The Rising is an interesting film. It has a few unnecessary songs and a couple of roles that could have been completely done away with, I agree. Yet the film stands apart from the others in terms of performances, dialogues and characters.
Aamir Khan plays Mangal Pandey, a sepoy with the 34th regiment at Barrackpore under the command of Captain Gordon, a role played ably by Toby Stephens. Remember him as the arrogant cricket captain of the British team in Lagaan? He has put in such a commendable performance as Captain Gordon who finally joins the *rebel forces* that I totally flipped over this guy…:-)
Rani Mukherjee looks gorgeous as Heera, the courtesan who falls in love with Mangal’s dynamism and bravery. Amisha Patel has a utterly expendable role but she makes Toby Stephens look good and that’s reasonable by all standards! The music is really good and some of the songs hum on and on in your mind.
At the end of it, I walked away with a nice feeling of pride about being an Indian. Among all the countries that broke free from colonial rule, how many of them have reached a status as India has? The country with the 4th highest GDP in the world, one of the largest base of knowledge workers, one of the hottest economies today, the growth rate, a democracy – this country is indeed dhanya. From here on, it is only going upward.
notanangel78 says:
I’m still wondering if i want to see the movie. I saw parts of Lagaan (didn’t think much of it), and so I wasn’t sure i’d be able to sit through Mangal Pandey!
August 14, 2005 — 6:47 pm
deelight says:
And Lagaan is way better than this one.
August 15, 2005 — 9:09 am
deelight says:
I think this film works only for the NRI audience. It’s getting slammed here big time. I found it so tedious to sit through. Besides the facts were all over the place. Characters weren’t given enough clarity or thought. To think that a nautch girl would be dressed like the way Rani was in that era was a bit far fetched. I’m going on so I’ll stop! 🙂
August 15, 2005 — 9:09 am
Lakshmi says:
I guess there was a lot of artistic license taken.
August 15, 2005 — 5:45 pm
hemya says:
if i remember correctly……in ‘lagaan’ , the capatin (andrew russel) of the english team was paul blackthorne……toby stephens played the bad guy in the last bond movie ‘ die another day’…….
August 15, 2005 — 11:35 am
Lakshmi says:
I have heard that one but I can’t recall seeing him in ‘Die Another Day’.
August 15, 2005 — 5:45 pm
Anonymous says:
Paul Blackthorne or Toby Stephens
Hi,
Was just passing by and saw the small mistake that u had made…..
Captain Russel was played by Paul Blackthorne, while Toby Stephens was the villain, after the facial modifications of the North Korean Prince, in the bond movie “Die Another Day”.
Now if u do not remember Toby in Die Another Day….
Arun R.
August 16, 2005 — 4:13 am