The trailer for Ashutosh Gowariker's upcoming period drama Mohenjo Daro was released on Monday evening.
Starring Hrithik Roshan and actor-model Pooja Hegde, making her Hindi film debut, the three-and-a-half-minute trailer received mixed reactions on social media.
While many praised the scale and production values of the film, set in 2016 BC during the times of the Indus Valley Civilisation, there were also several who were put off by the film's Bollywood-ised depiction of historical times and the numerous inaccuracies in terms of detailing, which were also pointed out when its posters released last week.
Twitter users fumed over how the film seems to ignore basic historical facts.
Gowarkar's Mohenjodaro trailer succumbs to the worst stereotypes of exotic orientalism. This isn't creative licence. It is low brow populism
— Party Martian (@paritoshZero) June 21, 2016
Someone on the team knows that the original name of the Indus age settlement was most probably not Mohenjodaro, right? :D
— Suchi (@suchitramac) June 21, 2016
Interesting to see horses, silks & iron weapons in #MohenjoDaro. Must be a good reason, considering none of these existed in Indus Valley.
— Apurva M Asrani (@Apurvasrani) June 21, 2016
Where there are tweets, jokes are sure to follow.
Currently Independence Day looks more historically and scientifically accurate than Mohenjo Daro.
— Mihir Fadnavis (@mihirfadnavis) June 21, 2016
Ashutosh Gowarikar's Mohenjo Daro:
Harappan woman 1: "I'm wearing Manish Malhotra"
Harappan woman 2: "Neeta Lulla's spring 2016 collection"
— Akshar (@AksharPathak) June 17, 2016
There were a few brickbrats for Roshan, who seems to have mistaken the art of acting for the art of face-quivering.
The #MohenjoDaroTrailer makes clear that the fall of the Indus Valley civilization was caused by Hrithik's angry face-trembling.
— Beth Loves Bollywood (@bethlovesbolly) June 20, 2016
Also, despite the film's mega-expensive budget (a rumoured Rs 200 crore), many have been left unimpressed by the production design and somewhat tacky visual effects.
#MohenjoDaro looks like low budget version of #bahubali.Will skip film but buy music of mohenjodaro by #arrahman & watch #Bahubali2
— Reem (@reemsaied) June 21, 2016
that mohenjodaro trailer is a great example of the kind of stuff you can do using powerpoint and ms paint
— Saleem Pheku (@prdyt) June 20, 2016
Ouch.
Mohenjo Daro is slated to release in theatres on August 12. Watch the trailer above.
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