Rang De Basanti

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Rang De Basanti
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Produced by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra,
Deven Khote,
Ronnie Screwvala
Written by Renzil D'Silva,
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Starring Aamir Khan,
Soha Ali Khan,
R. Madhavan,
Sharman Joshi,
Siddharth Narayan,
Kunal Kapoor,
Atul Kulkarni,
Alice Patten,
Mohan Agashe,
Waheeda Rehman,
Om Puri,
Anupam Kher,
Kiron Kher,
Cyrus Sahukar
Music by A. R. Rahman
Distributed by UTV Motion Pictures
Release date(s) January 26, 2006
Language Hindi/Urdu
Budget Rs. 300M (estimated)
IMDb profile

Rang De Basanti (Devanagari: रंग दे बसंती, Nastaliq: رنگ دے بسنتى) is a 2006 Bollywood film. It was released on 26th January 2006; it was directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (of Aks fame). The film stars Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni, British actress Alice Patten, Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri, Kiron Kher and Anupam Kher. The music is by A. R. Rahman and the album went on to become a chartbuster. The movie was well-received all over the globe, and grossed Rs. 345.5M in its opening week.[1] The film has recently been selected as India's entry to the Golden Globe Awards and will compete in the foreign language film category.[2]

The movie has been selected as the official entry from India in the best foreign language film category at the 2007 edition of the Academy Awards [1].

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Struggling British filmmaker Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India after she reads the diary of her grandfather, who served in the British Force during India's struggle for Independence. She plans to make a short film about some of the unsung revolutionary heroes of the Indian Independence Movement. Her friend Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) helps her find four young men to act in the film: Daljeet a.k.a. DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan Singhania (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi).

They aren't enthusiastic at first, but Sue wins them over. Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni), a political party activist, later joins the group -- although he is initially unpopular on account of his Hindutva beliefs and contempt for Aslam, who is a Muslim. As the young men learn more about the history of the Independence movement, they lose their cynicism and start to consider what they can contribute to society.

Then Ajay, Sonia's fiancé,(Madhavan) an Indian air-force pilot, is killed when his plane crashes. The government proclaims that the crash was caused by pilot error. Sonia and her friends know that Ajay was an ace pilot and don't accept the official explanation. Instead, they claim that he sacrificed his life to save thousands of other lives, which would have been lost had he ejected from the aircraft safely, leaving the aircraft to crash in an overcrowded area. They investigate and learn that the crash was due to a corrupt defence minister (Mohan Agashe), who had signed a contract for cheap, spurious MiG aircraft spare parts in return for a large kickback.

Not content to accept this as "just the way things are done", the group decide to protest peacefully. Police forcefully break up their protest. The young men then decide that they must emulate the early freedom fighters and resort to violence. Tragedy and a shocking ending follow.

[edit] Box office

First week box office receipts were Rs. 34.55 crores, or 345.5 million rupees. It is one of the most successful movies in 2006,[2]

[edit] Morals of The Movie

Rang De Basanti presented patriotism from a different point of view - from the point of view of the Generation-X who has no idea what it means to have your freedom curbed. It taught the viewers that there is no point in blaming "the Netas" (politicians) for all our miseries because they have come from within us only and if we want to change something, it should be ourselves. It brought the ideals of Bhagat Singh in front of the youth. Bhagat Singh did not aim for the type of freedom we "won" where the power shifted from oppressive foreigners to oppressive natives.

Most of all, Rang De Basanti taught us to shed this feeling of indifference towards what all goes around us. And it has succeeded in awakening the generation that has slept through lectures of history. The protests against reservation by the youth are just the start of what this movie might achieve.

[edit] Trivia

  • Some scenes were shot at the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, the holiest shrine in Sikhism. RDB was the first production allowed to film there in fifteen years.
  • The film was to be made both in Hindi/Urdu and English versions. The English version was to be titled "Paint It Yellow". The plans for the English version were dropped subsequently.
  • The title literally means "Color It Saffron." Saffron (yellow-orange) signifies sacrifice in India. The film title, if translated into English, is usually rendered as "Paint It Yellow."
  • Aamir Khan was initially uncertain about taking on the role of DJ, as he was in his 40s and DJ was a 25-year old Punjabi in the film. He eventually accepted, though, and hired a tutor to aid him in Punjabi speech and accents.
  • There are cameos in this film by model Mandira Singh and British born director Mousir Syed.
  • Alice Patten is in fact the youngest daughter of Christopher Patten - the last colonial governor of Hong Kong before its handover back to China.
  • A line spoken by the character Daljeet was later adopted by Indian university students protesting against an increase in reserved university seats for scheduled castes [3]:
Devanagari: ज़िंदगि जिनेके सिर्फ़ दो तरिके होते हे । एक जो होताहे होने दो, बरदाश करो और दुसरा ज़िमेदारि उठाओ उसको बदलने कि ॥
Nastaliq: زِںدگِ جِنیکے سِرف دو ترِکے ہوتے ہے ۔ ایک جو ہوتاہے ہونے دو، برداش کرو اؤر دُسرا زِمیدارِ اُٹھاّو اُسکو بدلنے کِ ۔ ۔
Translation: "There are only two ways to lead your life -- one, let things happen in their own way and tolerate it, and second, take responsibility to change it."

[edit] Controversies

  • The film is critical of the Indian government, and touches on some recent political scandals [4]. Indian films must be cleared by a censor board before they can be shown, and the production crew worried that the film might not pass the censors. They invited Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to a private screening of the newly-finished film in hopes of forestalling a crisis. The film was cleared; whether or not the screening had anything to do with it is unclear.
  • Some scenes had to be removed from the movie after animal activist and Lok Sabha MP Maneka Gandhi protested. The scenes had been filmed before the production had applied for and received the necessary permission from Animal Welfare Board of India (of which she is president).

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

The music is composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics for the songs are written by Prasoon Joshi.

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Indiaglitz article
  2. ^ IndiaFM News Bureau Rang De Basanti selected for Golden Globe Awards 6 July 2006. URL retrieved on 6 July, 2006
  3. ^ Quota stir gets Rang De hue. CNN IBN (2006-05-17). Retrieved on 2006-05-19.
  4. ^ South Asia Tribune interview
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