Mission Mangal, India's Mission to Mars - Movie Review

Mission Mangal, couldn’t have got a better day than today to release this movie, 15th Aug, a tribute to people of India, tribute to Indian space scientist, tribute to late space scientist and President of India Dr APJ, tribute to ISRO on their 50th year and tribute to Padma Vibushan Vikram Sarabhai on his 100th Birthday. Flawless and brilliantly made movie written and directed by debutant Jagan Shakti, a space program movie on par with any Hollywood movie. The real hero of this movie is non other than the writer / director Jagan Shakti.

Lead role by king of biopic Akshay kumar, pulls his role with ease. Needless to say he can do any kind of role and deliver the best. Vidya Balan, the female lead, a project manager of the mission, a wife, a daughter-in-law and mother of two teens juggles her passion for space mission and home commitments beautifully. She brings in her Indian home science knowledge to space science mission. Other leads like Taapsee, Nithya Menen, Sonakshi, Sharman Joshi, Dalip Tahil etc do their bit brilliantly. Cinematographer Ravi Verman too fantastic with his camera work. Especially the rocket launch scenes, the camera angle etc all mind blowing. He proved that this movie is in par with Hollywood movies in the scenes when satellite travels in space and the light changes while orbiting.

Coming back to Akshay Kumar, two scenes to watch for, a conversation between him and Dalip Tahil, one just before the interval and the other almost at the end of the movie. Both make it relevant for any startups, a project or any mission to be successful. Tamil guys will love the scene just before the interval.

Mission Mangal is a must watch for all. This movie tells you how to launch a successful mission with minimal cost. ISRO yearly budget is $1.45 Billion in comparison to $18 Billion of NASA. It clearly proves that spending more $ doesn’t guarantee result.

Surprisingly this movie is taken at a budget of Rs 32 crores or just $4.45 million in comparison to several Hollywood movies like ‘The Martian’, ‘Gravity’, ‘Interstellar’ etc all between $100 Million to $165 Million. Mission Mangal movie shooting started during Nov 2018 and released today the Aug 15th 2019, which is exactly 9 and half months, whereas a typical Hollywood movies take 2 to 2 and half years to release. Looks like the production house followed the footsteps of ISRO in their Mission Mangal to deliver fast and at less cost.