Mission Mangal

Plot

Across the landscapes of Bengaluru, India, at ISRO, after the failed launch of GSLV-F06 on 25 December 2010, due to a miscalculation by Project Director Tara Shinde (Vidya Balan), Rakesh Dhawan (Akshay Kumar), a fellow scientist working with her, takes the blame for the mistake. As a result, he is relocated to work on Mars Orbiter Mission (Mars-craft) as punishment, where Tara joins him out of guilt. The new GSLV missions are given to Rupert Desai (Dalip Tahil), an ex-NASA scientist of Indian origin. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is thought of as an impossible mission by his coworkers due to its aim of reaching Mars with its tight budget.

Rakesh learns that the MOM cannot take off on the PSLV since the available technology has a payload of only 1500 kg and not enough fuel to fire the rocket to be carried to a distance of almost 55 million Kilometres. GSLV, if it had succeeded, could have taken the satellite to Mars as it had a payload of 2300 kg. However, recent significant failures of GSLV have jeopardised the planned future missions.

Tara is also caught up at home between constant feuds between her husband Sunil and her son Dilip, the latter showing an interest in his namesake A. R. Rahman and Islam. Dilip has another interest in the Mars Mission. One day, when Tara has to make puris and runs out of gas, she plans to cook the rest with the flame off. This sparks an idea on using minimal fuel on the PSLV vehicle, to reach Mars. With reluctance, opposing Rupert assigns a junior team to Rakesh and Tara.

The junior scientists' team comprises: Eka Gandhi (Sonakshi Sinha), a propulsion control expert, who is looking for any chance to get away to NASA; Neha Siddiqui (Kirti Kulhari), a spacecraft autonomy designer, who is struggling with rejection as a result of her intercommunal background despite her divorce while trying hard to find a house; Kritika Aggarwal (Taapsee Pannu), a navigation expert who is also a devoted wife to her army husband Rishi (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), while trying hard to get a driving license; Varsha Pillai (Nithya Menen), the satellite designer and payload expert, who faces her mother-in-law's taunts for being unable to conceive a child; Parmeshwar Joshi (Sharman Joshi), the payload expert, who relies more on the religious priest and his advice but subsequently develops a romantic interest in Eka; and Ananth Iyengar (H. G. Dattatreya), the team's structural engineer, who is trying to complete his pilgrimage to Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala with his wife.

Cast

Akshay Kumar as Rakesh Dhawan — scientist and mission director (based on the role of Mylswamy Annadurai in Mars Orbiter Mission)

Vidya Balan as Tara Shinde — scientist and project director

Sonakshi Sinha as Eka Gandhi — propulsion control expert

Taapsee Pannu as Kritika Aggarwal — navigation expert

Nithya Menen as Varsha Pillai — satellite engineer

Kirti Kulhari as Neha Siddiqui — spacecraft autonomy designer

Sharman Joshi as Parmeshwar Joshi — payload expert

H. G. Dattatreya as Ananth Iyengar — structural engineer

Vikram Gokhale as Shrikant Bhosle — director of ISRO and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's old friend

Dalip Tahil as Rupert Desai — former NASA scientist

Sanjay Kapoor as Sunil Shinde — Tara's husband

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Rishi Aggarwal — Kritika's husband and Soldier

Amitt K. Singh as Farook Siddiqui — Neha's estranged husband

Purab Kohli as Vivek Pillai — Varsha's husband

Mohan Kapoor as Durgesh Swami — Journalist

Arjan Kapoor as Sanjay Kumar — reporter

Production

On 5 November 2018, to coincide with 5 November 2013, the day the Mars Orbiter Mission was launched, Mission Mangal was announced. Principal photography for the film began later in mid-November. In early February, Pannu finished her schedule of shooting. Shakti initially had Mohanlal and Sridevi in mind for the roles played by Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan. Shakti pitched the idea to Kumar while working as an associate director to R. Balki in Kumar's Pad Man.

In November 2018, a copyright infringement lawsuit was filed against the makers of the film by the filmmaker Radha Bharadwaj.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by Amit Trivedi while the lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Tanishk Bagchi was roped in as a guest composer and wrote and composed a promotional song, "Tota Udd".

Release

The film was released in India on 15 August 2019 on the occasion of Indian Independence Day.

The film was digitally released on Disney+ Hotstar on 10 October 2019.

Reception

Critical response

Mission Mangal received generally positive reviews from critics. Rajeev Masand of News 18 gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, "Ultimately, Mission Mangal is enjoyable and entertaining. Even the jingoism doesn’t feel entirely out of place. Director Jagan Shakti delivers a space movie that lifts off and frequently soars." Raja Sen of Hindustan Times gave the film only 2 out of 5 stars and said, "The facts are stupendous, but director Jagan Shakti decides to go fast and fictional, creating an underdog story that — while often likeable — plays out like a fable."

Box office

On its first day of release, Mission Mangal earned ₹29.16 crore nett in India to become the third highest-opening for a Bollywood film in 2019, and Kumar's highest opening ever. It recorded collections of ₹16.75-17 crore on the second day, outperforming in the regions of Mumbai, Mysore and Kolkata. On its third day of release, a Saturday, the film collected ₹23.5 crore nett. It earned ₹27.5 crore nett on Sunday, marking the highest earning for a Bollywood film in 2019 on a single day. The following day, it showed a drop of 50 percent from Friday's earnings to collect ₹8.5-8.75 crore nett.

As of 12 October 2019, with a gross of ₹238.80 crore in India and ₹51.79 crore overseas, the film had earned ₹290.59 crore worldwide and was the 8th highest grossing Bollywood movie of 2019.