Editing Mohenjo Daro (film) (section)

===Development===
Director Ashutosh Gowariker was first inspired to make a film set in the ancient [[Indus Valley civilszation]] when he was in [[Bhuj]], [[Gujarat]], scouting locations for his then-upcoming ''[[Lagaan]]'' (2001), and stumbled across the massive excavations in progress at the ruins of [[Dholavira]]: "I thought, My God!  This is incredible! What happened to this civilisation, who were the people, how did they live?"<ref name="auto"/>

Several other film projects later, Gowariker announced the film ''Mohenjo Daro'' officially in February 2014 with [[A. R. Rahman]] composing the [[film score]].

On taking up the project, in an interview, Gowariker stated that there was meagre and superficial information available about the people in that civilisation, particularly about their lifestyle, food, and feelings. The lack of information about the period troubled Gowariker, and he decided that whenever he would get a story to tell, it will be depicted circa 2500 BC at [[Mohenjo-daro]]<ref name="bollyspice">{{cite web |title=Ashutosh Gowariker and Hrithik Roshan team up for Mohenjo Daro |url=http://bollyspice.com/83496/ashutosh-gowariker-hrithik-roshan-team-mohenjo-daro |work=Bollyspice |author=Núria Bonals Hidalgo |date=9 June 2014 |access-date=27 September 2014}}</ref> which, despite being the largest city yet discovered from that ancient civilisation, is today known only by the name—which translates as "Mound of the Dead" in English—ascribed by the [[Sindhi people|Sindhi locals]] to the site when its ruins were discovered in 1922.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/138 |title=Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref> "Mohenjo Daro" is not only the official name associated with that ancient city by the United Nations (as a [[World Heritage Site]] since 1980),<ref name=":0" /> but also the only name associated with it by archaeologists and historians around the world, as well as the general public.<ref name="auto">{{cite AV media |date=12 July 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdsp8XE2X4 |title=Hrithik Roshan {{!}} Pooja Hegde Unveils The World Of Mohenjo Daro {{!}} Event Uncut |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808192346/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdsp8XE2X4 |archive-date=8 August 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite AV media |date=28 July 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU8ub7Hx26g |title=Ashutosh Gowariker: I WOULDN'T have made Mohenjo Daro WITHOUT Hrithik Roshan {{!}} Mohenjo Daro |publisher=[[SpotboyE]] |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref> Thus, regardless of the literal translation of the words, "Mohenjo Daro" was the only possible title for an audience to identify with the actual reference point despite the fact that the city could have not been so named in ancient times.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="auto1" />

On the film's plot, he was quoted as saying, "While the plot will follow Mohenjo-daro and the culture and the vibe of the ancient civilisation, it will largely centre on a love story."<ref name="bollyspice" /> It took Gowariker three years to piece together a plot of the entire civilisation through various cities and weave a love story into it.<ref name="bollyspice" />

The challenges of adapting for cinema a story based on one of the greatest ancient civilisations of the world whose written language has not yet been deciphered have proved unique. Because modern science can not yet read anything the Indus Valley peoples wrote about themselves, any aspect about their civilisation has to be conjectured from what relics survive to discovery by archaeologists working at their various ruins. As ''The Indian Express'' pointed out, "whatever we do know about Mohenjo-daro is perhaps as much an imagination of the historian as that of a filmmaker who depicts it in visual terms."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/hrithik-roshan-pooja-hegde-film-mohenjo-daro-things-you-should-know-before-watching-the-ashutosh-gowariker-movie-2950937/ |title=Mohenjo Daro: Things you should know before watching the Ashutosh Gowariker movie |date=3 August 2016|access-date=9 August 2016}}</ref>

During Ashutosh Gowariker's research, he met as many as seven archaeologists who are closely involved in excavating sites and studying the Indus Valley Civilisation.<ref name="bollyspice" /> After much reading of published archaeological reports on his own, he brought in the American archaeologist [[Jonathan Mark Kenoyer]] of the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]],<ref name="auto2">as officially credited in the film</ref> considered one of the world's leading experts on the ancient Indus Valley civilisation, who had worked at the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro over 35 years.<ref name="BollywoodHungama.com">{{cite AV media |date=4 August 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8lGyKaLZSU |title=Ashutosh Gowariker {{!}} Mohenjo Daro {{!}} Hrithik Roshan {{!}} Full Interview {{!}} Aamir Khan {{!}} Shah Rukh Khan |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718232346/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8lGyKaLZSU |archive-date=18 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> He brought together Kenoyer to round-table with five other expert archaeologists who have also been working on this topic for many years—P. Ajit Prasad,<ref name="auto2"/> V. N. Prabakhar,<ref name="auto2" /> K. Krishnan,<ref name="auto2" /> Vasant Shinde,<ref name="auto2" /> and R. S. Bisht,<ref name="auto2" /> "who are all from the [[Archaeological Survey of India]], [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] and other institutions, all with expertise in different aspects of the same civilisation."<ref name="BollywoodHungama.com"/> Gowariker had also personally revisited the archaeological dig at [[Dholavira]] in Gujarat.<ref name="bollyspice" />

Kenoyer later visited Bhuj to inspect and approve the sets and props built by the filmmakers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ashutosh-gowariker-historical-fiction-mohenjo-daro/1/725658.html |title=A past master |date=27 July 2016 }}</ref>

