Rand De Basanti

Sydney Blach
April 26, 2010
Bollywood; TR 3:30-4:45
Film Review #4

Rang De Basanti

Rang De Basanti is a unique story about a group of young friends living in India during the late 90’s and the journey they embark on, the lessons they learn, and the risks they take. While the film is set in the present, much reference to India’s past is referenced and introduced to the characters by the unsuspecting English woman, Sue. Sue is visiting India to fulfill her dream to make a film about the diary of her grandfather which tells the factual story about the prosecution of the group of Freedom Fighters led by Bhagat Singh. On her quest to create her movie, Sue befriended Sonia, a young Indian girl who introduces Sue to her country and serves as her assistant in making the dream of the film turn into a reality. Upon Sue’s arrival, the two hold auditions to find the perfect caste members to personify Bhagat Singh, Ramparasad Bismil, Rajguru, Ashfaqualla Khan, and Chandrashekhar Azad. After the grueling auditions, feeling a bit discouraged the girls decide to take a break from work and go to the “classroom” where Sue and the audience are introduced to DJ, Sukhi, Karan, and Aslam. After a night of introductions, partying and feasting Sue has an epitome that these are exactly the young men she is looking for to represent the freedom fighters in her film. Within this scene we are also introduced to Laxman who will also eventually be apart of the group despite that he is the one that breaks up the party at the “classroom” suggesting that this generation is hopeless as they are much too influenced by Western culture.
The next day the group gets to work but it is hard for them to focus because they are much too disconnected to the feelings the freedom fighters had, and the devotion they had for the country. It’s not until later in the film, after the death of Ajay, Sonia’s future husband and best friend to the group of boys, that there is passion and meaning behind the characters they are representing. Ajay was a flight lieutenant for the India Air Force, and was constantly telling the boys that no country is perfect, but he is proud to fight for his because he is proud of his country regardless. Despite his true patriotic nature and heroic deed in saving a village from death and destruction in exchange for his own death, the Defense Minister calls him a “rash pilot,” ultimately taking the blame off of himself and onto Ajay. These insults infuriate the group of friends, and just like the freedom fighters, they begin on a quest for revenge starting as a very peaceful protest against the corrupt government. They begin by holding a candlelight vigil in Ajay’s honor which is violently disrupted by the police sending Ajay’s elderly mother into a coma, and leaving Aslam viciously beaten. This is the very instance the morality of the group changes, inciting in them passion to be the change they want to see.
There is a clear transition in the film when we see DJ sleeping and Sue’s lap and Sue thinks to herself “maybe DJ wasn’t sleeping, maybe none of them were, maybe they were all waking up.” The last part of them film is about their transforming into the Freedom Fighter they were acting as in Sue’s film and the actions they take in order to seek justice from the government. The very next scene is a flashing between a conversation between Bhagat Singh and his men and DJ and his men on the top of the roof discussing what the only thing left to do is to kill the source of the problems. This is when the boys decide the best way to avenge Ajay’s death and the abuse they have received ever since in to kill the Defense Minister himself, and so they shoot him on his morning walk, and there is an uproar in the country about the terrorist acts. Disappointed with the reactions their actions receive, they then decide to broadcast over the radio and explain that the reason for the assassination was not an act of terrorism but instead an act of justice. When government officials get word that the Defense Minster’s assassinators are at the radio station they send patrol with the orders to kill them all. Police bombard the radio station in the midst of live news broadcasts and do exactly as told, first they shoot Sukhi, then Aslam and Laxman die next to one another, and last Karan and DJ are killed while sharing a last joke about the color of DJ and Sue’s kids’ skin.