'Mission Mangal' review: Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan's film makes science easy and entertaining:
There is a lot to celebrate in director Jagan Shakti’s film 'Mission Mangal'. Based on ISRO’s successful Mars Mission in 2014 which catapulted India among the big league in the space program, the film celebrates the unrelenting hard work and dedication of 17000 engineers and scientists who made the mission possible.
Written by Shakti and R Balki, who also serves as the creative director, ‘Mission Mangal’ may have taken copious liberty in terms of characterizations and oversimplifies science but ultimately delivers a film that makes you proud of India and its unknown heroes.
Akshay Kumar plays Raghav Dhawan, a senior scientist who is made the director of Mission Mars after one of his earlier missions fail. It’s sort of a punishment posting to a department which most ISRO scientists feel will never take flight. Tara Shinde (Vidya Balan), Raghav’s project manager in previous missions though thinks otherwise. As Raghav and Tara go on convincing the higher authorities of the organization about their mission, they face multiple obstacles from the word go. From setting up a team of experienced people to getting an approval of the desired budget, to getting the desired satellite in the orbit of Mars in a limited time- nothing seemed to go in their favor initially.
Eventually, they put together a motley group of junior scientists consisting of Eka (Sonakshi Sinha), Kritika (Taapsee Pannu), Neha (Kirti Kulhari), Varsha (Nithya Menen), Parmeshwar(Sharman Joshi) and Ananth (HG Dattatreya)- who initially are not willing to put extra hours at work but later come on board to achieve the impossible.
While the story is an inspiring one, it is the oversimplification that spoils the narrative. Science is dumbed down to make it more relatable for the audience at large. Then there are several scenes which seem so unnecessary to the main plot and one can feel that it has put there merely to make a science-heavy film more commercially viable.
Since its an Akshay Kumar film, there are surely some lines that seem straight out of books of nationalism. An ailing Army officer eggs his scientist wife to go back to work and not turn into a nurse because she too is on duty for the country. The story- through its subplots- also pay token mention to certain pertinent issues at hand including Islamophobia, and women’s right to choose career over motherhood. And while the intent is good, one can’t help but wonder if it has all been included to appease one and all.
All the actors deliver commendable performances but it's Vidya Balan who shines the most. Even though her character seems an extension of what she played in ‘Tumhari Sulu’- as the multi-tasker cool mom, Balan still manages to shine the most in ‘Mission Mangal’. Her eyes light up every time the mission leaps ahead, her eyes look tired and worn out when her ever complaining husband (Sanjay Kapoor) nags about some household chores that haven’t been done. Balan is such a natural and manages to fit into every character she plays really well making it her own. The other lead Akshay Kumar, who also serves as the producer of the film, lets Balan take the center stage, while Kumar is himself pretty comfortable playing a maverick scientist. Of course, he gets to say the dramatic patriotic lines on more occasions than one but the actor makes his character quite believable. Much like their characters, Kumar and Balan ably support each other- their camaraderie spills out the screen and they make for an interesting pair. Bollywood films usually romantically pair up two lead actors in a film, so it is interesting to watch the actors play a boss and a subordinate in this film instead.
Pannu, Sinha, Menen, and Kulhari also look refreshingly relatable in each of their parts. Each of their characters is quite distinct from each other and they suit their parts well.
Unlike ‘Hidden Figures’, where the three women faced strict opposition based on the color of their skins, the problems in ‘Mission Mangal’ are more logistical than emotional. The women have to manage home and work and only listen to taunts of a senior scientist, a NASA returned, Indian American played by Dalip tahil, who makes his character more comical than evil. I also wish they had shown more of ISRO and the work they did to achieve such a feat instead of dramatizing the personal stories of each of the women.
The film gives a hat –tip to scores of women in India who juggle work and home with complete ease. Termed as ‘MOM’ (Mars Orbit Mission) it truly celebrates its women and lets the male superstar underplay his role. In fact, in one scene one of the men wonders out loud whether the mission would have been as successful if it was termed ‘DAD’ instead of ‘ MOM’.
