i watched mangal pandey over the weekend.. nice movie i thought.
what i didn't like:
i heard a lot of people say "not too good" and i can see where they are coming from in that:
It is not spectacular.. and possibly doesn't live up to its hype..
AND it has very very bad editing in that the songs just come out of nowhere - most arbit,
and some of the scenes are too abrupt.
Also hate Amisha Patel in the movie. (Ganju please don't read the next line..)
She makes you wish that she actually had gotten burnt in that Sati scene because she is so desperately "damsel in distress" the whole bloody time - It killed me.
what i liked:
But it is still a very neat movie partly because of the theme.
I love that a movie has been made on Mangal Pandey-
the first ever freedom fighter, the first ever martyr, the pioneer to a struggle that lasted 90 years before we finally got our independance. I find that very inspiring.
And I think Aamir Khan is fantastic in the movie - intense & angry & perfect.
i have to admit, i possibly belong to a segment (i suspect this is a very large segment) that sometimes confuses picking up arms with courage & laying them down as cowardice.
Actually, now that i have said it - i am not so sure about it..
I think i am far more reasonable -
i am not so much for picking up arms and fighting as i am for fighting for a cause. But everybody is actually fighting for a cause & which are the good ones worth fighting for - who is to say.
For instance, i am not sure what makes a religious war wrong in my head and what makes a freedom struggle great.
Again, of wars for freedom fought - which ones are okay?
is the kashmiri fighting for his independance the same as an indian fighting for his.
Or is it just a function of what actually does happen in the end - so the fight for an independant India is great, because we actually did get our independance.
And some American kid is going to think many years later that America did this great thing by going to war with Iraq because his history book will say so.
Oh! the pressure of being reasonable!!
