Man From Matunga

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January 29, 2006

Rang de Basanti

Aamir Khan loves being in “coming of age” films, playing young men in their early 20s. And somehow, like Jeetendra, despite his growing age, he manages to get away with these roles. First, it was Dil Chahta Hai (DCH), probably the best film of 2001. Now we have Rang De Basanti, which seems to be DCH II, with a twist.

The film works at multiple levels. As a simple entertainer, the film is excellent. Though a little too long (as was the case with Rakeysh Mehra’s first directorial venture, Aks), it has a good story, the characters are extremely well cast and the cinematography is terrific. The sepia tones of the pre-Independence scenes help set the right mood and among many such scenes, the Jalianwala Baug montage actually sent a chill down my spine.

But the film carries a message as well and Rakeysh Mehra takes no chances with us not getting it. The whole analogy between the protagonists and the martyrs (Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, etc). is fed to us as if we are KG children, who might miss it unless it is delivered ad nauseum. And to make sure that there are other under-currents, the Hindu-Muslim and the “white girl with Indian romeo/stud” issues are exploited to the hilt as well. Too much allegory is sometimes like having rabdi with gulab jamun and rosogollas.

The movie moves back and forth through time, capturing scenes from the past, where the protagonists (Aamir Khan as DJ, Siddharth Narayan as Karan, Kunal Kapoor as Aslam, Sharman Joshi as Sukhi, Atul Kulkarni as Laxman Pande and Soha Ali Pataudi as Sonia) agree to act in a documentary that Sue (Alice Patten) has decided to make in India, based on the diary left by her grandfather Mr. McKinley, who was a jail-warden at the time when Ram Prasad Bismil (played by Laxman Pande) and Ashfaqullah Khan (played by Aslam) were executed. He was a “bleeding heart” warden and sympathetic to the Indian cause and Sue, despite being turned down by her bosses, wants to bring this story to reel. She comes to India without money, befriends Sonia, her Indian contact, and the two start casting and shooting. Disappointed with the quality of people who audition, Sue suddenly finds her perfect cast in Sonia’s friends, who are currently at loose ends, studying in University, and gathering around bonfires at night to drink beer and to dance to boom-boxes.

As the documentary progresses, so do the lives of DJ, Karan, Aslam and Sukhi. They start internalizing their roles and though thoroughly disillusioned with life, specifically life in India, slowly start believing that they too can do something positive and maybe bring about some change. These scenes, especially the one in the lounge bar, with Ajay Rathod, Sonia’s fiance (played by R Madhavan), work really well, stopping just short of becoming sermonizing sessions. Prasoon Joshi’s dialogues are much above average and really kick-in during these scenes, adding to the already tight ensemble acting. DJ's line about how we, as Indians have one foot in the past, and one in the future and then piss on the present, instantly and spontaneously brought the house down.

Things reach a flashpoint, when an MIG-21 plane flown by Ajay Rathod crashes and the defense minister blames it on Ajay’s irresponsible flying, trying to draw attention away from a growing scandal regarding spurious and low-quality Russian spare parts for these planes. In the end, the protagonists take the law into their own hands and the finale as with most of our films, goes way over the top.

Eventually, despite its posturing about India’s optimistic future, the film still remains extremely cynical and insults our intelligence. It reinforces the usual Hindi film credo, that no change can be brought about in the Indian system, except by taking the law into your own hands. It negates the very real small and large changes that are slowly but surely, making a real difference to our lives, which countless individuals, such as IT professionals, doctors, engineers, police officers, journalists, etc, are bringing about, while working within the system.

Aamir Khan’s presence lends crackle to a film, which otherwise like Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi, may have languished as art-house cinema. Atul Kulkarni is dependable as usual. K K Raina, Om Puri, Kiron Kher and Anupam Kher play their small cameos well, though their talents seem a tad wasted. Alice Patten has obviously worked at her Hindi delivery and is above average, though not great, but the surprise packet of this film is Soha Ali Pataudi, who shows that she has what it takes to be an actress to be reckoned with in the future.

In the end though, you wonder what the controversy with the Indian Air Force and Maneka Gandhi was all about. It helped get this otherwise low-key film, good publicity, especially since the issue about the MIG-21 planes points fingers at the politicians, not the Air Force and the only animals I can remember seeing, are horses, which were used for the scenes where the soldiers were running after the fugitives.

It is a film definitely worth seeing once, as long as you see it as an entertaining, well-crafted film, and then keep away at arm’s length all the messages that it tries to send across about what we can do to improve our “corrupt” system.

Posted by bhavinj at January 29, 2006 06:41 AM

Comments

Posted by: Indigo Bubbles at January 29, 2006 06:56 PM

Posted by: MFM/Bhavin at January 29, 2006 08:21 PM

Posted by: tintin at February 15, 2006 11:07 AM

Posted by: Bhavin at February 16, 2006 07:13 PM

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