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Starring:
Aamir Khan,
Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri, Kiron Kher, Anupam Kher, Atul
Kulkarni, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Lekh Tandon, Soha
Ali Khan
Producers : Ronnie
Screewala, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Director : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Music Director : A. R. Rahman
RANG DE BASANTI is a
story about the youth of India today. A young, London
based film- maker chances upon the diaries of her
grandfather, who served in the British police force in
India during the freedom struggle. Excited about these
memoirs, she makes plans to shoot a film on the Indian
revolutionaries mentioned in the diaries. She comes down
to Delhi, and casts a group of five friends to play the
pivotal roles of these revolutionaries. However,
products of modern India, the five youngsters initially
refuse to be part of the project, as they don’t
identify with these characters from the past. Not
surprising, considering that they’re part of a
generation of Indians that believes in consumerism. To
them issues like patriotism and giving one’s life for
one’s beliefs is the stuff stuffy text- books are made
of. They would rather party than be patriots. In the
film both the 1930’s British India and the India Today
run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial
points. As the film reaches its resolution the line
between past and present blur’s, as they become one in
spirit.
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.
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A
thought-provoking,
soul-stirring wake up call
to the youth of India
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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 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. The director has been just
to all the characters. Nobody steals the frame from the
others. Aamir Khan is at his brilliant best, as always,
and Kunal Kapoor’s restrained intensity is a revelation.
Soha Ali Khan should be delighted she finally has a role
to sing about.
But the real hero of Rang
De Basanti is its director - Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra whose
debut, Aks, was as unusual as this one ...
-- Shaami M. Irfan
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Aamir Khan |
