Rang De Basanti: Chronicles of a Revolution Re-toldWe walk into the paid preview of RDB and take our seats…each of us knows the plot or the publicly available version of it: a British director comes to India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries and chooses 5 typical Indian college students to act in it and…well, that’s the plot everybody knows …it sounds interesting and the movie has Aamir Khan in it (looking 10 years younger) and some great music by Rahman... that’s enough to make any movie buff worth his/her salt go watch the film… then the movie begins…
Sue McKinley (Alice Patten) wants to make a documentary on the lives of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’ and Ashfaqullah Khan: Indian revolutionaries whose heroics are recorded in unequivocal words in the diary of her grandfather, a British jailer who came up, close and personal with these people during his tenure in India. Unfortunately, the producers can’t finance the film as, according to them, no other freedom fighter except Gandhi would “sell” in England. Sue, however, is undeterred and decides to go ahead with her dream of making the documentary for which she has even learnt Hindi. To her bosses in the studio she says, “Teri maa ki aankh!” and lands up in Delhi to live her dream.
She founds an ally in Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), who helps her out in putting together an audition for the film. Several days and auditions later, the two are still not getting anywhere as Sue can’t seem to find her ‘revolutionaries’. This is when Sonia takes Sue to meet her ‘gang’: Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) who is the poet and free spirit fighting the orthodoxy of his family; Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) the Haryanvi Jat who can’t seem to get girls but will never stop trying; Karan (Siddhartha) the son of a multi-millionaire and a cynic to the core who is looking for the first opportunity to escape the ‘kachhre ka dabba’ that is India and finally, D.J. aka Daljeet (Aamir Khan) a typical jovial and chirpy Punjabi who always wants to be in college as that is where D.J. has ‘aukaat’… he shudders at the possibility of being a part of the faceless crowd of millions. In D.J.’s own words, “College ke andar hum zindagi ko nachaate hain aur college ke bahar zindagi hum ko nachaati hai … tim-lak-a-lak-tim-tim-lak-a-lak!” Together, they are just like any other college going guy or girl: carefree, rebellious and full of life. Playing spoilsport to most of these parties is Laxman (Atul Kulkarni), the pro-Hindu revolutionary who believes that Westernisation of our culture should be prevented at all costs and seems to have a bright future in his Bajrang Dal-esque party.
However, Sue has other plans for them. She sees in them the characters of the documentary she desperately wants to make. Unfortunately, none of them are enthusiastic about the idea. They all believe that such “patriotic” ideas are things of the past. All of them except Ajai Rathode (Madhavan); Sonia’s boyfriend who is also an IAF pilot. Sue, however, is not one to be easily let down by the happy-go-lucky bunch’s indifference. She uses her charms on D. J. and finally manages to convince them to act in the documentary. The horses have been brought to the water but it is still impossible to make them drink. While the youngsters agree to be a part of the film, they just can’t emote and identify with the situations that existed in the 1920’s. To add to their woes, Sue decides to cast Laxman as Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’; something that does not go down well at all with the group. Thus begins their journey at discovering in their own way the freedom struggle and understanding better those ‘lunatic’ krantikaaris who could go hungry for 114 days!
As Sue’s documentary progresses, its actors not only start understanding and appreciating the freedom struggle much better, it also drives them to search for a fire that burns inside them, the fire that refuses to believe in a ‘chalta hai’ attitude that is so characteristic of India! Things take an ugly turn when news arrives that the MIG being flown by Ajai Rathode (Madhavan) has crashed in an open field near Ambala destroying the plane and the driver. While Ajai’s mom (played by Waheeda Rehman), fiancée and friends mourn the demise of an able pilot who gave up his life so that the MIG would not crash into a populated part of the city; the corrupt Defence Minister(Mohan Agashe) blames the disaster on the poor handling of the situation by Ajai Rathore. A peaceful procession to mourn Ajai’s death is lathi-charged in which Ajai’s mom gets severely injured. That proves to be the final awakening for the youngsters. The thin line separating the documentary and real life disappears and they become protagonists in their own real lives…
RDB is a stupendous work of art. On the surface, it is a just another movie that tries to give a strong yet clichéd social message: to change the status quo requires efforts from each one of us. What sets it apart from other movies in its genre is the lack of filmi Bollywood-esque rhetoric and melodrama to drive home the same point that several movies have tried to make. The six college students are as real as you and me when we were in college; so are their jokes, their friendly-sometimes-bordering-on-the-obscene banter, their insecurities and aspirations. Their transformation from who-gives-a-damn to I-am-the-change-agent is handled so masterfully and delicately that you’re forced to say, ‘wow!’
Ad guru Prasoon Joshi spells magic with his dialogues and lyrics. The music is by A R Rahman which is enough said in itself. But hats off to Rakesh Omprakash Mehra for using this music and lyrics the way he has in the film. Most of you would have heard the songs on the radio or the tele, now go hear them in the movie and Rakesh Mehra would make you see them in a totally different light that you could not have possibly imagined.
The story has enough pace to keep you interested despite the movie being almost 3 hours long. Soha Ali Khan actually looks and acts beautiful in the movie after forgettable erstwhile performances. Sharman Joshi briefly demonstrates that he is a fine actor and not just the bawdy comedian from Style and Excuse Me. Kunal Kapoor has the understated charm and looks the poet he plays in the film, a giant leap from the stone-faced Meenaxi performance. Siddhartha is the surprise packet of the film and plays an almost perfect cynic. Atul Kulkarni proves yet again he is one of the finest actors in Hindi cinema today. He almost steals Aamir’s thunder in several scenes. Alice Patten as Sue is brilliant and has amazing screen presence, despite the likes of Aamir and Atul Kulkarni around her.
And finally, there is Aamir Khan. This is not Aamir’s movie: there is never an attempt to let him hog the limelight or say the most hard-hitting dialogues. No, this is not your typical Hindi flick. Despite that, Aamir towers over others with his exquisite comic timing and the panache with which he can slip into the bawdy D.J. with a gaali perpetually up his lip and slip out into an insecure, scared Daljit who does not know how to bring the culprits behind his friend’s tragic death to justice. If anyone could do this, only Aamir can!
All said and done, RDB is a movie that every Indian must watch. It is the first truly modern patriotic movie. For people who watch only 1-2 movies a year, ladies and gentlemen, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. For everyone else, just go watch it! Move over Zinda and 15, Park Avenue; here comes the first block-buster of 2006: Rang de Basanti!
