''Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue'' is a 2023 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language disaster thriller film directed by

Tinu Suresh Desai Dharmendra "Tinu" Suresh Desai (born 28 August 1974) is an Indian film director. Tinu Suresh Desai was born on 28 August 1974 in Mumbai Maharashtra, India in a Gujarati-speaking family, his birth name is Dharmendra. He is a son of production m ...

and produced by

Pooja Entertainment Pooja Entertainment (Formerly known as Puja Films) is an Indian production and distribution company established by Vashu Bhagnani in 1986. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company is known for producing the comedies: '' Coolie N ...

. Based on the Raniganj Coalfields collapse of 1989 in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, the film stars

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

and

Parineeti Chopra Parineeti Chopra (; born 22 October 1987) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. Chopra is a recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Parineeti Chopra, several accolades, including a Filmfare Awar ...

. ''Mission Raniganj'' is based on

Jaswant Singh Gill Jaswant Singh Gill (22 November 1939 – 26 November 2019) was an Indian engineer-in-chief at Coal India known for his efforts in rescuing 65 coal miners trapped in a flooded mine in Raniganj, West Bengal, in 1989. This rescue operation is c ...

, a brave and diligent mining engineer from IIT Dhanbad who rescued 65 trapped miners at the Raniganj Coalfields in 1989.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place from July 2022 to August 2023 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Raniganj Raniganj is a neighbourhood in Asansol of Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is governed by Asansol Municipal Corporation. Geography Location Raniganj is located at . It has an average elevation of 91 me ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The film was theatrically released on 6 October 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a

box office flop A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

Plot

In 1989, miners are undergoing a shift change around midnight in Raniganj Coalfields. The mine is divided into three sections, and a blast is set off in one of the sections to open new coal veins. Upon the blast, it is noticed that the shaft is leaking water. An emergency order is sent out to evacuate, but the Behra (deaf) section is led by a deaf miner who doesn't hear the phone signal. Most of the 200+ miners are evacuated except for all 60+ miners in the Behra section and 6 miners who drown trying to escape the mines.

is a manager of a nearby mine who notices the emergency vehicles headed for the mine and decides to lend his services. Upon arrival he encounters stiff resistance from other members of the operation who believe that all the miners are already dead and a rescue is futile. The head of the flooded mine, Ujjwal, requests his help in the rescue operation. Gill recruits a disgraced surveyor, Tapan Ghosh and a drilling engineer, Bindal, to scope the highest point of the mine. From here, he excavates an 8-inch borehole, placing a flashlight as a signal to the miners. However, unbeknownst to them, the miners are stuck behind a brick wall obstructing the path to the highest point, and do not see the flashlight. Meanwhile, Sen from

Coal India Coal India Limited (CIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking and the largest government-owned coal producer in the world. Headquartered in Kolkata, it is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India. It acco ...

is sent to sabotage the mission, as the manager of Raniganj Coalfields, Ujjwal, is intensely disliked by his boss. He proposes rescuing the miners through a closed mineshaft which had been breached by the explosion, disregarding Gill’s warning that the shaft is heavily flooded and cannot be accessed. His crew uncovers the bodies of 6 miners who drowned, causing the rescue crew to abandon the mission and shut down operations. The flashlight is withdrawn just before the miners reach the highest point. However, the dog of one of the miners hears the miners' desperate cries and barks at Gill, alerting him that the miners are still alive and the rescue should be continued. After Sen's attempt fails, the efforts focus on Gill. The 8-inch borehole allows for food, water, and medicines to be sent down to the mine, along with a communications line. Through a

Davy lamp The Davy lamp is a safety lamp used in flammable atmospheres, invented in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy.kaṛā to signal the capsule to be lifted. Gill is the last to be removed from the minefields, and is rewarded with a Rs. 1 lakh cheque and immediate promotion. The disgraced surveyor is recognized for his efforts and paid his missing wages.

Cast

Production

Development

The film was announced by

Vashu Bhagnani Vashu Bhagnani is an Indian film producer from Mumbai, India who works in Bollywood film industry. He launched Puja Entertainment India Ltd. in 1995 with the movie ''Coolie No. 1'' His films include '' Coolie No. 1'' (1995), '' Hero No. 1'' ...

Jackky Bhagnani Jackky Bhagnani (born 25 December 1984) is an Indian actor, film producer and entrepreneur who works in Hindi cinema. He is the son of producer Vashu Bhagnani and founder of the Indian music label Jjust Music. Early and personal life Jackky B ...

and Deepshikha Deshmukh under their banner

. It is based on the life of

who rescued 65 mine workers during the Raniganj Coalfields collapse of 1989 in

. The film was initially titled ''Capsule Gill'', which was later changed to ''The Great Indian Rescue''. In September 2023, with the poster release, the name was changed to ''Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue''.

