A good script powered by humour, emotion and thrill is almost certain to hit the right chord. Mission Mangal is one such movie that is blessed by the said factors and a lot more.
STORYLINE
Based on the true event of how India created history by successfully sending its satellite to Mars in its very first attempt, Mission Mangal revolves around certain scientists from ISRO, whose hard work made the impossible dream come true.
The movie starts with one of the top scientists of ISRO, Rakesh Dhawan (Akshay Kumar) failing at a major space experiment, apparently due to his junior Tara Shinde's (Vidya Balan) mistake. This leads Rakesh and Tara to join Mars department of the institution, which first appears to be a hopeless division.
However, being the passionate and motivated scientists that Rakesh and Tara are, they decide to create history by sending India's first ever satellite to Mars. While the top decision makers of ISRO first find Rakesh and his colleague's ambitious idea to be too silly, they somehow manage to convince the head.
Soon, other scientists including Eka Gandhi (Sonakshi Sinha), Kritika Agarwal (Taapsee Pannu), Varsha Pillai (Nithiya Menen), Parmeshwar Naidu (Sharman Joshi), Neha Siddiqui (Kirti Kulhari) and Ananth Iyer (HG Dattatreya) join the team.
With very limited budget and not many experienced brains, the team faces a lot of hurdles, and many a times it actually appears that they are trying to achieve something impossible. Whether and how they make it happen is all about Mission Mangal.
PERFORMANCES
Akshay Kumar adds much essential wit as well as emotion to the film. He perfectly showcases the passion and dedication of his character in the film, and also throws some hilarious punch lines in between.
Vidya Balan deserves special applause here. Her character is apparently more important than that of Akshay's, and she certainly pulls off the responsibility beautifully.
Other stars including Sonakshi, Kirti, Sharman, Taapsee and others do not have as much screen presence as Akshay and Vidya, but their roles are no less significant, and they all do their job well.
POSITIVES
Mission Mangal is blessed with some fine performances, good and crisp script, well-balanced humour and emotion, and brings about a strong sense of pride for the nation. It does not have too many songs to distract the plot.
VFX is good enough, and a few scenes like Indian tricolour being subtly shown on the satellite running in space suggest that the director gave much attention to cinematography.
Mission Mangal not just narrates a beautiful story of ISRO's achievements, but also tells it in a highly entertaining manner.
NEGATIVES
Antics of Akshay's character may appear to be too unreal to be allowed in an institution like ISRO, but then again, that add much appreciated humour to the plot. Also, we wish the climax was made a little more thrilling.
VERDICT
Mission Mangal is a well-balanced and well-made film that is mixed with the right amount of humour and emotion. The film is not unnecessarily dragged, never ceases to entertain, and it brings in a sense of pride for our nation. It will be "amangal" to give it a miss.
