RANG DE BASANTI - A must think-watch

It is rare that such a well-crafted and beautifully told story is seen in Hindi cinema.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s movie ‘Rang De Basanti’ is a must-watch for reasons that the length of this review may not suffice to express. More than just a technically brilliant flick, ‘Rang De Basanti’ has a story that entertains you, makes you think and stirs you deep inside in the end.

The plot of the movie straddles two different time periods – first one, the contemporary setting revolving around a group of friends. The second one is in the pre-independence India, revolving around freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Ashfak.

Parallels are drawn between the characters in the two time periods and as the story moves towards its conclusion, the barrier of time begins to dissolve and the characters become one in spirit.

Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India to make a documentary on some freedom fighters and after having auditioned many in vain for her movie, Sue, aided by Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), meets a group of friends in whom she sees the characters of her documentary. The group consists of DJ (Aamir Khan), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), Karan (Siddharth) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi).

DJ ( Daljeet Singh) from a Punjabi family consisting of a loving mother (excellently portrayed by Kiron Kher). A beer guzzler who is never serious about anything in life, DJ starts hitting on Sue the minute he sees her.

Aslam comes from a Muslim family and refuses to endorse the opinion that Muslims ought not mingle with Hindus.

Karan is the silent one. He is rich but has a dry and maverick kinda life. He has no passion for anything but for fagging(reminds me of my roomie)...

Sukhi is full of fun and frolic. He has no girlfriend and rues (quite portentously) that he would die a kunwara.

Also part of the group is Fl. Lft. Ajay Rathod (Madhavan), the love of Sonia (Soha). He is the only one in the group who has dedication to serve the country.

None of the friends is serious enough to be a part of Sue’s documentary. To them values like patriotism, sacrificing oneself for the sake of country are just beautiful words they cannot relate to.But Sue can see the characters of her movie in them. In DJ she sees Chandrashekhar Azad. In Karan she sees Bhagat Singh and in Aslam she sees Ashfak.

Even as the five friends agree to be a part of her movie, they still cannot accept the virtues of the characters (of the freedom fighters) they play. But then, Ajay dies in a MiG crash and is labeled as a 'rookie' pilot by the Defence Minister who is unwilling to accept shortcomings in the MiG aircrafts. Well this could have been crafted with a bit more pragmatism as no minister in India ,atleast, is dare enough to accuse a Lft. on air.Probably diplomatism in this case would have swirled the story a bit more ..Well left to directors think tank but still could have been thought out in a better way...

DJ and friends decide to bring the truth to light. But they choose a rather extreme way to do it.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra deserves a pat on the back for making a movie that certainly raises the bar for filmmakers in Bollywood. If Dil chahtha hai was amazing, awesome etc etc then I run out of adjectives to describe Rang De Basanti. If Yuva had the distance to travel for the youth ,Rang de Basanti certainly did complete the Odyssey. The movie begins on a light note and there are humourous moments aplenty in the first half as in Dil Chahtha hai(though my money goes with DCH) . The second half gets serious after the death of Madhavan. From then on, the story takes a grave turn and ends on a tragic note.(this is where Rang de Basanti kicks on and shifts to overdrive.No stopping from here on..It certainly has reached the distance and it certainly did make me feel 'What am I doing here?'.)

The most remarkable part of the movie is the parallel that Mehra draws between the freedom fighters and DJ and his group of friends. The movie keeps transposing the same actors into characters from the past. And then, as the story draws to its conclusion, even these differences in the characters disappear. The modern, city-bred ‘young guns’ of the twenty first century become one in spirit with the revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves for the country’s freedom.

No one but the invincible Aamir Khan could have portrayed the role of DJ, the good-humoured, bike-riding,vagabond like, ex-graduate -who is quite content with his living and afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends,with grace and absolute applomb. Aamir delivers his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there. Aamir is a legend and is undoubtedly the KING of Bollywood and not BAADSHAH. Any SRK fans to dispute my claims?. Ok sticking on with the review.
Alice Patten is perfectly cast and delivers a flawless and textbook performance. But she does look a bit bony , probably needs to bulk the chin and add some flesh if at all she senses a career in acting.
Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan(my goodness I could see Sharmila in her), Atul Kulkarni have all eased into their characters. Sharman Joshi is a delight to watch. Siddharth gets his moments of acting and has crafted a beautiful and meaningful role given the limitations.

Cinematography by Binod Pradhan is top notch. The editing is slick. The songs in the movie are so indiscernibly placed in the narrative that they don’t hamper the pace at all.
Well as all good things got to come to an end it has to be said that ‘Rang De Basanti’ is a milestone in the indian filmdom that definitely ought to be seen once, if not more and more importantly for filmi freaks like me it is a spectacle.

A Must-Watch and more importantly a must think.

cheers
Harvind