Rang de Basanti: the review

Rang de Basanti is a must-see. Although I personally feel not everybody will like it and there is a fair chance it won't do too well commercially, it is a treat to watch, for what it says, and most importantly, how it says it.

Rang de Basanti is about the awakening of today's youth, whose views about their country are too simplistic and defeatistic. A group of 5 people who are fairly representative of today's youth--partying, dancing, making merry and nurturing both indifference and antipathy towards their country's condition. They are the classic youth who have cocooned themselves in their own world full of booze and merrymaking, deliberately trying to bury their neck in sand and pretending nothing bad in the world is affecting them...until it does.

The story of Rang de Basanti does not say anything new, or at least anything that any of us have not thought about before. Not too long a movie called Yuva tried to touch the same subject. While Yuva conveyed what is the right thing to do, Rang De.. is about what we wish should happen and how right and wrong that is. Where the movie's gold really lies is how the director puts his point across. I have never seen a movie that is based in contemporary times and yet ends up making the audience think of our past. The past that is lost in our history books, the past that does not leave the school compound, the past that 50 odd years later, everybody thinks he/she is competent enough to analyze and criticize. Our history books have ended up idealizing our past so much that it is something we look at from a distance, admire temporarily and quickly dismiss as irrelevant to today's times. This movie brings our past heroes from the tall pedestal to amongst us. This is the movie's biggest scoring point. May I that among the slew of Bhagat Singh movies, this one may not be the most accurate, grand, theatrical, etc. but it certainly is the most relevant!

The casting is perfect. Soha Ali Khan is a revelation--although her role doesn't demand many histrionics, she performs her role well, doesn't act too much or too little, and doesn't try to act the star or the star's sister and daughter. Sharman Joshi (Style fame) is goofy as usual, and quite convincing at that. Siddarth (from the music video "Yeh hawa..." from Aryans) also performs quite sincerely. Kunal Kapoor is good. Madhavan looks fresh and enthusiastic as usual. Here is a South Indian actor whose potential has not been tapped enough by Bollywood. Atul Kulkarni is the latest gem from the Marathi film and theater industry. His casting is perfect for the role. Again what works most in their casting is that other than Aamir, none of them are famous enough to potentially outshine the characters they play. That helps a lot in relating to their ordinary next-door characters.
Lagaan's trend of casting British actors continues with Rang de Basanti. Sue is the "sutradhaar" of this movie. She has the perfect foreign character who has heard only exotic and grand things about India and so has a very picturesque, albeit impractical impression of our country. The reality of the lowest strata of India and the apathy of today's youth hits her early and hits her hard. Alice Patten has done her homework well--her Hindi is clear and largely perfect and her acting abilities are good enough for this character. She also gets to mouth some interesting one-liners that, to my experience, excite the audiences the most.. ;-)

This movie, like DCH and unlike Mangal Pandey, is not a solely Aamir Khan movie. I am both happy and relieved to see the Aamir we all know and respect back, from the dungeons of a certain Mangal Pandey. His comic timing is perfect as usual, his childish expressions haven't changed a bit from DCH and add to it an infectious Punjabi touch, complete with accent, mannerisms and loudness, and you have a role that is tailormade for Aamir Khan and one that shines because of him. And he has some of the best one-liners in the movie :-)

My greatest appreciation though is reserved for the director. Frankly, without the director's wonderful way of putting the story, it would've been another Sunny Deol movie. The dialogues in the movie are subtle and effective, not loud and jingoistic. Atul Kulkarni's mere "sorry" for all his hatred towards a Muslim Kunal Kapoor is more stirring than the same sentiment conveyed in 10 sentences by Nana Patekar or Sunny Deol. Just when you think the movie is getting a bit too filmy and loud, the director pulls out a page from history to bring sanity and relevance to the proceedings. For those who don't know, this is Rakesh Mehra's second movie, the first one being Aks. Though Aks was largely boring and sounded too abstract at times, nobody could miss the unconventional and artsy directorial contributions in that movie. Rakesh Mehra continues to shape his style in this movie, and I think we have a new refreshing director in Bollywood who will make very thought-provoking movies out of ordinary situations. The fact that he casts biggies like Amitabh Bachchan and now Aamir Khan is a plus to bring all types of audiences into the movie theater.
To end, my reasons to watch Rang De Basanti, in order of importance:
1. The director and his storytelling.
2. The cast and their honest performances.
3. The songs. None of the songs are picturized fully, and none of them are lip-synched. This makes them short enough to appreciate, and realistic enough to add to the movie's story and pace, not take away.
4. The dialogues!
5. A movie soaked in Punjab that is not full of melodrama, family values and sarson ke khet (finally!)
6. Aamir Khan (come on, I had to mention him. He's the best!)