Contrary to paid media campaign, Mohenjo Daro is safe for its producers

Ever since the first promo of Hrithik Roshan Starrer Mohenjo Daro came, the knives were out by paid media campaign dissecting the promo and its historical "inaccuracies" when the reality is nothing concrete is ever recorded by historians about the Indus valley civilisation.

The movie finally released on 12th august 2016 on a low note thanks to the largely negative perception created by paid camps. But to the dismay of the camp, the movie has not been doing too badly. Mohenjo Daro opened to 8.87 crores on its first day with a clash with the hugely hyped Rustom Starring Akshay Kumar. The movie was expected to crash in the weekend but contrary to the media perception, the film grew very well over the weekend and made over 40 crores in 4 days over the extended weekend. Then it was expected to crash completely in the weekdays. But the movie sustained at a mid level and actually rose to 45% from its wednesday collection and took complete advantage of the partial holiday on thursday taking its tally to around 52 crores nett in 7 days. The overseas business is even better with the week finishing over 24 crores. The trend over the week proves one thing - the general audience has lapped up the movie even if in miniscule circuits.

Contrary to what the paid media camp is reporting, Neither Hrithik Roshan nor UTV are fools to just invest 115 crores budget without any buffer. Hrithik is reported to have taken 50 crores as fees for this movie and hence the budget of the movie shot up to over 100 crores. But little do they know it is Hrithik who has got the makers a satellite rights of 45 crores as part of his multicrore deal. The music rights were sold at 15 crores which has brought the original budget od 115 crores down to 55 crores. Now here's the catch, the movie has done over 50 crores in domestic circuits and is expected to finish at a lifetime of 60-65 crores and overseas around 35-40 crores which easily recovers the 55 crores effective budget of the film. The film has not managed to make huge profits like Hrithik's previous big grossers like Krrish 3 or Agneepath but it is certainly not a "huge loss making" or "disaster" as some media has been reporting viciously. The movie has certainly underperformed but lets not forget the makers are not fools. They knew what they were getting into while making a period film like Mohenjo Daro which wont have much takers anyway. The fact that the movie has held its own against all odds says a lot. 

Mohenjodaro Review : Hrithik comes out clean against Phustom

The last time Hrithik Roshan and Ashutosh Gowariker got together to make Jodhaa Akbar, they created a "history" of sorts. It was probably the movie that got hrithik the most appreciation as an actor and gowariker a big grosser he never had (lagaan was a small hit). That was most definitely the reason they made Mohenjodaro now. But a lot has changed since 2008. When JA came in 2008 , historicals/period dramas were considered the "untouchable" genre. The best of stars shivered to sign a movie anything close to a period movie given how badly Mangal Pandey and Asoka had bombed with the khans. JA came and changed the game. And a lot of credit goes to others not attempting it .JA didnt have a standard to fall back on to comment. The last big period movie that worked was way back in the 60s in MEA which is a totally lousy film by todays standard. So JA easily survived the MEA comparison and came out clean. But a lot has happened post JA. There was Magadheera that came from rajamouli in 2009 which got a lot of attention. And then came the ultimate game changing juggernaut Baahubali which raised the standards of this genre in almost every aspect. Then there was Bajirao Mastani which had a good vision and execution. Ashutosh Gowariker isnt the flamboyant and the "wham bam thank you mam" kind of director like rajamouli. He is not a maverick like SLB . But he has a very sincere Amar Chitra katha style of story telling. His films are not supposed to grab your attention from the word Go but to warm the audiences to his style slowly and gradually.

With Mohenjodaro, ashutosh is back with his trademark way. But he is not a fool. He is an intelligent director who values the intelligence of the audience. There were some morons saying how hindi is being used in the times of MJD when it was not even invented? The answer lies in the first 15 mins of the movie. Lets not insult the intelligence of the director and the audience with such rubbish arguments. The movie begins like a person who is hesitant to read a Amar Chitra book but slowly starts warming up to the simplicity of its story telling. Ashutosh has a knack for human drama with a touch of social issues and he has his own way of integrating it with all his films. The editing and screenplay is surprisingly better than his last films though there is still work left to be done. The pace is drift but is strickened by cliche scenes especially in the pre-climax portions but the climax redeems it. There is vision and creativity both at work. Wish this was touched upon more than focussing on some useless fight sequences of arunoday singh and hrithik.

There was some negativity around hrithik post bang bang and his personal issues but his sincere performance in this withers that away. Pooja hegde looks hot but she is not a competent actor. kabir bedi and arunoday singh have good voices but their roles are stretched more than it deserved. The background music is good but not at the level of a baahubali. There is one arena fight of hrithik which is well choreographed and has good BGM.

Rating : 2.5-3/5

It is a movie made with some intent and vision. MJD was in the making for 2 years and was the first to announce its release date on 12 aug. Rustom , one of akshays four films an year, made in some 40 days on 50 crores released its date afterwards. Morally rustom should have backed out when it was not the first to release its date. but then clashes are inevitable. But the demeanor of the rustom camp ever since has been pedestrian from akshay kumar begging celebs to promote his film to one of his producers Girgit Johar mudslinging MJD to make its low day 1 look "big". Guess rustom camp (over confident after the promo reaction) realised the movie is a sitting duck once the reviews were out and the only way possible to paint a rosy picture was to compare it to MJD. Absolute third class tactics from akshay kumar and he has lost a major supporter with such cheap tactics.

More power to Hrithik for maintaining the grace and giving us a much better movie than what the paid rustom camp wants to make us believe. Only shoutout to you - work more and dont let some assi stars take undue advantage of it.