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Based on true events of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), making it the least expensive mission to Mars.
Aug 15, 2019 | Theatrical Limited (263 locations)
$1,365,006
$3,659,413
$2,007,644
$5,667,057
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Country of Origin: India
After the failed launch of GSLV-F06 on 25 December 2010, due to a small mistake by Project Director Tara Shinde (Vidya Balan), Rakesh Dhawan (Akshay Kumar), a fellow scientist working with her, takes the blame for her. As a result, he is relocated to work on Mangalyaan as punishment. The MoM (Mars Orbiter Mission) is thought of as an impossible mission by his coworkers due its aim of reaching Mars with its tight budget.
Rupert Desai (Dalip Tahil) is the ex-NASA director and has been hired by ISRO to consult its strategic approach. Rupert advises borrowing tech from NASA and avoiding duplicating tech in ISRO, but Rakesh is staunchly against that and advocates make in India. ISRO Director (Vikram Gokhale) is a balanced person and takes Rakesh’s idea into due consideration.
Sunil (Sanjay Kapoor) is Tara’s hubby and is a bit of an asshole, and not supportive of Tara’s career.Tara, meanwhile, joins a new and better team. Rakesh then learns that 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 5.5*10^7 kilometers. GSLV, if it had succeeded, could have taken the satellite to Mars as it had a payload of 2.3*10^3 kg. However, recent significant failures of GSLV have jeopardized the planned future missions.Back at home, Tara is badly caught in between balancing her career and her family. One day at home, while frying ‘Puris’, Tara’s maid informs of insufficient gas to cook all the ‘Puris’, to which Tara tells her to heat the oil and turn off the gas, and turn it back on if oil cools down. Which sparks her an idea to launch the MoM using PSLV. She approaches Rakesh with the idea, who is convinced. The duo tries to get the other team members on board, but instead are mocked, though they later are convinced too along with Director of ISRO.The Director likes Rakesh’s plan and asks Rupert to provide him and Tara a team. Rupert doesn’t give them his best people, but a bunch of juniors, who are considered newbies in their own right.Eka Gandhi (Sonakshi Sinha), who is the propulsion control expert, is introduced as a youngster that hates most Indian things and looks for the first chance to get away to NASA. On the other hand, there’s the spacecraft autonomy designer Neha Siddiqui (Kirti Kulhari), who is struggling with rejection as a result of her inter-communal background. Also, there’s the navigation expert Krittika Agarwal (Taapsee Pannu), who’s a devoted wife that tends to her ex-serviceman husband Rishi Agarwal (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), who was severely wounded in action. Varsha Pillai (Nithya Menen), the satellite designer and payload expert, battles with her mother-in-law’s taunts at home for not being able to bear a child.
Parmeshwar (Sharman Joshi) is the payload specialist who believes in astrology and is told to keep away from “mangal” if he wants to get married. He is a virgin. He decides to stay in the Mars mission team as he is smitten with Eka, who basically is “easy” and sleeps around.However, after the announcement of India’s second Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, the mission’s budget is cut by 50% to 400 Crores. In between the tight schedule and minuscule budget, Tara and Rakesh continue to work on their MoM project by making several compromises. But they are assigned some experienced specialists to buttress their young team.
The team reduces satellite weight by using a plastic aluminum composite. After a lot of flak, Ekta finds a way to get to Mars with 850 kg of fuel. she deletes her application to NASA. The frugality continues when Tara suggests to borrow equipment from Chandrayaan-2 (which has been delayed) to save MoM mission costs.The MoM satellite is finally launched on PSLV on 5 November 2013, and is named Mangalyaan (Sanskrit: Mars-Craft) and is successfully inserted into Earth’s orbit. Rakesh and his team celebrates the successful launch. After spending 298-day transit to Mars, MoM satellite is inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making the country 4th in the world to do so and the first country to do it in the first attempt.
Based on true events of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), making it the least expensive mission to Mars.