Mohenjodaro : Crass or Crass?
First of all, I must tell you my dear readers that I am very proud of myself for coming out alive from the movie hall after watching "Mohenjodaro". Let me explain further.
Mohenjodaro means mound of the dead. And this is a name that villagers of the 18th 19th century gave the place as it was a mound where few skeletons here and there were found. Also since the script is yet to be deciphered we can not determine what was the name of this city in those times. In the movie, people were definitely not dead. But just for the sake of movie production let's forego this mistake.But what irritates me further is the date. Why did they at all have to say "2016 BC(E)"? ( BCE is the new format for writing dates in history. No one writes BC anymore) They could have just said - "...some 5000 years ago..."
The opening scene (or rather scenes) was grand. Where else do you get to see a huge, gigantic flying crocodile and a pig faced unicorn with a horse's tail and a body that of a mule or an ass? Also, there was a funny blue crop kind of thing which they called indigo but it looked more as if some pen ink had been spilled over the sets and Ashutosh Gowariker just picked it up - by the frame. I didn't know that people of those times had "jholas" like us. Too much grocery shopping maybe.
I understand the director wants to put Mohenjodaro in the limelight by making it the hub of trade and activity from far off places but that does not mean you show Arabian dancer and people with fur coats in the scorching heat of the Sindh. Also, the seals were made clay which was then dried to harden them. That would mean they won't have a lustrous look. But Gowariker made it look as they are made from metals or rather an amalgamation of metals. As far as trade was concerned, this Mohenjodaro sure had relations with Lothal and Dholavira but Harrapa was its rival. Seriously????? They were supposed to be the part of the same civilization.
Pooja Hegde sure looked sexy enough to walk down the red carpet. She should have kept the excitement for red carpet later and worn what normal women were wearing in the movie. ( Yay something was slightly right). No book, no historian ever said that a class based society was prevalent. I don't know from where the director got this stupid idea of dividing the society into upper and lower town (segregation based on the town is still more acceptable) and create divisions not only between the common people and the elites but also create a hierarchy amongst the elites. I have heard of a "priest-king" but not a priest who is ruled by a king.
Should I even rant about the wardrobe? Headgears with feathers. Headgears with horns. Gowns from the 22nd century. Dhoti- Kurta from the 20th century. Turbans from Rajasthan and Gujarat and belonging to today's time period. Oh and they had towels too, you know the kinds we use today.
The director tried to show how accomplished his cute Mohenjodaro people were in having properly backed brick homes with a layer of CEMENT and extremely narrow roads where every day a stampede has to occur with the bullock carts and humans all in together. Oh and if bullock was not enough we had horses too, you know just because they are majestic and run fast. (No record of them in history as such). Apparently, they were so hard-working, that they traveled by road and not the sea (what about the boats then?).
I failed to see the greatness in the great bath except for its use as a place of performance where you "paint" your face and dance with the headgears I mentioned earlier. I think they shot the whole scene in a rented swimming pool of a sports complex. The water looked as if it has chlorine and it could not be any bigger than four feet swimming pool.
They had iron tools and a lot of fighting scenes. In fact, the second half of the scene looked as if it has been straight out copied from the action flicks itself. Oh, and those people had some awesome hair care services. Girls take note. We use artificial heat to get those naughty curls or that sleek straight.But those women had something known as magic. Like seriously. One day Pooja had bouncy curls ( on the day of her forced wedding which ultimately broke) and the next day straight hair ( on the day of the fight between Hrithik and two gigantic monstrous humans brought from the hills where obviously if he won, he would get the girl).
Finally the conclusion ( yay!). I want to thank the makers of this movie because without them I would be one blog post less and I would never have learnt a new equation and that is :
End of Mohenjodaro by cloudburst followed by floods (not the civilization... mind it) == start of ganga civiliztion.
Forget the aryan invasion theory. Forget how post Harrapans were suppose to be Dravidians. Forget how from a small hill top in Pakistan they travelled to UP and surrounding areas. Just remember the above equation and try and pass your exam by that.
