A slow review of the film

1. A Review of the Film Mohenjodaro byAshutosh Gowariker
In my opinion, Mohenjodaro takes on where Udta Punjab left-off, which
is the point about how great Western India is, and has been, in terms of
the diversity of its landscapes, peoples, languages and material culture...!
The happiest thing about this most unusual period-film is that it has been
well researched, so that as for the general viewer for the connoisseurs and
savants of the great Harappan city and its associated civilization, this film
becomes and eyeful, although in parts it is also unnecessarily long! Hence,
the film doesn’t actually mislead unless it is the song and dance part, and
even there the recreation of sounds and scores have been done very very
imaginatively.
How does this film unite the savant and the normal movie buff?
First of all, the recreation of the city of Harappa, has been done very
imaginatively, accurately and realistically, as has that of its counterpart,
the Harappan village which is very scenically situated in its hinterlands.

2. The city itself, complete with the places where trade and exchange take
place, the diasporic inter-mixture, of people of a variety of callings, some
from places faraway like Ur and Sumeria, their languages, clothes,
attitudes, and trade items all make for a spellbinding spectacle! One ends
up saying at least some one tried...!
In my understanding of the Harappan or the Indus Valley Civilization
subject, Ashutosh’s reconstruction or reckoning of what type or kind of
polity or decision making system characterised, only a marginally
differentiated Harappan society, such as it has been know to
archaeologists for a long time, is worthy of comment and praise. His Virat
Sabha, which convenes on such issues as trade, and making of dams and
such important community-projects, in a building which looks
suspiciously like the famous ‘Granary’, until this idea was pooh-pooh-ed
by the Great Michael Jansen. Such an interpretation from a film-maker is
very very good. Especially as it tells South Asians how our very first
city-based administrative systems evolved.
(Cont’d.)
....

3. Thanking you.
Ajay