Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 13 minutes
Director : Jagan Shakti
Cast : Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari, Sharman Joshi, Vikram Gokhale, Nithya Menon
Kid rating : G
Mission Mangal is based on the real-life Mangalaayan – India’s successful mission to Mars, launching the satellite into orbit around the red planet. The story goes thusly: after a failed GSLV launch, scientist Rakesh Dhawan is relegated to the Mom (Mars Orbiter Mission) or Mangalayaan project. The project has tight resources and is considered almost an impossibility. But with Dhawan’s encouragement and Project Director Tara Shinde’s can-do attitude the ragtag team is confident of its success.
The film rests heavy and is made interesting by having a two-pronged approach – the technical and the personal. Kudos to the director for making the film explain its technical aspects in layman terms (complete with audio-visual presentations, including one with puri-frying), which makes the film accessible to many viewers who might have otherwise been turned off by dry science.
Mission Mangal also gives us the back-stories of all of its women-heavy crew. Where Krithika Aggarwal (Pannu) is worried about her injured soldier husband, Neha Siddiqui (Kalahari) faces discrimination because of her religion. Eka Gandhi (Sinha) is ready to leave India and move to the the US, and newly-pregnant Varsha Pillai doesn’t think she can cope with a stressful job and being a mom at the same time. Tara (Balan) is their valiant leader, and she herself is juggling her all-consuming work and her brimful personal calendar and homelife.
The technical challenge is interesting and the characters likable, especially when they all get on board with Tara’s vision and enthusiastically work on vanquishing their goals. Vidya Balan breathes life into her character, and really makes the film what it is. Akshay Kumar is a bit waffly for a Mission Director but he does deliver the patriotic speeches with gusto! Plus it is sorta an underdog story – they are fighting against great odds, on an extremely tight budget, looming deadlines, and no one expects them to deliver anyway. What else is there to do but succeed?
Mission Mangal delivers more drama than science, but that is why it succeeds. It is a well-executed, feel-good ride, and post-watch I’m very well-pleased.
Kidwise: kid-friendly.
