One of my friends got pissed off when he was made to wait for several days, just to get his marks-list, by an employee in the University. Every time he approached, he got a similar reply: ‘Come back next week!’ One day, his blood burned so red that his heart broke the shackles of patience and his clenched fist broke that fellow’s tooth.
This is what Rang de Basanti unfurls in three hours, but with a more serious problem, a reputed star-cast, technical finesse and a brilliant background score.
A Story in the Film: Blessing Angels
My elders often checked me from mouthing bad-luck, even for a joke, because they irrationally believed that there are ‘blessing angels’ in the skies listening to every word we speak; they keep blessing us whatever comes from our mouth. But products of modern India --- DJ, Karan, Sukhi and Aslam, play a joke that their friend Ajay, who is a dedicated IAF pilot, will receive salutes from the whole nation on his Death. A few days later, Ajay dies in a crash.
When the government, to keep itself away from an under-cover scam, does not recognize Ajay’s sacrifice of saving a tribal village before his plane-crash, the grief-stricken six friends (including Sonia and Laxman Pandey) decide to rebel against the government. But they completely missed that, days back, during their joke on Ajay’s death, they also laughed at each one’s own death --- they won’t receive any salutes like Ajay.
Painted Freshness: Rang de Basanti
The first half of the film is painted with the colour of a Spring’s Freshness. The script is humorous, the screenplay is interesting and the theme is appealing. The characters are easily identifiable and their interactions are thoroughly entertaining. The frames are post-card-perfect and the subtle hues that change through the past and present are effective. The music is rocking and akin to the film’s theme.
The performances are natural and engaging. Sidharth playing ‘the emotionally depressed son of a socially rich father’ gets the maximum screen-time. Though the character of Karan isn’t well developed, Sidharth has managed the role with his brilliant spontaneity and apt histrionics. Surprisingly, in this film, Aamir Khan has played a role that is subdued to give scope for other characters to show up. Playing a young man, DJ, Aamir has delivered yet another flawless and convincing performance. Though most of his expressions bear a carry-over from those in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, he was the most entertaining par of the film. Watch him break down, after Ajay’s death. Simply, a Classic! Also, DJ is the best-written character in the film. Sharman Joshi, as Sukhi, evokes the maximum laughs. His dialogue delivery and body-language are amusing. Kunal Kapoor(Aslam), Soha Ali Khan(Sonia), Atul Kulkarni(Laxman Pandey) and Madhavan (Ajay) perform their roles adequately. Anupam Kher, Kirron Kher and Om Puri are wasted.
This film has some of the action scenes that will be remembered for long. There is one scene where Karan and DJ switch off the head lights of their speeding vehicles on the dark down-hill road and after a few moments, when they switch on the lights, what lies a just few feet ahead is a T-junction.
Pretentious: Personal View
At a Bollywood level, this film scores in almost every department. It has factors which can impress the elite, and also moments which can evoke whistles from the front-bench audience. It has enough songs, enough stunts, enough romance, enough melodrama and more-than-enough loop-holes!
Since this is not an SRK film, there is hardly any fun in pointing out the loop-holes. But Rang de Basanti has such blunders, which however hard I try, are not letting me end this review here. A couple of scenes will help me lead to the conclusion….
After the heroes admit their deed (assassinating the Minister) on AIR, the task-force commandoes attack the AIR building and kill all the five ready-to-surrender heroes. For a moment, I doubted --- is this India? It looked more like Taliban! If this is what results when a Generation Awakens, I would prefer it to sleep for some more time!
A scene where Karan kills his father is very well enacted by Sidharth and Anupam Kher. Thanks to their respective acting proficiencies. The execution too was adequate. And I have no problems with ‘a son killing his father’. But it went too hard for me to accept the reason for which the killing took place. Karan, as shown in the film, kills his father because his father was involved in the corruption, which leads to Ajay’s death. But this reason looks too feeble for such a big decision (a son killing his father). What looks more pronounced is that, Karan murders his father to justify the assassination of the Defence Minister (else people will question him for his father’s involvement in the corruption).
The above mentioned scenes are enough to prove one important aspect of the film: Pretension. Films like Yuva or Hazaaron Khwayishen Aisi do mention the importance of rebellion --- but they are convincing enough. They don’t pretend so hard, like Rang de Basanti, to drive home the point that Indians should take responsibility for the country’s development. Violence is NOT the only shade of Revolution. Gone are those days when a lover who slit his wrist to get a glance of his beloved was considered ‘passionate’. Today, such ‘passionate’ lovers are called ‘maniacs’.
And since this film boasts more of a ‘reality’ show than being a fantasy, its creative liberty cannot break the limits of the real world. ‘Awakening of a Generation’ deserves more depth in the story.
As the credits roll…
A Film by Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
Music: A. R. Rehman
Cinematography: Binod Pradan
Screenplay: Rensil De Silva, Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra
Story: Kamlesh Pandey
My friend who went violent on the University employee had a gruesome time, later, to get his marks-list.
Note: The following is not a part of my review. But it’s just a small note.
The name Alice Patten and her character Sue might be missing in my review. Yah! It was a deliberate omission. Because the film no where recognises the need of a British actress to play the role of a documentary film maker. The character could well have been an Indian documentary film-maker whose grand-father looked after the jail in which Bhagat Singh and Co. were kept. The need for a British character is very unclear. My naughty self snaps that, to show himself different, probably Aamir needs to romance with a ‘firangi’ actress.
