Mission Mangal (मिशन मंगल)

"Mission Mangal (मिशन मंगल)".

Watched Hindi movie "Mission Mangal (मिशन मंगल)". This movie is directed by Jagan Shakti and stars Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Tapasee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Sharman Joshi, Kriti Kulhari, H. G. Dattatreya, Sanjay Kapoor, Dilip Tahil and Vikram Gokhale. Music is by Amit Trivedi & Tanishk Bagchi. Writing credits R Balki and Riturraj Tripathii. This film was released on 15 Aug 2019. I watched it with Ravi, Akshata, Mihika and Aditi.

After failure of GSLV, Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan are given charge of Mission Mangal, a project that is never expected to take off. They are also given a team of junior scientists (mainly women).

Will Akshay and Vidya overcome the odds? Will Mission Mangal happen? Will it succeed?

All the main characters were introduced through an impact scene. But that scene had nothing to do with rest of the movie. If only director had chosen a scene that highlighted a characteristic of the character! Akshay is not shown doing any real work. Akshay is very good but Vidya is simply too good. Other scientists have done good job. Dattatreya remains in memory as loveable oldie. Tapasee looks beautiful in saree. 

Too much time is wasted for the build up that takes us to intermission thereby leaving little time for the main movie. Real story starts after intermission.

There were a number of female scientists in this mission. This movie shows the difficulties they faced in their personal lives, which they overcame and succeeded in launching Mangalyan.

All scientists worked hard for the mission. Movie shows how they were motivated but does not show any details of how exactly they worked. The movie lacks technical details. It appears like 6-7 people working in a garage did the project. There is only one mention of 17000 scientists working on the project, but you don't see any of them. It also shows scientists cleaning and painting the work area, as if ISRO doesn't have cleaning staff!

It appears that the objective of this movie is to convey the success story of Mission Mangal and what scientists did to make it successful, to common audience. Director's achievement is passable.

This movie is a simplistic dramatisation of mission Mangal. Director has taken artistic liberty for the movie but sometimes he has overdone it. For example, there is a storm at the launch site at Sriharikota. Scientists look out of their windows in Bangalore and notice that the rain has stopped and determine that it has also stopped in Sriharikota. Next minute everyone is back in office. I have read a WhatsApp post in circulation,  of an ISRO scientist, that highlights the mistakes in the movie. 

There is one pub song in the movie that is completely out of sync with the story. But it draws audience applause because Sanjay Kapoor dances on Akhiya milaoon..., his old song. 'Om Mangalam' is a good song. Special effects are ok but could have been better. Not as good as I expected.

In short, if you want a dramatized, simplistic account, watch it!