Mission Raniganj (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – A total of 64 miners were trapped in a mine, who were rescued by mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill.

My Take – Any feature based on an intense race against time rescue mission is always going to be at least interesting by default. Irrespective of how the story is presented.

For his latest, Akshay Kumar re-teams with director Tinu Suresh Desai and writer Vipul K Rawal, following the very successful Rustom (2016), for yet another historic tale which sees him play Jaswant Singh Gill, a diligent mining engineer who was awarded the ‘Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak’ by President Ramaswamy Venkataraman in 1991 for his bravery by launching an operation the likes of which had never been seen in India before, and rescued 65 trapped miners from the Raniganj Coalfields collapse in 1989.

Given the inherent drama in the long-drawn operation, added with stellar performances from the entire ensemble, the resulting film without a doubt makes for a thrilling and engaging experience.

But while the film indeed makes for a compelling story of hope, resilience and teamwork, it is also impeded by unnecessary theatrics, ranging from the wailing villagers and constantly bickering miners crying for help from the underground to the bizarre nature of a select few officials who seem determined to scuttle the operation for personal gains. And of course, the poor VFX, for which clearly no budget was allocated.

Sure, the film remains engaging to a fault, but its over-the-top drama ingredients sure takes it away from the impact the human tragedy and triumph in question should have made.

Set in 1989, the story follows Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar), a mining engineer from IIT Dhanbad, who while dealing with pregnancy of his wife, Nirdosh Kaur Gill (Parineeti Chopra), finds himself at the center point of a rescue mission at Raniganj coalfields. A few hours before his arrival, an explosion to excavate coal led to a sudden influx of water flooding the mine almost immediately. Though most of the miners working overtime manage to get out in time, 65 of them, due to miscommunication, end up getting trapped.

But with a determination to reunite the workers with their families, Gill armed with the support of Officer R J Ujjwal (Kumud Mishra), sets a challenging and dangerous operation in motion, even when the rescue officers, particularly the corrupt Coal India official D Sen (Dibyendu Bhattacharya), questions his approach considering they are not even sure if the miners are alive. And with the oxygen depleting underground, Gill and his team must race against time to save them.

If you have seen director Tinu Desai’s earlier works you would know this director isn’t too enamored with subtlety. Here, he brings us the crisis with all the resident emotions over-punctuated to the most shrieking level. Despite the approach what allows the film to still create a positive impact is due to its elements of a rescue feature, like those split-second decisions, along with the fact that it is based on a true events.

Indeed, the actual mechanics of the rescue mission are riveting to watch. When things go wrong, it is difficult to not share a collective gasp with those around you or to not grip the edge of your seat in dejection. We see how writer Vipul K Rawal doesn’t shy away from questioning authority, as in the first half, administrative negligence becomes evident and we see how personal gain often trumps the desire to work towards a collective good.

There is an inherent drama to the base story, it’s a film that will elicit emotion even in the most stoic and if director Tinu Suresh Desai had simply just trusted the merit in that story, this one would’ve have worked wonders. Sadly, one of the film’s most glaring flaws is its execution.

Introduction of negative characters just for the sake of making the film more interesting is fine but they should have an actual point in the story. Here, they felt clichéd and a subject of lazy writing. Also, the VFX is just terrible. An important aspect of the story considering how much of it is set in a flooding mine, is often shoddy. It adds an artificial quality to the film that is saved only by the fact we’re watching a story inspired by real life.

Performances wise, Akshay Kumar brings in a subdued turn and plays Gill with impressive restraint. He is equally humble and self-assured, and underplays the heroism to pitch perfect. He also backed by a wholesome supporting cast. Kumud Mishra evokes the right sense a sense of empathy, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya is convincing as the pessimist and cantankerous mining officer.

Pavan Malhotra, Ravi Kishan, Jameel Khan, Varun Bhadola, Sudhir Pandey, Rajesh Sharma, Gaurav Prateek, Virendra Saxena, Saanand Verma, Shishir Sharma, Aarif Zakaria and Ananth Mahadevan do good job. Parineeti Chopra appears for a limited screen-time and is alright. On the whole, ‘Mission Raniganj’ is a well-intended rescue thriller undermined by its mediocre elements.