Mohenjodaro means mound of the dead. And this is a name that villagers of the 18th 19th century gave the place as it was a mound where few skeletons here and there were found. Also since the script is yet to be deciphered we can not determine what was the name of this city in those times. In the movie, people were definitely not dead. But just for the sake of movie production let's forego this mistake.But what irritates me further is the date. Why did they at all have to say "2016 BC(E)"? ( BCE is the new format for writing dates in history. No one writes BC anymore) They could have just said - "...some 5000 years ago..."
The opening scene (or rather scenes) was grand. Where else do you get to see a huge, gigantic flying crocodile and a pig faced unicorn with a horse's tail and a body that of a mule or an ass? Also, there was a funny blue crop kind of thing which they called indigo but it looked more as if some pen ink had been spilled over the sets and Ashutosh Gowariker just picked it up - by the frame. I didn't know that people of those times had "jholas" like us. Too much grocery shopping maybe.
I understand the director wants to put Mohenjodaro in the limelight by making it the hub of trade and activity from far off places but that does not mean you show Arabian dancer and people with fur coats in the scorching heat of the Sindh. Also, the seals were made clay which was then dried to harden them. That would mean they won't have a lustrous look. But Gowariker made it look as they are made from metals or rather an amalgamation of metals. As far as trade was concerned, this Mohenjodaro sure had relations with Lothal and Dholavira but Harrapa was its rival. Seriously????? They were supposed to be the part of the same civilization.
Pooja Hegde sure looked sexy enough to walk down the red carpet. She should have kept the excitement for red carpet later and worn what normal women were wearing in the movie. ( Yay something was slightly right). No book, no historian ever said that a class based society was prevalent. I don't know from where the director got this stupid idea of dividing the society into upper and lower town (segregation based on the town is still more acceptable) and create divisions not only between the common people and the elites but also create a hierarchy amongst the elites. I have heard of a "priest-king" but not a priest who is ruled by a king.
Should I even rant about the wardrobe? Headgears with feathers. Headgears with horns. Gowns from the 22nd century. Dhoti- Kurta from the 20th century. Turbans from Rajasthan and Gujarat and belonging to today's time period. Oh and they had towels too, you know the kinds we use today.
The director tried to show how accomplished his cute Mohenjodaro people were in having properly backed brick homes with a layer of CEMENT and extremely narrow roads where every day a stampede has to occur with the bullock carts and humans all in together. Oh and if bullock was not enough we had horses too, you know just because they are majestic and run fast. (No record of them in history as such). Apparently, they were so hard-working, that they traveled by road and not the sea (what about the boats then?).
I failed to see the greatness in the great bath except for its use as a place of performance where you "paint" your face and dance with the headgears I mentioned earlier. I think they shot the whole scene in a rented swimming pool of a sports complex. The water looked as if it has chlorine and it could not be any bigger than four feet swimming pool.
They had iron tools and a lot of fighting scenes. In fact, the second half of the scene looked as if it has been straight out copied from the action flicks itself. Oh, and those people had some awesome hair care services. Girls take note. We use artificial heat to get those naughty curls or that sleek straight.But those women had something known as magic. Like seriously. One day Pooja had bouncy curls ( on the day of her forced wedding which ultimately broke) and the next day straight hair ( on the day of the fight between Hrithik and two gigantic monstrous humans brought from the hills where obviously if he won, he would get the girl).
Finally the conclusion ( yay!). I want to thank the makers of this movie because without them I would be one blog post less and I would never have learnt a new equation and that is :
End of Mohenjodaro by cloudburst followed by floods (not the civilization... mind it) == start of ganga civiliztion.
Forget the aryan invasion theory. Forget how post Harrapans were suppose to be Dravidians. Forget how from a small hill top in Pakistan they travelled to UP and surrounding areas. Just remember the above equation and try and pass your exam by that.
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