Packed with “spectacular battle scenes and even more spectacular song and dance sequences” (The Guardian), THE RISING: BALLAD OF MANGAL PANDEY marked a ferocious return to the screen for Aamir Khan after a four-year break. The huge success of LAGAAN and DIL CHAHTA HAI was followed by an agonizing divorce, and it’s as if Khan packed all the emotion of that time into this rivetting performance. He plays Mangal Pandey, a loyal soldier in the pay of the British army, circa 1857. When the Brits introduce a new, greased ammunition cartridge that demands both Hindus and Muslims desecrate their faiths, Pandey leads a revolt. Ketan Mehta’s high-spirited military drama shows Khan “excelling as an intense, charismatic leader who finally achieves a quasi-messianic status” (Jonathan Romney). His scenes with the luminous Rani Mukherjee, as a prostitute who speaks truth to power, balance the fiery heroics with supercharged sensuality.