Yesterday I went for the movie ‘Rang De Basanti’. I was in Baroda over the weekend and was planning that maybe I would be going for this movie along with my cousin, uncle and aunt. Unfortunately my cousin couldn’t make it to Baroda. Still I decided to go ahead and went to INOX to book the tickets for the evening show. Although there was heavy rush at the booking counter, quite unexpected in small city like Baroda! I managed to get three tickets for the 7:20 show.
The movie begins with a British Journo ‘sue’ (soo) researching on Indian revolutionaries like ‘Bhagat Singh’ and ‘Chandrashekhar Azad’. Her main source and inspiration for the research is the personal diary of her grandfather ‘Mr. McKinley’, a British Officer who was a witness and executioner to the atrocities that were inflicted on the Indian revolutionaries. She discovers that her research cannot be funded any further due to fund cuts and she decides to quit her job and fly to India to shoot a documentary on her research. It’s shown that while leaving she calls her boss ‘teri maan ki aankh’ and the boss is shown confused for she obviously didn’t understand Hindi.
Sue flies to India; she is welcomed in India by her friend and Indian link for her research ‘Sonia’ (Soha Ali Khan). Sonia is a DU student and who is going to help sue in auditioning people for the documentary; this is one the most comic phase of the movie. Typical DU junta is shown, from people like Hip-Hop types to the original Bihari types. The audition of these kinds of people shows a very funny but a true picture of the present day youth, confused yet confident. At the end of audition sue is very unhappy since she hasn’t been able to get the actors for playing the lead roles.
Sonia then tries to lift her spirits and takes her to what is called paathshaala. This is where all the fun and masti begins, paathshaala is basically a hangout where junta is boozing, dancing, basically having fun. It is here that Sonia introduces sue to her other friends, D.J. (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal) and Sukhi (Sharman). Very soon another important character Laxman (Atul Kulkarni) is introduced. Laxman is shown as an upright guy who leads the local student body of a political party, he is against DJ & his friend’s lifestyle.
All these characters have distinct personalities, zealous attitude but unfortunately hardly any ambitions & aspirations. Sue over one of the escapades to DJ’s moms Dhaba realizes how perfectly do all these people fit the lead roles of her Documentary. She requests Sonia to ask them out for playing the characters in the Documentary. However, products of modern India, the five youngsters initially refuse to be part of the project, as they don’t identify with these characters from the past. Not surprising, considering that they are a part of the generation of Indians that believes in consumerism. To them issues like patriotism and giving one’s life for one’s belief is the stuff heavy textbooks are made of. They would rather party then be patriots.
Another character is introduced:Flt Lt. Ajay Rathod, played by the ever-charming Madhavan. Ajay is a Pilot with the Indian Air Force, and Sonia’s fiancé.
He is shown as a near-perfect guy.
Eventually the five decide to be a part of Sue's project and the first half is all about their escapades to D.J's mother's Dhaba, Punjab, India Gate & an airfield accompanied with some of the best cinematography and music I have ever come across.
Kahani mein twist- Ajay dies in a MIG 21 accident and his death is marred by the fact that his skills and integrity are questioned posthumously by the Defence Minister Shastri (Mohan Aghase). Although the experts claim that the
crash happened because of the cheap quality spare parts being procured from Russia, the defense minister Shastri
puts the whole blame on the Pilot saying that he was a rookie.
This is the point when all these friends get angry and decide to take out a morcha to bring to justice the people who were responsible for Ajay’s Death. They take out a peace march and soon the media starts covering them,
the angry minister calls in RAF to attack and disperse the crowd. In this attack Ajay’s mom suffers a head injury
eventually ending in a coma, and all other friends including DJ gets beaten up. All friends are in a state of shock,
and they realize what was happening was sheer injustice.
Now as D.J. puts in "there are two ways to live life- one's is to accept things as they are and tolerate them and the other is take the responsibility to change the things". After this ordeal the fiends decide to choose the second alternative and the post-intermission movie is all about them taking on the impossible which is not just the assassination of defence minister but to accept the responsibility of murdering the defence minister in front of everyone and being ready to face the consequences.
In the film both the 1930’s British India and the India today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points. As the film reached its resolution the line between past and present blurs, as they become one in spirit. The intersections especially the one comparing the defence minister with general Dyers (who was responsible for the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre) are very impressive.
Rakesh Omprakaysh Mehra is surely a very talented person and this film reapproves the fact that was first noticed in his directorial debut in Aks. The screenplay is very good- specially the second half- which takes on the serious stuff. The first-half, though is spent only on the frolic part and some realisation by the youngsters, however the second half does more than just compensate the first-half. The end is extremely powerful & thought provoking.
Music is very good- apart from the chart-toppers Paathshaala & Rubaroo- the songs 'Khoon chala' & 'Lukachuppi' are very much emotionally charged. The dialogues have that flare especially the Aamir and Sharman's Haryanvi style taunts. Art direction is brilliant and the way in which the scenes of revolutionaries of pre-independence era (in sepia tone) and those of the revolutionaries in post-independence era (in full colours) are diffused is amazing.
Having covered all the technical aspects- it's a compulsion to praise the excellence shown by all the actors- and it won't be wrong to say that each one of them gave some serious competition to Aamir Khan in terms of perfection and quality.
Although, only Aamir Khan could have enacted the role of DJ, the good-humoured, bike-riding ex-graduate who is afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends. Aamir speaks his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there. Alice Patten is perfectly cast. She delivers a flawless performance and even shows that she can swear in Hindi. Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni are up to the mark. Sharman Joshi is a delight to watch. Siddharth (Sharman) gets his moments of acting at the movie’s end.
The supporting roles are so many but all very well done and you won't ever feel they're anyhow less important or well portrayed than the main characters.
Watch Out For:
- The Beer Drinking competition at PaathShala
- Aamir khan’s emotional breakdown scene at Sue’s place
- All the songs especially Paathshaala, Roobaroo, Rang De Basanti and Khalbali
-Jai Hind
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