‘Mohenjo Daro’: A Fantastical Tale With Little Substance

Ashutosh Gowariker decides to focus on one man’s quest for love and justice, rather than take a huge opportunity to focus on weaving a tale about the fascinating city on which the film is actually titled.

[Photo Courtesy: UTV/Mohenjo Daro]

Try as they might, the Bollywood power combination of Ashutosh Gowariker and Hrithik Roshan have unfortunately missed the mark with their latest, “Mohenjo Daro.”

Known for brilliant films such as the Oscar-nominated “Lagaan,” the smaller-yet-powerful “Swades,” and the truly epic “Jodhaa Akbar,” Gowariker decides to focus on one man’s quest for love and justice, rather than take a huge opportunity to focus on weaving a tale about the fascinating city on which the film is actually titled. Considering how little information we actually get about Mohenjo Daro — and coupled with the fact that the city’s end in the film is likely not how the civilization crumbled in real life — perhaps this film should have been named Sarman, after Roshan’s character, instead of this once-great ancient metropolis.

The story of “Mohenjo Daro” is a familiar one, mixed with a few fantastical elements to try and distinguish its hero from the pack. Sarman is a young man who is called upon to help save the day when things get rough. Gowariker is hellbent on proving just how much of a savior Sarman really is as the film begins with him battling and defeating a giant overly CGI-ed crocodile from his fellow townspeople. Sarman also has dreams that hint toward something greater, images of a one-horned animal haunt him, as does the city of Mohenjo Daro. Once again, the message is obvious: This man is clearly destined to save the city of Mohenjo Daro from some kind of impending doom.

Sarman lives with his aunt and uncle who don’t want him to leave his small village to venture to the big city of Mohenjo Daro, but they finally relent and warn him of the city’s dangers. He realizes that the one-horned creature is a symbol of the town and once again his dreams prove he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.

From the story becomes predictable: Sarman encounters the villains, Maham (Kabir Bedi) and his son Moonja (Anuroday Singh), who have built a dam on the river to try and mine the gold in the river bed for their own greed. As the leader of the town, Maham is also overtaxing his citizens, again for his own personal gain.

And of course, there is a girl, Chaani (Pooja Hegde) who gets little to nothing to do despite being called the “Chosen One.” Her use is purely so that Sarman can have a love interest and to provide him with another conflict he must resolve as she has been forcibly promised to Moonja.

[Photo Courtesy: UTV/Mohenjo Daro]

It’s clear what needs to happen next: Sarman has to defeat the two villains, win his love, and try to save the citizens. And most of that does happen, though the only change in this very typical story is a silly one. “Mohenjo Daro’s” ultimate downfall is that it is so historically inaccurate, it’s a wonder why the film was named after a real ancient city in the first place. Obviously the film is meant to be historical “fiction,” but never has the word “fiction” been so perfectly used than this film.

There are a few positives to “Mohenjo Daro,” however, and the biggest one is Hrithik Roshan. Though he’s overly tanned and is never quite able to turn his stereotypical hero into a fully three-dimensional character, there’s one undeniable fact in every one of his performances: The man has charisma. Roshan works his ass off to make Sarman and this film work. He just needs a better movie to showcase the talents Bollywood loving audiences already know he has. In fact, he’s already shown himself to be a star in Gowariker’s hands with “Jodhaa Akbar.”

[Photo Courtesy: UTV/Mohenjo Daro]

And despite the film’s content being less than stellar, the settings and the way the film is shot, minus the overly CGI-ed moments (damn that crocodile), is gorgeous. The sceneries, in particular, are incredible.

Now, we can talk about the smaller problems in the film, such as the dialect used as well as the costumes, but what’s still so problematic is how little care so many major filmmakers in Bollywood put to their female leads. Hegde, aside from being an attractive girl, has so little to do in this film that they could have replaced her with a cardboard cutout of a human woman and it would do the trick. That’s not a dig on Hegde’s skills as an actress—this is her first Bollywood so there’s no way in knowing how much talent she has. If only she were allowed to showcase anything aside from standing around pining for Sarman, walking around in her ornate outfits so Sarman can pine for her, or dancing alongside Sarman so they can pine for each other.

The fact that so many major Bollywood filmmakers continue to use their lead actresses as set pieces, even in this day and age as feminism is finally coming to the forefront as an important topic of discussion, is truly unsettling, disappointing and insulting. And while “Mohenjo Daro” is a film set in a time when women were not treated equally, calling a character the “Chosen One” and not having her actually be the “Chosen One” in the story is stupid. She becomes a symbol or a poster child for what a new dawn, but she has not brought it herself, and that’s a problem.

To put it plainly, “Mohenjo Daro” is big and beautiful, but ultimately, it’s a waste of time.