Rang De Basanti - Movie Review

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder". That was the message on my fortune cookie after the Chinese lunch Friday afternoon. Friday night, I saw the movie Rang De Basanti and experienced the truth in that statement.

The first half of the movie is full of the kind of fun you can have with your buddies in India, some spectacular shots of Indian locations - historical, urban, country, colleges, dhabas, roads, neighborhoods, interspersed with sepia-toned footage of a "movie" about Shaheed Bhagath Singh and his posse of freedom fighters. What can I say? We Indians are an emotional people. That heady mix of visuals, dialogs, nationalism, masti and music, all set in India, played my heartstrings every which way, making me very nostalgic, yearning for my country and my people, who are on the other side of the world

Ironically, during the second half, when the movie actually becomes serious, dramatically weaves in a real issue (not made-up for the movie) of national importance and actually talks about doing something to make the country better, my reactions were more sedate and subdued. May be it's just me. May be I respond to unstated, subtle stimulus better than in-your-face dialogs. I do have friends who told me that their conscience was affected by the second half of the movie. Whatever it is, I am glad that the the movie did not portray the overtly filmi, jingoistic, parochial version of nationalism, like most other movies do. Regardless of my paradoxical reactions to the first and second half of the movie, I did enjoy the movie in its entirety.

Wow! What a movie it is! This will probably turn out to be one of the best Indian movies of 2006. A clean, wholesome package of entertainment and drama, along with a patriotic social message. Sounds like a marketing message, doesn't it? But the movie delivers on it. The fact that it is an Aamir Khan movie is just the icing on top!

Rang De Basanti has the foundation of a great story (as any good movie should). A young female English filmmaker comes to India with the intention of making a movie on Bhagath Singh and his group of freedom fighters. The filmmaker has a very personal interest in the movie because her grandfather happened to be the jailer of Bhagat Singh's coterie, and he kept a very detailed and personal journal about their last days. She gathers a group of young Indians to play the roles of the freedom fighters in her movie. The youngsters seem to live only for the sake of having fun in life. They have a jaded, pessimistic attitude towards the country, its state and its current issues. They feel no tie to the country's past, and no concern for the future. They only want to ensure that today is great. (There is a line by Aamir's character in the movie which which sums up their attitude: If we have one foot on the past and one foot on the future, we will piss on the present in the middle!"). Nevertheless, playing the roles of Bhagath Singh and his friends in the movie-with-in-the-movie, seems to awaken a tiny seed in the conscience and hearts of the youngsters. And then, quite unexpectedly, the group of friends are faced with a very personal crisis which is tied to a matter of national importance. What will they do next? Will they let their original jaded-faded attitude dictate their actions, or will the tiny seed sprouting in their hearts grow into something big enough to rock the country? That is the rest of the movie.

In the interest of not spoiling the movie for those who have not watched it, I will not divulge anything more about the story. Just suffice it to say that it is good story, nicely presented, with excellent character portrayals. The movie could have been shorter and tighter, but we may overlook that minor detail considering that it is entertaining through its entire 3-hour length. The way elements of Bhagath Singh's story - including the characters and even some dialogs - are juxtaposed into the contemporary story of the movie's protagonists is very impressive and innovative. There were times when I got so involved in watching the interspersed footage of Bhagath Singh's movie, the movie-with-in-the-movie, set in pre-independence India, I forgot about the original movie set in contemporary India.

Aamir Khan shows once again why he is the greatest Khan of Bollywood movies. He plays the role of the youthful character DJ with style, aplomb and convincing sincerity. One cannot imagine any other Khan being able to play that role. But more delightful is the fact that the lesser-known actors who play the other roles in the movie put on a more convincing act than Aamir himself. Perhaps because I already know Aamir Khan as a star actor or perhaps because his character DJ is by nature prone to dramatics, I thought that the performance of the other actors was more realistic than that of Aamir himself. Siddharth in the role of the quiet, brooding Karan, and Atul Kulkarni as the chauvinistic, fire-brand Laxman Pandy, are both very impressive.

Apart from the length of the movie, there are a few other minor issues here and there, but I won't nitpick! It's a good movie. Worth watching again. Full paisa vasool!