Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language disaster thriller film
[ directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Pooja Entertainment.Based on the Raniganj Coalfields collapse of 1989 in West Bengal, the film stars Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra. The film is based on Jaswant Singh Gill, a brave and diligent mining engineer from IIT Dhanbad who rescued 65 trapped miners at the Raniganj Coalfields in 1989
Principal photography took place from July 2022 to August 2023 in United Kingdom, Raniganj, Jharkhand and Mumbai. The film was theatrically released on 6 October 2023.Despite positive reviews from critics, the film was a box office failure
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 were evacuated except for all 60+ miners in the Behra section and 6 miners who drown trying to escape the mines. Jaswant Singh Gill 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 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 The flashlight is withdrawn just before the miners reach the highest point.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.
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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 miners discover that the shaft is being filled with carbon dioxide gas, which along with the water is creeping towards them. Gill devises a 29-inch wide capsule which can be used to pull the miners up one at a time from a larger borehole. To ruin this attempt, Sen has key pieces removed from the crane he brought in, preventing the miners from being speedily rescued. Gill deduces that the miners only have 48 hours before their oxygen supply runs out. With no alternative, they begin manually winching each miner out. Most of the miners are rescued, but in a critical phase, oxygen runs low and they realize they cannot save everyone manually. Govardhan, the local MLA and union leader, attacks Sen until he admits to deliberately ruining the crane. Under pressure, he has the crane fixed and brought to the mine. Gill appears to black out from lack of oxygen, but despite losing his metal hammer, uses his 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
- Akshay Kumar as Jaswant Singh Gill
- Parineeti Chopra as Nirdosh Kaur Gill
- Kumud Mishra as RK Ujjwal
- Pavan Malhotra as T.P. Bindal
- Lankesh Bhardwaj as Safety Officer
- Ravi Kishan as Bhola Raut
- Varun Badola as Shaligram
- Dibyendu Bhattacharya as D Sen
- Dinesh Lamba as Kaseem
- Rajesh Sharma as Govardhan Roy (MLA)
- Virendra Saxena as Tapan Ghosh (surveyor)
- Vipul K. Rawal as Middle-aged Officer
- Shishir Sharma as O P Dayal
- Ananth Mahadevan as Coal India Chairman Natarajan
- Arif Zakaria as DG Om Chakravarti
- Aparna Upadhyay as Bankelal’s mother
- Jameel Khan as Pasu
- Sudhir Pandey as Behra
- Bachan Pachera as Noor
- Ishtiyak Khan as Gopal Jha
- Mukesh Bhatt as Murli
- Omkar Das Manikpuri as Bishu
Production
Development
The film was announced by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani and Deepshikha Deshmukh under their banner Pooja Entertainment. It is based on the life of Jaswant Singh Gill who rescued 65 mine workers during the Raniganj Coalfields collapse of 1989 in West Bengal
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.
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