘new’ thing about Mohenjo Daro was the backdrop of an ancient civilization. I guess Ashutosh Gowariker got so carried away with the idea of making a film on a unique era that he didn’t focus on the story at all. His only focus seems to be on the historical detailing which also is far from authentic. It is a period film but the characters use modern day abuses, the head gear and dresses of the female lead are very elaborate and revealing, the ancient sets and festivities can beat the modern day rural areas and there clearly hasn’t been made much effort in the language. The characters have weird names, say janawar in place of jaanwar, son in place of sona, sat in place of satya and turantu in place of turant… and that’s where Gowariker’s creativity ends.
I don’t understand why the heroine always get to wear sexy clothes irrespective of the backdrop of the film, how Hero & Heroine romance in public yet the villain staring at them is oblivious to the chemistry, how Heroine rushes to hug Hero in the arena itself after his fight, how Hero gets beaten black and blue in a major fight but comes around and beats his rivals to pulp later, why do the rivals come one by one and not attack the Hero together, even the cannibals seem to keep the discipline. These are extremely silly yet very common scenarios in Bollywood, but one doesn’t expect Ashutosh Gowariker to fall prey to these cheap tactics.
At the end when the Hero wins over the Villain, gets the kingdom and the girl, you feel the torture is finally over but no! The Director wants the Hero to be the saviour of the civilization as well. There is just no end to the heroism of our Hero. Also, there was a huge deal about Chaani being Sindhu Ma ka vardaan or something and that she will save the civilization one day throughout the film, yet all she does is romance the Hero and tell him she has to keep her father’s promise and marry the villain. I kept waiting until the end for this prophecy to come true but seems like the Director got so busy helping the Hero do one super human act after the other that he forgot to tie this loose end.
The only thing that I liked about the film was the song Tu hai. It’s soft and melodious. The performances are mediocre. Pooja Hedge is pretty but she sucks at acting. Nothing else stands out.
My suggestion: Don’t watch even for Hritik Roshan. AVOID!!!
Reviewed By: Aparna Kunal Jain
She manages a Facebook Group called “The Movie Club“…!