Mohenjo Daro Movie Review

Mohenjo Daro is an upcoming Indian epic adventure-romance film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and co-produced by Ashutosh Gowariker Productions and Disney India.

The film features Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles and marks Gowariker's second collaboration with Roshan and Disney India. The film is set in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation that dates back to 2600 BC. The film score is composed by A. R. Rahman.The film is scheduled for a worldwide release on 12 August 2016.

Ankit Ghosh announced the film officially in February 2014 with A. R. Rahman composing the film score. In August 2014, Hrithik Roshan was confirmed to play the male lead and was paid ₹50 crore (US$7.4 million) for the role.Actress Pooja Hegde was signed as the female lead.On taking up the project, in an interview, Gowariker stated that there was meagre and superficial information available about the people in that civilization, particularly about their lifestyle, food and feelings. The lack of information about the period troubled Gowariker and he decided that whenever he would get a story to tell, it will be depicted in the 2600 BC-Mohenjo Daro. On the film's plot, he was quoted as saying, "While the plot will follow the discovery of Mohenjo-daro and the culture and the vibe of the ancient civilisation, it will largely center on a love story. It took Gowariker three years to piece together a plot of the entire civilization through various cities and weave a love story into it.During his reconnaissance, he met as many as seven archaeologists who had been closely involved in documenting the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation. He had also visited the archaeological site of Dholavira. Further, with the film being set in a certain period, the whole site had to be recreated in a film studio. He was involved in working out the logistics during June 2014. The film's stunts would be choreographed by Glenn Boswell[13] and the costumes will be designed by April Ferry and Neeta Lulla. U.K. based trainer Joshua Kyle Baker was roped in to train Roshan for his character in the film. He described the three-month training so as to allow Roshan to appear 'lithe' and 'agile' rather than muscular.Relating the natural environment required for Mohenjo Daro, Gowariker was impressed with the calamitous VFX seen in the films The Day After Tomorrow and 10,000 BC that were designed by Karen Goulekas. In September 2014, as a visual effects supervisor, Goulekas was brought on board for the film.

In mid-September 2014, owing to non-payment of their regular expenses and remuneration, the workers belonging to Allied Mazdoor Union and Film Studio Setting refused to complete the pre-production work in Bhuj, Gujarat. To this stalled situation, Gowariker took a legal route and lodged a complaint with the 'Indian Film and Television Producers Council' accusing the members of stalling work that would result in losses to the company. Lawrence D'Souza, executive producer of the film, maintained that though their payments were ready, the remote filming locations of Bhuj delayed the reception of the same. Later, Gowariker revisited Bhuj in December 2014 to begin with pre-production. Just before the first schedule of movie, cinematographer Ayananka Bose was replaced by C.K. Muraleedharan.