The symbol ultimately selected for the film ''Mohenjo Daro'' recalls one of the earliest discovered artifacts from the initial archaeological excavations at the ruins of the ancient city itself: 'Another [seal] shows six animal heads—"unicorn", bison, antelope, tiger, the remaining two broken—radiating from a ring, and recalling a whorl on another seal from the same site with a single "unicorn" and five featureless lobes',<ref>''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953) p. 79, quoting E. Mackay, ''Early Indus Civilizations'', 2nd ed. (London, 1948)</ref> the "unicorn" being one of the 'most frequently represented' animals<ref>''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953) pp. 76–77</ref> portrayed among the 'over 1,200 of them [seals] [which] have been found at Mohenjo-daro alone'.<ref>''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953) p. 76</ref> The filmmaker has chosen to identify the "unicorn" with his central character.<ref name="UTV Motion Pictures">{{cite AV media |date=20 June 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZ5FKEB02I |title=Mohenjo Daro {{!}} Official Trailer {{!}} Hrithik Roshan & Pooja Hegde {{!}} In Cinemas Aug 12 |publisher=[[UTV Motion Pictures]] |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610140209/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZ5FKEB02I |archive-date=10 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |date=6 July 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiN3AY7bdBg |title="TU HAI" Video Song {{!}} MOHENJO DARO {{!}} A.R. RAHMAN,SANAH MOIDUTTY {{!}} Hrithik Roshan & Pooja Hegde |publisher=T-Series |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605003945/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiN3AY7bdBg |archive-date=5 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The broadest [[artistic license]] required in bringing the Indus Valley civilisation to the cinema, inevitably, would be costuming. Because although "undisputed traces of cotton cloth have survived at Mohenjo-Daro" and the Indus culture is believed by archaeologists to have pioneered the cultivation of cotton for clothmaking in the ancient world,<ref name="auto3">''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953) p. 63</ref> no actual samples of finished clothing or other organic matter have survived over these four thousand years, due to the "damp alkalkine soil" prevailing at the Indus sites.<ref name="auto3" /> Thus, the only reference material is the relative handful (compared with the broad abundance of seals found, or commercial items such as weights and measures) of terracotta humanoid figurines or small stone statues found at various excavations, which are mostly only partially intact and of mostly unknown purpose—but male or female, are mostly naked.<ref name="BollywoodHungama.com"/><ref>See, for instance, Plates XVII-XIX in ''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953)</ref> Some of the female figures, for instance, wear elaborate headdresses and jewellery but little else.<ref>See, for example, Plate XIX in ''The Indus Civilization'', Sir Mortimer Wheeler (Cambridge University Press, 1953)</ref> Explained the director in an interview, "I cannot make a movie with so much nudity, obviously. So I had to create and imagine a costume which will be away from all the different styles that we have seen in other movies, and yet be special for this civilisation."<ref name="BollywoodHungama.com"/>

With the film being set in a certain period, the whole site had to be recreated in a film studio. He was involved in working out the logistics during June 2014.<ref name="bollyspice"/> The film's stunts were choreographed by Glenn Boswell<ref>{{cite web |title=Ashutosh Gowariker hires 'The Hobbit' stunt coordinator for Mohenjo Daro |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Ashutosh-Gowariker-hires-The-Hobbit-stunt-coordinator-for-Mohenjo-Daro/articleshow/41599973.cms |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=3 September 2014 |date=3 September 2014}}</ref> and the costumes were designed by [[April Ferry]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Emmy Award winning costume designer roped in for Mohenjo Daro |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/emmy-award-winning-costume-designer-roped-in-for-mohenjo-daro/article1-1256634.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826165721/http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/emmy-award-winning-costume-designer-roped-in-for-mohenjo-daro/article1-1256634.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 August 2014 |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |access-date=26 August 2014 |date=26 August 2014}}</ref> and [[Neeta Lulla]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Neeta Lulla to style Hrithik Roshan for Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Mohenjo Daro' |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-neeta-lulla-to-style-hrithik-roshan-for-ashutosh-gowariker-s-mohenjo-daro-2053425 |newspaper=[[DNA India]] |access-date=18 January 2015 |date=18 January 2015}}</ref> [[U.K.]] based trainer Joshua Kyle Baker was roped in to train Roshan for his character in the film. He described the three-month training so as to allow Roshan to appear 'lithe' and 'agile' rather than muscular.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hrithik Roshan wants UK trainer Joshua Kyle Baker for Mohenjo Daro. Agility needed, not muscles of Krrish 3! |url=http://magnamags.com/stardust/hrithik-roshan-wants-uk-trainer-joshua-kyle-baker-for-mohenjo-daro-agility-needed-not-muscles-of/4747 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720002218/http://www.magnamags.com/stardust/hrithik-roshan-wants-uk-trainer-joshua-kyle-baker-for-mohenjo-daro-agility-needed-not-muscles-of/4747 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=20 July 2014 |work=[[Stardust (magazine)|Stardust]] |access-date=27 July 2014 |date=27 September 2014}}</ref> Relating the natural environment required for ''Mohenjo Daro'', Gowariker was impressed with the calamitous VFX seen in the films ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]'' and ''[[10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC]]'' that were designed by [[Karen Goulekas]]. In September 2014, as a [[visual effects supervisor]], Goulekas was brought on board for the film.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ashutosh Gowariker hires 'The Hobbit' stunt coordinator for Mohenjo Daro |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Ashutosh-Gowariker-ropes-in-more-Hollywood-technicians-for-Mohenjo-Daro/articleshow/42346623.cms |work=The Times of India |access-date=12 September 2014 |date=27 September 2014}}</ref> Gowariker revisited Bhuj in December 2014 to begin production.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ashutosh Gowariker revisits Bhuj to begin pre-production of 'Mohenjo Daro' |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/141201/entertainment-bollywood/article/ashutosh-gowariker-revisits-bhuj-begin-pre-production-mohenjo |work=Deccan Chronicle |access-date=2 December 2014 |date=1 December 2014}}</ref>