Mohenjo Daro: An ‘awful’ attempt to recreate history

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pooja Hegde, Arunoday Singh, Kabir Bedi

Rating: 1.5/5

Period films seem to be filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker’s favourite genre. The director who has earned accolades for his previous blockbusters like Jodhaa Akbar, Lagaan and many more is now back with yet another film reflecting the most renowned chapter in the history of civilization – Mohenjo Daro. Right from the release of the trailer, the film has raised many questions and faced a lot of hatred from the audience. Had the makers gathered the facts and used them wisely, this film could have been a gleaming piece of work in India’s history. But regrettably, Gowariker, this time, chose the wrong way.

The film starts off with the era of the prehistoric India. Sarman (Hrithik Roshan) discovers something dangerous during his sail and victoriously kill the gigantic predator crocodile, making his villagers proud and happy for saving them from the risk. Sarman is overwhelmed with the felicitation and once again seeks permission from his uncle and aunt to visit the city of Mohenjo Daro, who, for reasons only known to them, deny his plea. The disappointed boy makes a plan to sneak-out of the village with his friend, but after dealing with a lot of unwillingness, his uncle and aunt consider his request and give him a 'identity coin' which as per their instruction should be used only in a ‘life-and-death’ situation.

He reaches his dream city, Mohenjo Daro, and is mesmerised by the lifestyle, visuals and people. He comes across the 'Sindhu Putri' Chaani (Pooja Hegde), the daughter of a religious pandit (Manish Choudhary) and instantly falls for her beauty. Soon, the two are inseparable and this ‘love-at-first-sight’ story unfortunately becomes the first half of the movie. 

The curious and excited Sarman happens to visit the 'upper city' of Mohenjo Daro in search of his newly found love and it is here, that Sarman also gets introduced with the inequality that exists due to the rule of the evil Maham (Kabir Bedi). Maham, with an aim to seek revenge from Harappa, performs all the deeds which do no-good to the people who serve him. Sarman soon becomes the people's favourite and on becoming one of the victims of Maham's cruelty, raises his voice against him. On the other hand, Chaani’s father, the pandit discloses a shocking and an important secret to Sarman. He decides to rescue the people from the evil ruler and make the city an unbiased, equal and a happy place to live. How does he do that? How does his love story bloom? The answer to all such questions is what follows through the rest of the film.

Made on an estimated budget of Rs 115 crores, the scale of the film is lavish. The set is well made and to an extent impressive. Surprisingly, not a lot in the film, including the story and screenplay is entertaining enough, thereby making it a major letdown and highly disappointing. The movie is set in 2016 BC. The least Gowariker could have done is to ensure that the facts are well researched, used and communicated/shown the audience. I believe, the director has in turn taken the audience for granted by wrapping “the already used love-story formula” with Mohenjo Daro. Besides the gripping storyline, what I missed in the movie was the facts in the end, before the credits. But I shall not complaint about it as the movie by itself was nothing but a ‘ghisi-piti purani love story.’

Only Gowariker knows what went wrong with this movie. But under the name of 'cinematic liberties', has he also become of those many directors who have taken cinema and the audience for granted. Overall, the movie is TOO long – the first half is all about Sarman’s love story and bores you to an extent of walking out of the theatre. It is thanks to the second half, where the action sequences (especially the one with Bakar and Zokar) and the bearable VFX keeps the audience hooked the screen.

Talking about the performances, the film clearly does not belong to the lead actors. Let’s not even discuss Hrithik’s acting, but neither his physique nor his ‘Greek God’ looks helped the movie. He is good only in the action sequences, especially in a fight in the beginning of the second half. Pooja Hegde, who made a debut with this film, is below average, to a point where in some scenes she is not able to cry, in spite of her previous experience as an actress. The only two actors who are thoroughly impressive in the film are the negative leads – Kabir Bedi and Arunoday Singh. Their work as Maham and Moonja was exemplary right from the start.

Nothing, literally nothing has saved the film from failure. Not even the film's music by the legendary A R Rahman. While the background score is decent, the songs and the lyrics penned by Javed Akhtar are very poor.

On the whole, Mohenjo Daro is definitely not worth watching. The director has not only wasted money and time, but also an opportunity to make the movie of his lifetime. What should have been an EPIC movie sadly turns out to be an EPIC FAIL.