Rakesh Mehra's latest offering 'Rang De Basanti' is one of the movies that's as commercial as a Hindi movie can be and manages to retail a semblance of sensibility with patriotism and some real concerns churned into the narrative. The movie opens in the UK where we find 'Sue' (a budding filmmaker) who wants to make a movie on the Indian freedom struggle after reading a diary written by her grandfather James McKinley who was an office in the British Police force in the 1930's in India. This diary captures the last days of India's freedom fighters who took the path of violence - Bhagat Singg, Chandrashekhar Azad ..... etc.
After some initial setbacks to her vision, Sue reaches India to meet Sonia and figure out a way to make her movie. They have auditions in college campuses which don't quite work and the audience is held in splits in these moments. Diljeet (DJ), Sukhi, Aslam and Karan are a group of friends who quite correctly stand for the youth as they are in the country today. They don't care too much about the heroes from the past and don't look at them beyond the textbooks. They simply have lost hope in the dream that was called 'Hindustan'.
Amidst the fun, beer drinking and the aish-o-aaram of college, the audience is introduced to some right wing elements which we all can strongly relate to. Laxman portrays the role of a hardcore swadeshi who see modern culture as a pollutant to 'hindustani' values. Sue sees her characters in these guys and coaxes them into playing their respective parts for her documentary. It all begins without any commitment or seriousness from all the players. Ajay, Sonia's fiancée is an airforce pilot who get's killed in an air crash.
This incident changes their perception, which was already being swayed by the powerful characters of the freedom fighters, totally. To make things worse, the govt blames Ajay for the crash which precipitates the situation and spirals to a point where the lead characters end up taking an idealistic decision. This leads to a situation where the present day men and the freedom fighters from the past, become one in spirit.
RDB is humorous, it's patriotic, it evokes a strong patriotic fervour in us without sermonizing. The music of the movie has been composed by AR Rahman and to say that Rahman has exceeded his brief would be an understatement. The prayer song composed to go with the situation when the lead characters enter the Golden Temple is out of this world. All songs have been apt and fit the movie well, most of the songs are used more in the background with the visuals taking the main role in the narration except one romantic song and a bhangra song.
Binod Pradhan's camera work is neat and appropriate. Sameer Chanda has excelled in production design and art direction. Screenplay is coherent without any loose ends and the credit goes to Renzil D'Silva. Prasoon Joshi has penned the songs and dialogues and most of the conversation will keep the audience in splits. Special mention has to be made about Kiron Kher, to me she's one of the most under rated actresses. One smirk on her face and you can feel her pain, one smile and you can feel the attachment of a mother, she excels in the role of DJ's mother.
Aamir Khan is one of the finest actor in India and when you see him as DJ on screen you know why. Atul Kulkarni plays the role of Lakshman to perfection. Kunal Kapoor as Aslam plays the Muslim youth role neatly and giving his character depth is Om Puri in a cameo as his father bleating out the normal sentiment against India. Sukhi is Sharman Joshi and in this movie we see him in a new avatar, someone who fears he'd die a virgin. Siddharth (the same guy we in the South saw in Ayutha Ezhuthu) manages to give a convincing performance. It's Madhavan who steals the show as Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod and Soha Ali Khan plays Sonia, his love interest, Soha though has a long way to go in terms of acting. Waheeda Rehman plays a cameo role as Madhavan's mother and brings the old school acting and mannerism into the contemporary script, very refreshing. Alice Patton as Sue does justice to her role in the movie and manages to stand her ground, especially in the scenes when DJ seems to have feelings for her.
Rang De Basanti is surely worth every rupee you can spend on it, give it a watch and let's see if you get lumps in your throat during the movie, believe me, there's are more than just one or two moments for that to happen.
