Acclaimed filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker is known for bringing epic stories to life on the silver screen-be it Lagaan or Jodhaa Akbar and this time, the man has gone further back in time to bring to life a story about the Indus Valley Civilization with admirable results. Set in 2016 BC, Mohenjo Daro is about Sarman (Hrithik Roshan), an indigo farmer from Amri, who is perplexed with unexplained visions of an unicorn in a faraway land. When Sarman makes up his mind to visit the much-talked about city 'Mohenjo Daro', his paternal uncle and aunt try to dissuade him, but the noble hero sets out to seek his fortune and meet his destiny.

It's 2016 BC and simple Sarman (Hrithik) from 'hamri Amri gaon' is drawn to the city lights of Mohenjo Daro where he meets Chaani (Pooja), the pretty city mascot. Sarman and Chaani fall in love - but Chaani must marry brutish Munja (Arunoday, convincing as citizen caveman), son of Mohenjo Daro's pradhan Maham (Kabir, adequately oozing greed). While fighting for Chaani, Sarman discovers much more in Mohenjo Daro. Why is its river Sindhu dammed? What is Maham trading with Sumer? Why does Sarman dream of a magical animal? And what will happen to Mohenjo Daro when river and rain combine?

Ashutosh Gowariker cannot, overnight, become a bad filmmaker. This man has given two blockbusters in the last decade - Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar - both steeped in Indian history and containing Hindi cinema's most popular narrative devices. And both were such big hits, thanks to the way Gowariker handled them. So why did Mohenjo Daro get the bad pre-release rap?

Sarman (Hrithik Roshan), an indigo farmer from Amri, always wanted to go to Mohenjo Daro, the big town nearby his village, and even has dreams that have links to the place. However, his uncle Durjan (Nitish Bhardwaj) is reluctant to send him there, due to a secret in the pasty. But Sarman manages to convince him to give the permission to visit the much famed land.

So one of the biggest releases of 2016 is here! Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Mohenjo Daro' starring desi Greek God Hrithik Roshan released amid much anticipation and expectations from his fans. While Bollywood used social media platform to promote Akshay Kumar's 'Rustom', which also shared the same release date-this clearly did not affect the dancing superstar much.

If you had to recreate an ancient civilisation, what would you do? If you are Ashutosh Gowariker, and have had lots of experience in excavating the past (Lagaan, Jodhaa Akbar), you would scale it up. Instead of a few hundred years, you would go back a couple of thousands, ditching the merely old for the seriously antique.

Sarman (Hrithik Roshan) is an Indigo peasant living with his uncle and aunt in Aamli village. After hearing big things about the town where they trade their goods, Sarman convinces his uncle to send him to Mohenjo Daro for trade. He takes off for the town and seems to have a strange familiarity with the place. After experiencing the ill-treatment given to peasants by Maham (Kabir Bedi) and his son Moonja (Arunoday Singh), Sarman decides to leave the town.

Early in Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro, a dumbstruck Hrithik Roshan walks around marvelling at the large titular city. 'Yeh sab kaise banaya?' he asks, wide-eyed and speaking like a slow six-year-old, wondering how they built it all. It is a question we, the audience, would do well to echo, because it is hard to fathom what on earth led to this film being made.

When Mohenjo Daro's trailer came out, it got historians laughing with extravagant sets and over-the-top sequences. It turns out the movie - which stars Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde - is no better. The film that narrates the story of the Indus Valley civilization appears to be a mish-mash of director Ashutosh Gowarikar's previous movies. It has the grandeur of his 2008 epic Jodhaa Akbar, the sincerity from his Oscar-nominated 2001 movie Lagaan and the lack of any substance from his forgettable 2010 flick Khelein Hum Jeee Jaan Sey.

In the opening scene of Ashutosh Gowariker's latest epic drama Mohenjo Daro, a few men are floating down a serene river clearly looking for a hunt. A giant crocodile shoots out of the water. Sarman (Hrithik Roshan) grabs his pitchfork and a battle follows. Sarman returns to his village a hero with his kill. The characters are speaking an intelligible dialect, but then the camera zooms into the lips of Sarman's uncle, and zooms out with the characters now speaking Hindi.

An epic canvas is the bare minimum that one expects from a big budget period film helmed by the maker of Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar. Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro does not scrimp on scale, but where, pray, are the meaningful dribs and drabs that could to fill up the imaginary expanse that the film creates? Mohenjo Daro is a massive mess that the loose-limbed Hrithik Roshan cannot yank away from its mediocrity, no matter how hard he tries.

The film starts off with the era of 2016 BC in the North West region, which happens to be the prehistoric India. This gradually leads to the introduction of Sarman (Hrithik Roshan) and his victorious fight with a predator crocodile. While on one hand the villagers felicitate him for the victory, on the other hand, Sarman is adamant to visit the city of Mohenjo Daro, something that his uncle and aunt are not too keen on, for reasons best known (only) to them.