Mission mangal

received generally positive reviews from critics. of News 18 gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, “Ultimately, Mission Mangal is enjoyable and entertaining. Even the jingoism doesn’t feel entirely out of place. Director Jagan Shakti delivers a space movie that lifts off and frequently soars.” Raja Sen of gave the film only 2 out of 5 stars and said, “The facts are stupendous, but director Jagan Shakti decides to go fast and fictional, creating an underdog story that — while often likeable — plays out like a fable.”

Chronic cynics and inveterate snarkers would do themselves — and everyone else — a great big favor by steering clear of “Mission Mangal,” an entertaining and ingratiating feel-good movie about the 2013 launch of the Mangalyann space probe, an against-all-odds triumph of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). In the world according to director Jagan Shakti and his team of screenwriters, this epochal event — India’s first interplanetary excursion, and the first time any country succeeded at sending a satellite to Mars in its initial attempt — is a textbook example of jugaad, a Hindi expression often translated as efficacious improvisation with minimal resources. And there is more than a hint of “Hidden Figures” to the storytelling here, in that most of the improvisation is inspired by observations and experiences of women who sign on for the Mars Orbiter Mission, or “MOM” (yes, really).

“Mission Mangal” is filled with such wink-wink payoffs for stealthily planted plot elements, and abounds with the sort of all-is-lost setups that screenwriting gurus suggest are mandatory before rah-rah third-act turnabouts. But here’s the thing: It’s hard to be dismissive of a formulaic narrative when filmmakers are adhering to such a potent formula.

Going to Mars is about as much of a challenge as chomping on a Mars chocolate bar — at least, that’s the impression “Mission Mangal” gives you. Akshay Kumar’s latest ode to the nation prioritises the need to match the feel-good spirit of an extended holiday weekend, so much so it misses out on setting up the drama and thrill of a scientific feat that is nothing short of historic for India.

“Mission Mangal” packs in essential masala. There is a pleasant undercurrent of humour all along. Director Jagan Shakti and his battery of co-screenwriters (R. Balki, Nidhi Singh Dharma and Saketh Kondiparthi) set up smaller subplots of melodrama within the basic storyline to describe the personal lives of its protagonists — in rather unnecessary detail. For the lack of a genuine antagonist in the real-life sage it is based on, the script invents a ‘villain’ too — by way of Dalip Tahil’s NASA-returned Indian expert at ISRO, who sneers and snarls at every ‘desi’ effort by Akshay Kumar and team to do something original without foreign aid.