In this brave and challenging rescue thriller, Akshay Kumar shines out.
Mission Raniganj review:
Although Akshay Kumar excels in his role as the pack’s leader, other characters and their tales suffer in this rescue thriller.
You can always count on Akshay Kumar to lead the pack when it comes to taking on somber tales based on actual events and brave tales of unsung heroes. In his most recent film, Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue, the actor assumes the role of Coal India’s Additional Chief Mining Engineer Jaswant Singh Gill, who in 1989 used all of his strength to rescue 70 trapped miners from the flooded Mahabir Colliery in Raniganj, West Bengal. When all traditional engineering techniques failed in a race against time, Gill devised a “jugaad” to save the miners.
While Kumar portrays Gill with a heartfelt performance and great conviction, the storytelling falls short of fully capturing the plot. With multiple powerful moments, director Tinu Suresh Desai expertly weaves the storyline to keep you interested and invested.
He significantly stumbles, though, when he allows his hero to take center stage and puts the plot in the background. The attention is primarily on Kumar’s actions and attempts in scenes where he occupies the majority of the screen time rather than the plight of the miners who are imprisoned deep down the mine. At that point, you start to think that perhaps some other people could have paid a bit more attention.
While Mission Raniganj is well-timed at 2 hours and 18 minutes, the first half drags on indefinitely as the plot is developed. It is crammed with technical speak and jargon that becomes overwhelming to process all at once. The tale only picks up as the second half gets going in the last few seconds of the pre-interval.
At that point, you can sense the anxiety the miners are experiencing. Vipul K. Rawal’s tale needed much more time to be conveyed than just one evening. The dialogues produced by Deepak Kingrani are usually passable and don’t usually elicit cheers or whistles. Having said that, I have to applaud Kumar for finding humor even in the tensest of situations.
Gill, the officer in charge of the rescue operation, makes choices quickly and without hesitation, and his body language conveys a profound feeling of serenity despite the mayhem. Gill worked tirelessly to save the miners, risking his own life, and Kumar did everything in his can to honor that.
Despite being the protagonist, Desai scarcely makes an effort to introduce us to Gill’s true personality and instead merely clings to the information that is already available. We don’t know anything else about Gill’s personal life outside his marriage to Nirdosh Kaur Gill (Parineeti Chopra), who serves as his rock and pillar of strength.
Mission Raniganj not only depicts a brave and harrowing tale of bravery, but it also shines a light on the corruption inside the system, as some sly and untrustworthy officers, such as mining engineer D. Sen (Dibyendu Bhattacharya), would make sure to jeopardize the efforts of others. Kumud Mishra as R.J. Ujjwal, the head of the Mahabir Colliery, and Pavan Malhotra as Bindal stand out among other notable performances. Additionally, Jameel Khan, Ravi Kishan, and Varun Badola all give sincere performances as the terrified miners, Bhola, Shaligram, and Pasu.
Overall, in the movie Mission Raniganj, you feel triumphant and happy to have heroes like Gill, but you wish the narrative had more soul and depth and went beyond the heroic deeds to include more compassion.