Review : Rang de basanti

Rating : Very Good (4.25/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2006
Director : Rakeysh Ompraskash Mehra
Cast : Amir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Siddharth, Alice Patten, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher, Waheeda Rehman, Mohan Agashe, Madhavan

RANG DE BASANTI : Cry, my beloved country !

DJ or Daljeet (Aamir Khan), Sukhi (Joshi), Karan (Siddharth) , Aslam (Kapoor) and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) are 5 friends who having graduated from Delhi University, hesitate to get out into the real world, and still roam the campus. Each of them is feisty and loyal. Into this group comes Sue (Alice Patten) straight from the UK, all determined to make her film on Indian freedom fighters, despite the shortage of funds. Introduced to the others by Sonia, she develops a strong bond with the rest, and especially with DJ. She persuades them to act in the film, and even woos Hindutva-vadi student party-worker Pandey to take the role of Ramprakash Bismil.

Gradually the friends ponder over their roles and the lives of the selfless freedon-fighters, and in the face of a tragedy, realise that they too, like Bhagat Singh and Azad, must take action, to ensure that their now corrupt and poverty-laden country, awakens and the guilty do not go unpunished. How they do it, makes for an engrossing second-half.

This is a “fundu” film as one of my friends said; it takes thought to make. A sensitive topic is handled wth great care. Although in places this resembles scenes from “Dil chahta hai” (the college friend camraderie), this also has the silent earnestness of “Swades”. The director portrays well the helplessness of India’s youth in the face of blatant corruption, and lawlessness. Not only do we hear sleeping patriotism rumbling, we also get to hear it and see it; it gets thrown in our faces. In DJ’s sobs “A hundred like me could die, and it would make no difference . . .”, we weep.

The fact that this film is about awakening and finding the patriot within, does not prevent the director from handling other scenes well. The viewer shares in Sonia’s happiness at being engaged to Ajay, in the friends’ light-hearted banter, and the quirks of campus life. Attention is paid to detail, the characters seem believable and have believable families and friends. They think normal and they talk normal. Music is good, with energetic numbers (Pathshala, and the title track) and slow ones which lend themselves to crafting some poetic scenes. Apt dialogues, some very polished acting, and a strong screenplay add muscle to this endearing film.

The director, through some stylish cinematography, some very funky camera angles, and great dialogues and acting succeeds in making our protagonists at once hip and sincere, thick-skinned yet sensitive, and hesitant yet courageous. He bridges the gap between the thinkers and the doers, mish-mashing together different cultures, religions, beliefs and thought processes. The binding factor in this story, is of course Sue, a determined and fair-thinking young woman played flawlessly by Alice Patten (daughter of Chris Patten, Hong Kong’s ex-governor). Where in Mangal Pandey, Amir didn’t shine too brightly, here he regains his fire and charisma to play the group’s tacit leader, punjabi-accented DJ. Atul Kulkarni ia a consummate actor, and brings to life the role of Lakshmi Pandey, the Hindu fundamentalist on campus. Soha as Sonia, acts well and fits the role of a fresh-faced youngster in love with Flt.Lieutenant. Ajay (Madhavan) of the Indian Air Force. Another very good actor – Kunal Kapoor who plays Aslam is beautifully expressive. Sharmaan Joshi as Sukhi and Sidharth as Karan also do very well. And then you have the stalwarts, the very worthy veterans, Anupam Kher, Kiron, and Mohan Agashe who even in miniscule roles, manage to leave their mark.

The film does drag a teeny-weeny bit in the middle, right before the action starts, but it more than makes up for it later. Like Swades, RDB too is a modern-day-patriotism story. If you have felt helpless anger at seeing the state of your nation, this film will make you empathise, weep, and maybe feel hope.

Cry, O beloved country!

And how I did.