Review : Mangal Pandey

When an actor like Amir Khan comes out of self-imposed hibernation after 4 years, the film had better be good. Or so I thought. MP falls way below expectations. The plot ofcourse is historical – the great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. However the director has been unable to make up his mind : documentary or compendium of item numbers and bare skin ? Honestly I was bored. The film should have been half the length it was, and tauter; unnecessary filmi extensions and sequences of Holi and dancing in kothas drag down this film. The problem : it’s too documentar-ish for a commercial film, and too commercial to be a documentary – neither here nor there.

Mangal Pandey (Khan) is a loyal Sepoy in the British Army and good friends with white British officer William Gordon (Toby Stephens). Trouble brews when the British change rifles, and force Indian sepoys to use them. The rifles use cartridges greased with pig and cow fat, unacceptable to both Hindu and Muslim Sepoys. The Sepoys led by MP rise up in revolt. MP is caught and hung, but this only stokes the fire of rebellion. The film ends with MP’s death.

Inserted into the film are vignettes on MP’s life; his friendship with Gordon and the pranks they pull off, his romance with prostitute Heera (Mukherjee), and his altercations with the untouchable village sweeper. The movie also presents a colorful Holi song-dance and a depiction on “Sati” with Patel playing the widow, Jwala. Jwala is rescued from the Sati pyre by Gordon, and in time becomes his mistress.

The film is narrated by veteran actor Om Puri. The narration throughout the film made me compare MP to Doordarshan’s yesteryear serial “Bharat Ek Khoj”. And “BEK” was better. MP is a history lesson cavorting as a masala-movie-wanna-be. I’m not a history-buff, but I’d expected the film to breathe life into a textual character. And Khan, while he acts well, is too full of fire and bluster to be an intelligent Mangal Pandey. Brave – yes, imbued with common-sense – no. The swagger and the hair don’t help either.

Mukherjee and Patel have little to do. Kiron Kher and large amounts of her cleavage appear fleetingly in a few scenes. Toby Stephens does well and steals the show as Gordon. The music is terrible; the songs are little more than words strung on a few drum-beats and item-numbers have been forced into the film. The Sophia Haque village dance is pretty awkward for a period film, and Rani’s Mujra does little to evoke interest.

Not recommended, unless you’re an AVID history-buff, and unwilling to cringe at the sight of winking sexpots.