Valuing our Independence

I saw "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" today.




Went without expectations and that helped. Everybody knows the story so it is the treatment, that was to look forward to.

I liked the timing of the movie, releasing the weekend before Independence day. It helps to some extent in telling the present Indian populace how our Independence was hard earned one.I could not understand all the dialogues in their entirety, since, I have only a passing acquaintance with Hindi. But I could very much grasp the narrative.

There was polite applause when the protagonist takes on the enemy. And when he gets beaten, there were a few stray shouts too. But in general, the audience viewed as a entertainer, and some more. That's all.

Coming to the film as such, it is a balanced portrayal of events which shows East India Company's opium trade as well as Mangal Pandey firing at his own countrymen when it warranted. But it seems that Aamir Khan has had some doubts regarding the amount of interest that our First war for Independence would hold for the masses as a screenplay. So he resorts to Rani Mukherjee and Amisha Patel as a backup. And that affects the could have been taut storyline. Rani with her cleavage and expressions swings between erotica and glamour. Not at all needed in this kind of a movie. A.R.Rahman is good in both BGM as well as songs, but whether he is authentic as to the music of the land and time, only our North Indian brethren can tell.Overall, I could not but feel shades of Kamal Hassan in Aamir Khan. Be it the method acting or the portrayal of women (Amisha gets lip-kissed, though not by Aamir) in the movie, Kamal could be seen in him.

But this movie which has undercurrents of Hindu-Muslim unity in these times of religious intolerance, is a powerful reminder of the oppression and humiliation that pre-Independence Indians had to face, and the struggles and courage with which they overcame them.Now, when we celebrate Independence Day by watching special latest movies in TV, this is good. For this, I salute Aamir Khan.

And, India, my country, I am proud of you and your glorious history!

"I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love........
...most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
we may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
and soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
and her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace."
- Cecil Spring-Rice