Despite the lines that play to the gallery, despite its oversimplification of science, and its unnecessary need to put in scenes just for entertainment purpose- ‘Mission Mangal’ works. It tells a story that is worth telling; it celebrates women and their inherent ability to juggle multiple roles and also puts the spotlight on some unsung heroes of our time. Ultimately, it’s a wholesome family entertainer that makes for a perfect watch this Independence day.
It’s not fair to say that 'Mission Mangal' needs an Akshay Kumar, says Vidya Balan
Express News Service
The Mangalyaan space probe entered the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014. Conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the project’s fruition made history for India. We became the first Asian country to achieve the feat and the first in the world to do so in one attempt.
Even more significant was the mission’s staggeringly low budget (around Rs 450 crore), the lowest ever for a Mars mission, and far below the Hollywood blockbuster Gravity, as was pointed out at the time. But for director Jagan Shakti, whose sister works at ISRO, the achievement went beyond numerics. “It’s a story of how ordinary men and women, who take the same bus as we do and buy vegetables with us, are capable of being extraordinary,” he says.
Jagan salutes the human victory of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in his debut film, Mission Mangal. Ambitiously cast and produced, the project looks too risky to be handed over to a first-timer (one recent exception was Uri: The Surgical Strike, a muscular production helmed by newcomer Aditya Dhar).
Jagan sounds confident about his grip on the subject, as well as the technical know-how of making a space movie. “ISRO was helpful in terms of giving us access to the material and scientists,” he says, “The right balance between art director and VFX helped us design the rocket, which was the most important component of the film. While we had the exact diagrams in possession, we couldn’t have designed a similar-looking device.”
Though certain arcs have been fictionalized, lead actor Akshay Kumar assures 80-90 percent of the film is based on facts. He hopes after watching the film, Indian scientists would be inspired to work for their country, instead of migrating to NASA. The actor feels the Indian government is directing renewed attention to space exploration.
Sonakshi Sinha knocks Akshay Kumar off his chair during 'Mission Mangal' promotion
“Becoming a vaigyanik (scientist) was once considered a male pursuit. Girls were discouraged from joining the profession. The same applied to engineering and police services. Today, those things have changed. That’s why we show in the film that it doesn’t matter what your gender is. A girl, too, can become a great scientist.”
Posters of Mission Mangal were criticized for allotting more space to Akshay, a popular male actor, instead of his female co-stars. Vidya Balan, who plays Project Director Tara Shinde in the film, argues that the story isn’t only about women scientists.
“This mission had equal contribution from men and women. It’s great that a woman’s contribution is at least being acknowledged. It’s not fair to say that this film ‘needs’ an Akshay Kumar. It’s great that an Akshay Kumar has done this film, despite knowing that women have equal space in it. Because normally, (male superstars) are not even willing to share equal space. But Akshay has not only acted in the film but produced it too.”
Mission Mangal marks the Bollywood debut of Nithya Menen. The Southern star plays Varsha Pillai, a satellite designer tasked with making a budget-efficient payload. Nithya says she didn’t have apprehensions about working in an ensemble cast for her first Hindi film.
“An actor should be smaller than the film. On every project, I think of my character not in terms of screen space but what is her significance in the story.” Besides Mission Mangal, Nithya will also be seen in the upcoming Hindi web-show Breath 2. “I recognize that it is a good time for me to be here (in Bollywood). More than films, I feel OTT is my space because it is completely content-driven. You can be as subtle as you want. There’s no need to compromise or dumb things down.”
Taapsee Pannu portrays a navigation scientist in Mission Mangal. She is paired opposite Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays an army officer. “A husband and a wife are both working for the nation. But because my character is a woman, her relationship with her work is different. That’s the dynamic that will be explored in the film.”
On female actors reclaiming strong roles in Bollywood, Taapsee says, “Let’s just say I have been a small part of this big change. There was a time when I had thoughts of quitting after working for 5-7 years because that was the shelf-life of a female actor. Today, I am certain I’ll keep working as long as good work keeps coming. So that’s a change I’ve witnessed in front of me.”
Mission Mangal is scheduled to release on August 15. The film also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari, Sharman Joshi and HG Dattatreya.
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