Today I finally saw Mangal Pandey. A good, well-made movie. Let me be more detailed.
Things which were "really" good:
1. Aamir himself. His hairdo. His acting. Of course he had the maximum footage and so a lot of scope to show his skills. But you may pick any random 5 minute scene from the movie and you would still appreciate Aamir's performance. The amount of plasticity Aamir is able to get on his face is tremendous. The transition he made from a burning fire to a twinckled smile in his eyes in one particular scene was just too much!
2. Rani. She played a prostitute. I still feel she has too soft features for the role, but she acted well. In her first scene she created a huge impact, without uttering a word with just expressions. The carefree attitude that the role demanded was carefully put in by Rani.
3. Sets and film technique. I personally felt that the era was captured well, and huge amount of effort (and of course money) was put in for this. And I guess, it paid off. Camera work was flawless.
4. Kiran Kher. She came as a surprise and a pleasant one. She was the boss of a brothel. She just seemed so easy in front of the camera. As if she was not acting at all.
Things which were good:
1. Music. May be I need to listen to it more to really appreciate it. But for now, I didn't find it exceptional. The song "Mangal Mangal" was used as a diluting agent throughout the movie. And the holi song was offbeat. The background score where the english men are surrounded by villagers with "mashals" was the best.
2. Dialogues. There were a few dialogues, talking more fiction than real history. But more or less, dialogues were pretty well written.
3. Narration. Recently, there is a trend of fancy narrations of the story in Hindi movies. In this movie, for a change, narration was very simple still pretty impressive.
Things which needed a change/improvments:
1. Amisha Patel. Her acting was quiet bad, with same expression carried on the face throughout.
2. Scene where Heera (Rani Mukharjee) comes to meet Mangal in the jail night before he is to be hanged. That was too dramatic!
Overall, this movie was pretty good. And all Aamir fans can be damn sure that they will come out feeling "paisa wasul".
Things which were "really" good:
1. Aamir himself. His hairdo. His acting. Of course he had the maximum footage and so a lot of scope to show his skills. But you may pick any random 5 minute scene from the movie and you would still appreciate Aamir's performance. The amount of plasticity Aamir is able to get on his face is tremendous. The transition he made from a burning fire to a twinckled smile in his eyes in one particular scene was just too much!
2. Rani. She played a prostitute. I still feel she has too soft features for the role, but she acted well. In her first scene she created a huge impact, without uttering a word with just expressions. The carefree attitude that the role demanded was carefully put in by Rani.
3. Sets and film technique. I personally felt that the era was captured well, and huge amount of effort (and of course money) was put in for this. And I guess, it paid off. Camera work was flawless.
4. Kiran Kher. She came as a surprise and a pleasant one. She was the boss of a brothel. She just seemed so easy in front of the camera. As if she was not acting at all.
Things which were good:
1. Music. May be I need to listen to it more to really appreciate it. But for now, I didn't find it exceptional. The song "Mangal Mangal" was used as a diluting agent throughout the movie. And the holi song was offbeat. The background score where the english men are surrounded by villagers with "mashals" was the best.
2. Dialogues. There were a few dialogues, talking more fiction than real history. But more or less, dialogues were pretty well written.
3. Narration. Recently, there is a trend of fancy narrations of the story in Hindi movies. In this movie, for a change, narration was very simple still pretty impressive.
Things which needed a change/improvments:
1. Amisha Patel. Her acting was quiet bad, with same expression carried on the face throughout.
2. Scene where Heera (Rani Mukharjee) comes to meet Mangal in the jail night before he is to be hanged. That was too dramatic!
Overall, this movie was pretty good. And all Aamir fans can be damn sure that they will come out feeling "paisa wasul".
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