SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

heislloyd I started watching this film on television, having no idea what it was about. In common with almost all Indian films it contains several song and dance sequences that have little to do with advancing the plot. The scenery is quite pretty and some of the buildings used as locations are beautiful (although a little out-of-period in look). It starts with a flash-forward to near the ending of the story, and we see preparations made to execute a prisoner. He is a handsome muscular dignified magnificent specimen, so he has "hero" written all over him.It then became clear what the film was about: the 1857 Indian Mutiny. The simple fact is that most people seeing this will not know the details of what actually happened and will accept much of what is shown as history. Of course they will know that specifics of dialogue and so forth are invented, but the emotional impact of the message of the story has power, and so there is a responsibility on the film makers to use this power wisely and fairly.The film then commits several terrible acts of inaccuracy. I will concentrate on one: a rumour is spread that pig and cow grease are used on the cartridges issued to troops, and this displeases the Hindus (cows) and Muslims (pigs). It is historically true that the RUMOUR of this existed and contributed to the starting of the Mutiny, but the film then goes on to tell the audience that the rumour was true. In historical reality it really was just a rumour. The cartridges were waxed. Hollywood and Bollywood seem very comfortable with portraying the British as incompetent and evil and here we see this lazy scripting at work again. The East India Company did make a big mistake in not taking the rumour seriously, but it was not so stupid or so evil as to actually use pig or cow grease on the cartridges.H/Bollywood might be forgiven for a certain amount of artistic convention with characters etc. (in this film, the lead characters in the story also happen to be best friends, having saved each other's lives in the past etc.), but it really should not take liberties to the point when the story is just a lie, nor should it, as here, make political points at the end of the film, dressed up as history. The film ends with a statement that Mangal Pandey as portrayed was a real man (the real man was very ordinary and claimed in court to have been under the influence of drugs when he did what he did), and that the Mutiny was really the first war of Indian independence, throwing off the yolk of subjugation and exchanging this for happy freedom. Historians will differ in their interpretations and emphases of the past, but it must be pointed out that the East India Company ruled India as a far more prosperous, advanced, just, and peaceful place that it had found it. Also, the instant that India gained its dependence, it was rent into parts, with Pakistan and what later became Bangladesh splitting away, and a tremendously bloody civil war flared up in which vastly more Indians died than did at the hands of the British, and more people were displaced than at any other time in history.I am sick of one lot of rulers replacing another lot's being shown as "freedom" in films. "Braveheart" did the same - I am unconvinced that the Scots fighting for the "freedom" to be subjugated by a slightly different set of feudal lords really did themselves much good.There are so many interesting themes in human interaction and history to be explored. It is a shame that films like this always tell the same few tales over and over, and reduce everything to a few stereotypes. The Indian Mutiny would make a good setting for a film exploring the nature of good rule, the power of rumour, the importance of religious tolerance, the randomness of historical events, but instead we get the standard farm-boy becomes hero, kills black knight, rescues maiden, fights the Evil Empire story. This works in Star Wars largely because Star Wars is so self-consciously legend. In the setting of historical events that still today have political implications, it is pernicious.The film looks good, has reasonably decent performances in it, and a few scenes with lots of costumed extras, but it is far too long, too familiar and low-brow. The heroic British officer in the court room scene is made to rant and yell for the sake of drama. How much more powerful and fair the scene would have been if he had spoken calmly. History records that after the mutiny, the trials held were very fair and threw out most charges of rape that were reported against white British. There was no savage retribution - quite the reverse. That is another interesting story here ignored.

Aam Aadmi Ketan Mehta has no idea what 'uprising' means and surely no clue about revolution. The 1857 mutiny was about RAGE, it was a bloody revolt. There's NO RAGE in this movie. Mehta fails to depict the atmosphere, struggle and sacrifice behind all that happened. And instead turns it into a crappy romantic love-fest with an almost celebratory touch to it. Plus the song-and-dance nonsense. Is it a party or what??Mangal Pandey has been short-changed throughout the movie. Too many disconnected and irrelevant incidents seem like distractions that could have been avoided. Entire perspective is that of ruling British. The lives of Indians are trivial side shows that we can ignore while we munch on our popcorn. Gordon hogs footage that could have been devoted to Mangal, with the result that we get no insight into the psychology of the main character. Then why on earth make a movie about him?!! Its ridiculous.Mehta seems to think that the Sepoys just out of the blue decided to go up in arms against the British. How idiotic. His lack of accurate research and distortion of historical facts show in the movie. He fails to live up to the basic honesty of film.People like that really pxxx me off. It seems Indians must still bow to and pay homage to whatever is left of British era in India, either real or imaginary. The drudgery of the bonded imagination etched deep, the intellectual slavery continues unabated. WHY??? Ketan Mehta, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, Shashi Tharoor, Naipaul, Rushdie they are all exactly the same. India does not need this lousy breed of pseudos of the Macaulayite kind aka "bloody bxxtxxds the British left behind".If Holi was horrible, Mirch Masala was maddening. And Rising has made my BP rise to stratospheric levels. Watch the movie but ignore what it tries to mislead you into believing.

prasad-hattangadi I watched it in the first week itself. the story isn't good, the direction is bad but only thing what makes this movie worth watching is Amir Khan. No doubt hes a true legend. Amir Khan has always given more than 100% in every movie hes acted. Even after working for only around 40 movies in 10 years hes managed to stay in limelite and produce masterpieces. Very few actors can actually rise above the script and direction and singlehandedly make the movie run house full even before its release. Amir khan is one of those very few Stars. Even Shahrukh khan with his media presence and Yash/johar clan cant make movies a hit before release. Amir khan new this movie might not be a big hit. He marketed it in such a way that the distributors recovered everything in the three weeks of release.

moviesaremypassion This is a difficult movie to watch because after all the wait and hype, it's simply not a story well-told. At the interval, I had absolutely no interest in any of the characters, and I really didn't even want to see the second half of the film.Yes, the cinematography is good, and the acting is good, but somewhere in the editing room enough of the movie was cut out that what is left doesn't flow. Even the songs suddenly appear for no reason or with no connection to the previous scene.To whatever extent it will instill Indian pride, I applaud the film. But talks of an Oscar are utter nonsense as this movie has no international appeal. To compare it to Lagaan is absurd. We westerners are clueless about cricket, but we were totally drawn into that story and its characters. The Rising bombs on that front.