Rang de Basanti Box Office success
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Movie Review
Rang De Basanti - Wake up India, Rang De Basanti is here!
Aanjo P C, IndiaGlitz [Thursday, January 26, 2006]
A thought-provoking, soul-stirring wake up call to the youth of
India. An engrossing entertainer from a genre that’s still young in
Indian cinema. A film that fiercely eyeballs you, grabs you by the
solar and rattles the nonchalance out of you. A glorious tapestry
with layers upon layers of the moments and decisions that make the
lives of beautifully defined characters. Engrossing entertainment
meets taut social comment with perfect timing in Rang De Basanti.
Wake up India, Rang De Basanti is here!
The film revolves around a group of five friends played by Aamir
Khan, Soha Ali, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth and Sharman Joshi, who go
through an entire roller coaster ride of changes. The changes
aren’t the ones youngsters usually encounter - these are changes
that are very concrete and change their lives completely. The
central character or sutradhar of the film is Sue McKinley (English
actor Alice in a wonderful portrayal) who is a young documentary
filmmaker who comes to India armed with her grandfather’s diary and
a mission to make a documentary film based on the freedom fighters
of India. This diary has the personal experiences her grandfather
encountered while dealing with Indian revolutionaries like Bhagat
Singh. It also tells her about the lessons he learnt about life and
living.
Sue comes to India after quitting her job in London. Her friend
Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) welcomes her and makes all the arrangements
for her to shoot the documentary. After scores of fruitless
auditions, she is desperate to find the actors for her documentary
on the freedom fighters. And suddenly, she realizes that she need
never have looked any father than her friend Sonia’s gang of Aslam
(Kunal Kapoor), Karan (Telugu movies’ superstar Siddharth), Diljeet
or DJ (Aamir Khan) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi). Aslam is a mast maula
poet and is very secular in his outlook, and hence very different
from his parents and family. Karan is the not-so-spoilt son of a
rich businessman (Anupam Kher) who deals in MIG aircraft
parts.
DJ is an amazingly lively character full of energy and enthusiasm.
He is the only son of dhaba owner Mitro (Kirron Kher). Beneath his
enthusiasm lies a fear of not making it big in the world outside
his college campus. Sukhi is another heart-on-sleeves character. He
is also DJ’s soul mate. Laxman Pandey (brilliantly played by Atul
Kulkarni) is a political party worker who is a firm believer of his
party’s principles which, however, he later realizes are all fake.
He is the kind who considers all Muslims as traitors and Pakistanis
as people who have only hatred for India.
In the first half, the film develops these characters and precisely
tells the audience how close they unconsciously are to their
characters in the documentary. The first half is rocking and
bombards the audience with comedy, a pinch of romance and good foot
tapping numbers (AR Rahman) with lyrics (Prasoon Joshi) that
acquire even more beauty when seen in the film.
In the second half, suddenly, the carefree lives and attitudes of
DJ’s gang changes due to a huge twist. Ajay (Madhavan) who is an
Air force pilot, a good son, a patriotic Indian and Sonia’s
fiancee, and also the ideal of DJ and his gang, is killed in a
plane crash. This incident rattles the happy-go-lucky friends who
so far had been resigned to Fate and the fact that corruption is
far too deep-rooted in India to be eradicated. But the loss of Ajay
jolts them and they decide to take things in hand, realizing that
if they are to make a difference and make the youth of India wake
up to reality, they will have to take up the challenge.
The transition, the speed at which the film moves, and all the
sequences fall in place very well without boring the audience for a
single minute. You literally watch the film from the edge of your
seat, waiting to see what happens next. However, it does have a
utopian ending, though with a welcome positive feel to it.
The film has an intricate screenplay that unfolds layer by layer,
and grows upon you with moments that slowly and imperceptibly weave
themselves into a fine, taut tapestry. And the tight editing,
excellent cinematography, dialogues and performances achieve a high
degree of class. All parts of a sum total that equals excellent
direction. The film has a north Indian feel to it which comes
through effectively in the form of dialogues and scenes shot in and
around the capital.
The film comes off really well and is the kind you take home after
you’ve walked out of the cinema hall. Binod Pradhan’s
cinematography is first rate. And not one of the songs is out of
place. Their presence is quite with the film and they give the feel
of the youth. The director has been just to all the characters.
Nobody steals the frame from the others. Here, the screenplay is
king - each character receives its due weightage and prominence,
and very sensibly so. Aamir Khan is at his brilliant best, as
always, and Kunal Kapoor’s restrained intensity is a revelation.
Soha should be delighted she finally has a role to sing about, and
Telugu movies’ hotshot star Siddharth, who had 2004 biggest Telugu
hit to his name, was absolutely first rate, as was the simmering
performance from Atul Kulkarni. A breath of fresh air amongst
female performances in a month of Sundays has been that of Alice,
who plays Sue. Kirron Kher as Mitro and Madhavan as the sort of son
every mother dreams of, were memorable. As, indeed, is the music.
Above average on the album, but so very apt and beautifully
evocative in the film!
But the real hero of Rang De Basanti is its director - Rakeysh
Omprakash Mehra. Kudos!
A pure delight, Rang De Basanti is a cult film - the sort that
comes along in a long time, and will raise the bar for
everyone.
Rating: ****
