Mission Mangal song ‘Dil Mein Mars Hai’: Akshay, Vidya, Taapsee work towards getting to Mars

Using cups of sugar and tea, Akshay Kumar’s character Rakesh Dhawan tries to explain (or rather mansplain) to Vidya Balan’s character Tara Shinde about how far Mars is from Earth. She replies that no matter the distance we can still make it to Mars.

The first song from Mission Mangal (2019) shows that the Mangalyaan mission team, made up mostly of women, came together and worked hard to solve problems and create solutions to get to Mars. ‘Dil Mein Mars Hai’ shows that even while they were home, and in the case of Nithya Menen, right after her character Varsha Gowda has given birth, they were still working.

Composed by Amit Trivedi, ‘Dil Mein Mars Hai’ sounds like a peppy jingle. Sung by Benny Dayal and Vibha Saraf, the song hones in on the obsession of Mars that dominates the lives of all these characters. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics are both quirky and appropriate for the film.

However, the song’s sounds feels too much like a commercial, rather than a filmi song for the feature. It makes us not want to take it seriously, with all the talk of home science in a space mission.

Mission Mangal, directed by Jagan Shakti, is due to be released opposite Nikkhil Advani’s Batla House on 15 August.