Casting

was cast as the mining engineer

an IIT Dhanbad Graduate.

was cast opposite Kumar, marking their second project after '' Kesari''. Actor

Dibyendu Bhattacharya Dibyendu Bhattacharya (born 11 November 1975) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema And Web Series. He is best known for his role in '' Dev D.'' ,Layak Talukdar in ''Criminal Justice'', 2019 Hotstar Web series and DyS ...

was cast in a pivotal role in August 2022.

Filming

The principal photography commenced in July 2022, with

and other actors joined the set in August 2022. The film is primarily shot in the

with few portion also shot in

, IIT Dhanbad Campus and

. In August 2023, a song was shot in Mumbai.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Satinder Sartaaj Satinder Pal Singh, popularly known as Satinder Sartaaj, is an Indian singer, songwriter, actor and poet primarily associated with Punjabi language, Punjabi songs and films. He gained fame with his song "Sai". Since then he has performed acro ...

, Prem-Hardeep, Arko, Vishal Mishra and

Gaurav Chatterji Gaurav Chatterji is an Indian music composer. He is primarily recognized for composing music for films like Jai Mummy Di, Ginny Weds Sunny, Aafat-e-Ishq and Jalsa. The popular song ‘Kaise ab Kahein’ from Gutar Gu was composed by him. Care ...

while all the lyrics are written by Sartaaj,

Kumar Vishwas Kumar Vishwas (born Vishwas Kumar Sharma; 10 February 1970) is an Indian Hindi poet, a lecturer and former politician. He was one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a former member of its National Executive. Life and car ...

and Kaushal Kishore. The first song from the film "Jalsa 2.0" was released on 16 September 2023. It is sung by Satinder Sartaaj and Prem-Hardeep. The second song titled "Keemti" was released on 3 October 2023. It is sung by Kaushal Kishore and Vishal Mishra.

Release

Theatrical

''Mission Raniganj''s teaser of the film was released on 7 September 2023. The film's trailer was released on 25 September 2023. The film was theatrically released on 6 October 2023.

Home media

The film began streaming on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

from 1 December 2023.

Reception

Critical reception

''Mission Raniganj'' received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 29% of 7 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.5/10. Toshiro Agarwal of ''

Times Now Times Now is an English-language news channel in India owned and operated by The Times Group. The channel launched on 23 January 2006 in partnership with Reuters. It is a pay television throughout India. Until 2016, it was India's most popula ...

'' rated the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "The film's gripping narrative, exceptional performances, and skilful direction make it a must-watch, despite some visual effects shortcomings. It's a gritty and grounded tale of heroism and resilience" A critic of ''

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

'' gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and noted, "On the whole, ''Mission Raniganj'' makes an impact due to the subject, clap worthy moments in the second half, nail-biting moments and Akshay Kumar’s performance. The director cinematography is fine but the first half is a bit weak and doesn’t create the desired impact." Sonil Dedhiya of ''News18'' rated the film 3 stars out of 5 and wrote "It is a story of human triumph which has been narrated well. It is an engaging experience that will resonate emotionally with the audience." Renuka Vyavahare of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and noted, "''Mission Raniganj'' with all its potential to tap into the human psyche and behaviour when put in a life-threatening situation, misses the goal by a mile. With a poor attempt to scratch beneath the surface, director Tinu Suresh Desai’s film is loud, over the top melodramatic, largely evoking indifference over reverence." Zinia Bandyopadhyay of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Overall, if you are looking for just entertainment, you will probably enjoy the film. But, if you want to see the extraordinary story of Gill on-screen, you will be disappointed." Shubhra Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "the way in which the loud background music ratchets up the theatrics, and the manner in which local ‘netas’ and high officials in Calcutta try and scuttle the operation, with each person bearing the bad news running across the screen in exactly the same manner, the film comes off a tiresome plod."

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, editor and documentary screenwriter. He was a columnist at ''BBC News'', ''Business Standard'', ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Financial Express''. He has also written for ''The Telegraph'', ''The Tim ...

of ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

'' gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film reinforces the lingering belief that Hindi cinema should leave true stories alone, especially if Akshay Kumar is to be placed at the centre of the action."

Box office

''Mission Raniganj'' was made on a budget of , and collected , by the end of its theatrical run. The film was termed a box office flop.

References

External links

* * {{Bollywood Hungama film, id=mission-raniganj Hindi-language drama films Indian films based on actual events Indian biographical drama films Indian action drama films Indian action thriller films Indian survival films Indian disaster films Disaster films based on actual events Action drama films based on actual events Action thriller films based on actual events Films set in West Bengal Films shot in Jharkhand Films shot in the United Kingdom Films shot in West Bengal