The love triangle is time-worn, and the performances sag with lines delivered much more intensely than necessary. But whenever the story seems to make one inch of headway, it’s hindered again by unnecessary song-and-dance numbers. Two hours in, the narrative has only just begun to raise its stakes, with Sarman making an enemy of the city chief, Maman (Kabir Bedi, whose hammy villainy is made further laughable by his ludicrously long, horned helmet). And the indecipherable ancient scriptures from the time force him to opt for dialogue that blends Sindhu dialect and Hindi.īut accuracy isn’t the film’s biggest issue when the plot just keeps dragging along. Headdresses and semi-precious stone necklaces adorn both men and women, but it’s hard to believe that the flowing robes and beaded bustiers worn by Chaani were for real in the 26 th century. Gowarikar has certainly taken creative liberties to fill in the anthropological blanks: In the absence of records about Harappan clothing, he clothes his characters in earth-toned fabrics with stitching that seems ahead of its time. At first, the film offers a marvelous vision of Mohenjo Daro, which is loaded with historical details - from the bustling marketplace in the town’s center to the imposing baked-brick walls, rising as though having sprouted from the dust-swept dirt they stand on and weaving methodically throughout the gated city.
The material itself isn’t a problem, but little of it comes to the forefront until the film’s second act. What begins as an innocent trading venture becomes a steep dive into love with the priest’s daughter Chaani (Pooja Hegde), which in turns leads to secrets of his murky past, spawns new enemies, and reveals his destiny as being inextricably bound to Mohenjo Daro. Ignoring warnings of the greediness and other dangers of the outside world, he convinces his uncle to let him barter their wheat in the capital city. (Later in the film, he effortlessly tames a team of angry horses despite never having seen one before.) The message is painfully obvious: Our hero is invincible.īut Sarman’s dreams are too big for his humble surroundings in the Sindhu village of Amri. The film’s shortcomings are clear from the very beginning, as it opens with the almost comically-bronzed lead character, Sarman ( Bollywood hunk Hrithik Roshan), proving his astonishing might by singlehandedly battling an overgrown CGI crocodile, while his fellow kayakers look on helplessly.
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