The scientists of Mission Mangal had a clear goal: success. How they would get there, they would figure along the way. Watching the movie, one gets the sense that this is perhaps how the film’s makers also approached their goal.
Their objective, it seems, was to tell a classic underdog story that would fill Independence Day audiences with patriotic fervour, pride and josh. Going by the applause in the theatre, it looks like they will be successful.
But how they get there is the problem.
The film takes off quickly, introducing all the key scientists and what their role in the Mars mission will be, along with a scene to give the audience a glimpse into their personal lives.
Tara Shinde (played by Vidya Balan) is the perpetual conservationist and solution-finder, be it using a belan to squeeze out that last bit of toothpaste from the tube or getting her son to sit on a crumpled sari when the iron conks off. These “home science” techniques will stand her in good stead as Mangalyaan’s project manager.
Neha Siddiqui (Kirti Kulhari Sehgal) is dealing with a personal crisis and with being rejected as a tenant by landlords because of her surname.
Bigotry also crops up when Tara’s son gets interested in Islam, much to the disgust of her husband, who also doesn’t like the fact that Tara works. In fact, it almost seems like the film, through each of its protagonists, is trying to dispel some or other prejudice.
So, there’s Varsha Pillai (Nithya Menen), whose mother-in-law delights in reminding her that she has not had a child; Kritika Aggarwal (Taapsee Pannu), who has to suddenly deal with a crisis and make hard choices; and Eka Gandhi (Sonakshi Sinha), who has her own demons and dreams.
To round off this motley crew, there’s Sharman Joshi as the god-fearing celibate Parmeshwar and H.G. Dattatreya as the elderly Ananth, who provide some levity, but frankly, distract from the proceedings.
And, of course, there is Akshay Kumar as Rakesh Dhawan, a scientific genius with a penchant for humming old Hindi film songs. He is disgraced after a failed GLSV Fatboy launch and banished to the Mars department, which everyone knows is doomed. Except this is an Akshay Kumar film on Independence Day, and we all know about the success of ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission. So, there aren’t too many spoilers here anyway.
Subtlety, what?
The first half of the film is breezy and snappy despite a few strange, misplaced quips (like the one in which Tara fat-shames Varsha and then self-deprecatingly says she herself is no one to talk, or when Rakesh looks at a picture of Neha and compliments her looks. Someone set up an ICC already).
This is also why the second half feels like such a disappointment. Crammed with irrelevant songs and comic scenes, including a sweet but unnecessary throwback to a popular 90s number, it’s as if this part of the movie was made by someone else.
The film would have benefitted from shifting the focus from the scientists’ personal lives to them being scientists. In fact, it is in the scenes when they are actually doing their job, discussing satellite design and other technicalities and going over the problems the mission faces, that the film is at its strongest. But those bits are rushed, with solutions coming too easily and simplistically to seem convincing.
While watching it, one is reminded of another underdog story about a disgraced man who helms a ragtag team of women, helps them overcome their biases and differences and leads them to success – Chak de! India. The difference is that there, at the crucial moment of success, Shah Rukh’s Kabir Khan absorbs the victory quietly, sagging in relief against the national flag and letting the girls have their moment on the field.
But there is nothing quiet about Mission Mangal. From the music that loudly thumps, beats and swells at every crucial moment — just in case you don’t know how you’re meant to be feeling – to Rakesh yelling “Duniya se kaho, copy that!” (Tell the world to copy that!) and repeating “Copy that!” for good measure to a snippet from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech about ISRO’s Mars success — this is not a movie about subtlety, nuance or letting silence do the talking.
Crowd-pleaser
This is a film with a crowd-pleaser every few minutes, be it Rakesh telling off a NASA-returned senior scientist (Dalip Tahil, with a strangely hybrid American twang) or referencing Make In India and saying “Hamari har samasya ki marammat NASA se karwaane jaayenge toh hum satyanasa ho jaayenge” (If we get NASA to solve our every problem, we will be destroyed.)
Even if Kumar gets the one-liners, Balan’s Tara is clearly the soul of the film, raising everyone’s spirits in the face of budget cuts and ISRO management politicking and furiously frying puris in the boardroom to prove her point about Mangalyaan’s fuel consumption — though at no point is she left to hold the fort alone.
Rakesh is clearly the man behind these successful women — also literally, at the end, when the team walks out to thunderous applause. Just in case you were not sure of Akshay Kumar’s feminist credentials.
It’s not a bad film. Well-acted, largely brisk, fun and feelsy, it gets the job done. But it falls short of being great. Because for a film about daring to dream and imagine, it leaves absolutely nothing to the audience’s imagination.
Also read: Women scientists fulfil Mission Mangal but Akshay Kumar can’t see beyond sindoor and make-up