Long history books which seem never ending at least possess a great deal of information, but Mohenjo Daro lacks that too. It has everything but history. The plot is slow which makes you predict the progression within the first 20 mins of the movie. And don’t worry, your prediction is going to be right.
The lead protagonist retreats back to his childhood town of Mohenjo Daro to discover the actual truth of his past, falls in love, stands against injustice, figures out the murderer of his family and then destroys the enemy thus saving his own people. Same cliche story glorified and decorated with unnecessary relevance to history!
Sarman played by Hrithik Roshan traverses between his new found love Chaani played by Pooja Hegde and his odd struggle to unravel his early life. It is in his own home town of Mohenjo Daro that he finds both his true love and enemy. The antagonist Maham played by Kabir Bedi dominates the story with his aura and unique wave of negativity which suits perfectly with the character.
There are not much of high points in the story which grip and make you wait for what is going to happen next. However, the creation of the age old city of Mohenjo Daro and its structures is replicated throughout the movie. The walls, relics and costumes remind of the historic Indus Valley civilisation. But, a little more of such representations and a little more of history would have done justice to the title of the film.
Mohenjo Daro is a movie which relies heavily on VFX for the creation of the historic civilisation and the turmoil of the Sindhu river or Indus river. The second half of the movie majorly the climax has a high use of VFX as the great Sindhu river turns violent due to the construction of a huge dam in its path.
Water is a difficult element to create in CGI but the team of Drishyam VFX has tried a decent attempt. The gushing water, the violent river, the crocodile and overview of the city of Mohenjo Daro look artificial in some sequences. However, the huge walls of Mohenjo Daro and the climax scene which involves the river crossover grip your attention and often you might just overlook that most of this is created using CGI and VFX. So overall, though not appealing and perfect it is a decent attempt.
Written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur for UTV Motion Pictures and Sunita Gowariker for Ashutosh Gowariker Productions (AGPPL), Mohenjo Daro captivates the audience not by its story but due to its engaging background score and music composed by A. R. Rahman.