Mohenjo Daro (2016)

Theatre Watched : Screen 4 (Dolby Atmos), Prasads Multiplex, Hyderabad

It’s very sad to see a filmmaker’s downfall who inspired so many people with his works. “Asutosh Gowariker” is definitely one among those who almost got disappeared after his “What’s your Raashee?” and “Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey”. He became one of the best filmmakers with his much appreciated “Lagaan” and “Swades”. After six years of hibernation, he came up with “Mohenjo Daro” starring Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde in lead roles. This film is produced by “Siddharth Roy Kapur” and “Asutosh Gowariker”.

Plot :

Set up in 2016 B.C., Sarman (Hrithik), a farmer who always fantasises about “Mohenjo Daro”, a city far away from his village, reaches it in the name of business. There he happens to meet Chaani (Pooja) and falls for her. How Sarman wins Chaani’s love? What are the other secrets he found in Mohenjo Daro? form the rest of the plot.

Narration – Analysis :

This film created a confusion since it has released the first look poster of Sarman. While the poster was promising, unimpressive theatrical trailer was released. While “A. R. Rahman” released a feel good album with haunting instrumentals, Gowariker released the video songs which were very unimpressive. Hence it couldn’t create an interest to watch the film coming from the maker of Lagaan. Yet there was a hope inside.

Yes, “Lagaan” and “Swades” were the hope factors to this film. Gowariker’s films are often criticised for having a longer run time, thanks to Hrithik for reducing this film’s script from 200 pages to 80 pages, which made this the shortest Gowariker’s film with 155 minutes of run time. The narration lag which appeared in Gowariker’s previous films never appear in this film. It goes at a higher pace.

There are no great sources of historic information about Indus Valley Civilisation yet Gowariker did an extensive research and also added his imaginative power. Some detailing like how people measure time, how goods are exchanged in business as there was no money, they even didn’t know about a horse was impressively presented by Gowariker presented these things in his authentic way.

Though set up in 2016 B.C., Gowariker had taken enough care in weaving a plot that is reliable with present generation like portraying caste differences of “Upper City” and “Lower City”. Lesser historic information gave a good dramatic liberty for the narrator.

While all the video songs released before the film disappointed, they were set at the apt positions when watched the film and all the visualisations were enjoyable. I liked “Sindhu Ma” song on screen very much and “Mohenjo Mohenjo” which had different styles of choreography.

The best part of the film was the “Arena Fight” where Sarman confronts two gigantic warriors. Here all the crafts gave their best whereas Master Rahman has given better than the best. The background score helped in such a way that an audience waits how Sarman wins over the warriors though he knows Sarman wins at any cost.

Gowariker’s prowess in screenwriting is proved in the climax sequence where Sarman has to save his people from floods. The way Gowariker drove Sarman’s mind was very impressive where Rahman shines again. “Lakh Lakh Tora Rahman Saab!”

So, on the whole superb screenwriting by Gowariker and full fledged outstanding score of Rahman made Mohenjo Daro a gem.

Performances :

Mohenjo Daro is the zone where Hrithik belongs to and he totally owned it. Pooja Hegde looks beautiful. Kabir Bedi and Arunoday Singh shined as Maham and Moonja. Rest cast like Suhasini Mulay, Manish Choudhary, Nitish Bharadwaj did their parts well.

Strengths :

Screenplay. Gowariker is at his best where he had no space to use technology in his scenes.
Music. It’s so good to listen to Master’s full fledged score after a long time. Go in Dolby Atmos if possible.
Performances. Hrithik Roshan had completely owned the zone of Mohenjo Daro.