Growing up in the United States, I learned very little of Indian history, especially of the fight to independence. The only picture that mention of the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 brought to my mind was a hazy idea of an uprising that Indian soldiers carried out, triggered by cartridges that were rumored to be greased with animal fats, and the mention of a few names. Apparently, this is all the makers of Mangal Pandey: the Rising knew as well, for the film is less about the First War of Independence as it is about Rani Mukherjee and her scintillating group of nautch girls. The only impressive matter about the movie is that Ketan Mehta was able to direct an entire three-hour Bollywood style epic about a character that is given at most a paragraph in the average textbook of Indian history.

            The movie doesn’t promise historical fact, of course; there is a clear and prominent disclaimer at the beginning stating that there are fictional characters introduced to enhance the history of Mangal Pandey. I wonder whether it would have been more correct however, to say that there are a few real characters introduced to enhance the movie of Mangal Pandey. The opening scene shows Mangal Pandey as he walks to a platform to be hung, and then cuts back in time to show the events leading up to his execution.

The plot of the movie did hold my attention for the full three hours. With the excellent acting of Aamir Khan as Mangal Pandey, Toby Stephens as Captain William Gordon (an imaginary character created as a counterpoint to the view that all Britons were bad and also serving as Mangal Pandey’s closest friend), and Rani Mukherjee as Heera (invented as a conscience for Mangal Pandey, and because Bollywood must have a heroine for every hero) the story carried itself smoothly, even through the nonsensical song and dance sequences that were even more out of place here than usual.

Aamir Khan, of course has done it all before: creating a story with only its toes dipped in history, using song, dance and excellent visual effects to make it believable, turning it into a top-grossing blockbuster, and inspiring even the most cynical Indian with patriotism. Mangal Pandey: the Rising is just another Lagaan without the fantastic soundtrack, and as such an enjoyable movie to watch, but without any sort of serious message to ponder and make it last the ages.

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