Product Details

• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000B9PWA8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,355 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mangal Pandey: Indians against Imperialism?, September 15, 2008

By 

T. Gillin (Colorado Springs, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mangal Pandey: The Rising (DVD)

As a film, "Mangal Pandey: the Rising" is truly magnificent. A fantastic cross-over between British and Indian cinema, it tells the story of a lone Sepoy soldier in Imperial India who took a stand against the British rule. The story unfolds, portraying the British to be basically bad save for one man named William Gordon. Even though the film takes a biased view, it still raises some interesting points, and one can't help but be moved by Mangal's passion to see his fellow Indians free, not just from British rule, but from all oppression. The underlying themes are of the inherent right of all humans to be free and treated with equality.

The film is unlike any other "Bollywood" film I have seen. It is very serious, and the musical numbers sometimes feel almost like that of a Greek chorus interacting with the main characters. I felt that this movie captured not only the riches of India, but also the exploitation put upon it by the East India Company. The only thing I found myself questioning was the accuracy of the cartridge scandal. The film made it seem a fact that the new cartridges for the rifles were greased with pig and cow fat, yet in my research in other sources, it claims that was just a rumor. I suppose it all depends on who is telling the story.

Overall, I would highly recommend this film, but I would also recommend not to take it as complete historical fact. It is based on historical figures and on a true story, but some things have been changed to make it more "cinema friendly."

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars India's First War of Independence, April 18, 2009

By 

E. Warner (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mangal Pandey: The Rising (DVD)

Everyone knows about Gandhi, but how many know the story of Mangal Pandey and the first movement for independence in India?

I use this film in my Modern World History and AP World History classes and my students LOVE it. As a teacher, I think Mangal Pandey: The Rising is an excellent resource because it provides an Indian perspective on British imperialism. It addresses a wide variety of topics: the caste system, Hindu traditions, the British East India Company, the opium trade, the "cartoos controversy" (the Hindu & Muslim sepoy soldiers refused to use cartridges that had been greased with pig & cow fat because it was offensive to their religions), how the rebellion spread across India, and much more.

When I first introduce the film and explain that it is a subtitled foreign-language film with a lot of singing and dancing, I hear audible groans in the classroom. However, within about 15 minutes, they are hooked! They love the dramatic story of the uprising and they really enjoy the Hindi songs.

Most world history textbooks still teach imperialism from the European perspective. The British referred to this uprising led by Mangal Pandey as the "Sepoy Mutiny"-- implying that it was limited to sepoy (Indian) soldiers defying orders from their British officers. However, this same event is remembered in India as the first war of independence. It was a major turning point in the struggle to break free from British rule (which did not happen until 90 years later in 1947).

I highly recommend this film. In addition to being educational, it is also very entertaining.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, March 20, 2011

By 

MT - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mangal Pandey: The Rising (DVD)

This is a remarkably silly and historically inaccurate movie about an otherwise fascinating period in Indian history. Mangal Pandey is shown killing several British officers and leading an armed rebellion. In fact, he didn't kill anyone. Nor did he lead a revolt. He was responsible for a one-man mutiny on March 29, 1857, when he shot at his European sergeant major and wounded an English officer before trying and failing to commit suicide. After a court martial by his fellow Indian troops - not by British officers as shown in the film - he was hanged, and his regiment, the 34th Native Infantry, disbanded. Juvenile anti-British caricatures are par for the course in Indian films and books that deal with the Raj, and many Indians know their own history only in terms of the nationalist myths fabricated by the independence movement of the 1940s. You would never guess from The Rising that the Mutiny left two thirds of the subcontinent untouched, that two of the East India Company's three huge armies remained loyal, and that the Mutiny was much closer to an Indian civil war than to a revolution. As Saul David, the acclaimed author of The Indian Mutiny has pointed out, the film invents a ruthless fantasy-Raj, against which patriotic Indians of all religions, ethnicities and castes unite to fight for freedom, thanks to Mangal Pandey's supposed vision of a free, democratic India. The truth is very different, and it is sad that even as India rises to become a modern world power, its filmmakers remain stuck in a post- colonial time warp, depicting their country's fascinating past in such a crude, dishonest and simplistic way.