Rang De Basanti

Laine Bulakites

HIND 2441

April 25^th, 2010

Rang De Basanti Review

Rang De Basanti, directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, was an incredible film. This drama was unlike any other Hindi film I have ever seen. In English, the title means Paint it Yellow. The color yellow in India represents sacrifice, so before even starting the film the audience knows that the characters will have to give up something huge.

The film revolves around a British filmmaker, Sue, who is insistent upon making a “documentary” of freedom fighters in India as recorded by her grandfather. She travels to India and with the help of her friend, Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), Sue casts her men: DJ as Chandrashekhar Azad (Aamir Khan), Karan as Bhagat Singh (Siddharth), Sukhi as Rajguru (Sharman Joshi), Aslam as Ashfaqulla Khan (Kunal Kapoor), and Laxman as Ramprasad Bismil (Atul Kulkarni). Additionally, Sue’s friend Sonia plays Durga Vohra.

While they are making their film, Sonia’s fiancé Ajay is killed when his own plane crashes. The death is a wakeup call to the men – they blame the government for the death of their friend. When they hold a peaceful protest/memorial in public, the police come and things get bloody. This is the last straw for the five men and Sonia, and their lives start looking very parallel to the lives of their characters when they decide to kill the defense minister.

After the deed is done, the group of men takes over a local radio station and Karan explains their reasoning for killing the corrupt defense minister. We also learn that Karan has killed his own father for being involved in the scandal as well. While they are on the air, the police raid the building and kill all five men. The last shot of the scene is of DJ and Karan laughing hysterically before the police shoot them. We find out at the end of the movie that their sacrifice has sparked a fire in India’s citizens to reform their government.

The film was received very well by the critics and by citizens alike. Part of the movie that the public loved was that it finally depicted the youth of India, which is something that was very rarely seen before. In the beginning of the film, the characters don’t think that they can do anything about their country. They believe that nothing can make it better. However, when Ajay dies, their outlook changes. They realize that they have to take action to change their country for the better.

The scene of realization was my favorite scene in the movie. We had already seen the “documentary” characters act out the scene, and the audience got déjà vu when the group of friends is talking about what to do, and Sonia says, “Maar dalo.” (Kill him.) The scene then contrasts the pictures of the young group of friends with their documentary counterparts.

The soundtrack in the movie was also very different. The movie had no blatant song-dance sequences – there was music playing, and they were dancing, but the actors weren’t pretending that they were the ones singing. The music was very Western and youthful and fit the characters perfectly. For example, when the police are raiding the radio station near the end of the film, the song “Roobaroo” plays in the background. The lyrics say “I just realized that I have a fire inside me somewhere / It’s a new morning and I am aflame / I overpowered the sun / I’m face to face with light.” The song is fairly calm and happy, which corresponds with the group’s acceptance and knowledge of their sacrifice they are about to make.

An obvious theme in the Rang De Basanti is nationalism. Even though the group of friends kills the defense minister, their reasoning makes it apparent that they in fact did it out of nationalism. They saw the corrupt government kill their friend (and many other people) and knew that they needed to change something. Their sacrifice of themselves was the biggest act of nationalism one could commit. All five of the men gave their lives for the hope of a better country.

Overall, Rang De Basanti was a fantastic movie. The movie made around $30 million [U.S. dollars]. It sparked a fire and struck a chord in the citizens of India, especially the youth. It was a breakthrough film that was unlike anything I have seen from Hindi cinema before, and it worked extremely well for the director Mehra.