Whether the effect lasts or truly changes your beliefs seems immaterial as you walk out of the movie hall. At that moment, anything seems possible. World peace, a government that isn’t corrupt, true love.
Indians—young and the young at heart—are fortunate. So far, this decade there have been two such films from two new directors who have left their mark so early in their career. First, there was Dil Chahta Hai. Sure, it spoke to the well-to-do urban Indian but looking at the call-center generation, one can’t deny it’s a group to be reckoned with. Love, friendship and family seemed to the main themes of DCH but there was something in the film that resonated with most of us.
Now, there’s Rang De Basanti. A phrase that pays tribute to an earlier generation of Indians while it hopes, it seems, to ‘awaken’ a new generation. A tall order for any director, but Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra pulls it off, and how. Moving back and forth between the 1930s and present-day north India, weaving multiple storylines seamlessly and presenting viewers with a full range of emotions, from rage to love to grief to fear to pride. There’s so much that could have gone wrong, but doesn’t, thanks to slick editing, an amazing script and brief but meaningful dialogue. Some characters speak fewer than a dozen lines yet leave a powerful impression. The pace is perfect and rarely have I reached the interval of a Bollywood film and not known where it’s going next. Then, to be wondering again in the last hour of the movie, what’s going to happen—Mehra has done what few in Hindi films ever have!
It’s a story of friendship between students and ex-students DJ, Karan, Sukhi, Aslam, Sonia, Ajay and two outsiders who become part of the fold, the more serious nationalist Laxman Pandey and the enthusiastic British documentary filmmaker, Sue. Sue’s dream to make a film based on her grandfather’s diary, accounts of Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, et al, bring her to India and to Delhi University. In these friends, she sees her krantikaaris and enlists them to act in her film, but they are more inspired by booze, music and just hanging out than freedom fighting. They don’t see the point—what has independence given us, asks one, except corruption, poverty, unemployment? The group soon has a rude awakening and finds something to believe in, something they feel so strongly about that they are compelled to act.
Mehra plays to the youth of India effectively, through music, the look and feel of the film—kind of gritty but not depressing—language, even embedding media clips with the film. Know anyone these days that can stay away from a TV screen for more than a few minutes? No matter what your age, you’ll find yourself chuckling, remembering an incident or a yaar of your own from college. When things do turn serious, it doesn’t drag the film down with melodrama and preaching, opting for controlled (and not so controlled) rage and passion, above all, passion.
The acting is superb, every last actor excels, no matter how large or small his or her role. And, what a cast it is: Aamir Khan has been touted the most, but it’s some of the ‘young guns’ that impress the most—Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni (the scenes between these two are some of the best in the movie, I feel), Sharman Joshi and Siddharth, Madhavan plays his cameo role just right (thank god Shah Rukh Khan wasn’t available for the part). Soha Ali Khan (Pataudi, as the credits remind us) still seems inconsequential, in my opinion, no matter which movie she’s in, but Alice Patten does a wonderful job as Sue. What charms though are the scene-stealers: Om Puri, Waheeda Rehman, Kiron Kher, Anupam Kher and Mohan Agashe.
ARRahman’s music is apt, as always, whether conveying a mother’s grief or the devil-may-care attitude of these friends. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics capture the mood of the film as it moves from ‘who cares?” in Paathshala,
Na koi padhne wala na koi seekhne wala
Apni to paathshala masti ki paathshala
I am rebel
Lose control
to the awakening in Roobaroo,
Ae sala
Abhi abhi hua yakeen ki aag hai mujh me kahin
Hui subah mai jal gaya suraj ko mai nigal gaya
Are there some flaws? There are a few. I felt that even for middle-class Delhi there was an over-emphasis on Hindi/Punjabi. While it probably makes the film more marketable to all, I’m hard-pressed to think of any college student in north India, particularly, who doesn’t reflexively speak Hinglish, but in Rang de Basanti’ Delhi, you hardly even hear an “ok” in a sentence. While it’s plausible that Sue would go overboard and learn Hindi before going to India, I wondered why none of these supposedly hep college kids would ever speak to her in English, yet they sing “Lose control.” Also, the love story between Aamir Khan’s character DJ and Sue seems to be inserted in the plot for no real value. This hang-up he has for acting with Brits (male or female) is getting a tad old. One has to wonder what it is and when this phase will be over. Finally, some of criticized the climax as unrealistic and over the top. I’m not one of them. To those who feel it could never happen, I suggest they look back to the Vietnam War era protests on campuses in the US: a sit-in in an administrative office, taking over any piece of property that was considered to be part of the ‘establishment.’ Then look at the resulting violence against the protesters. Sadly, not only can it happen, it has. In every generation.
Rang De Basanti (2006)
Official website
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Music: AR Rahman
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
Cinematography: Binod Pradhan
Executive Producer: Adam Bohling