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I was just thinking the other day how, out of all the Hindi films I've seen, there's only been 1 or 2 that have evoked any tears from me. Today I add 'Rang De Basanti' to that list. I am not Indian, nor would I characterize myself as an outwardly political person, nor do I, as Canadian, feel like I face the kind of struggles a lot of other people in the world do, but I am patriotic and I carry a huge amount on empathy for others which is probably why this movie struck such a chord with me. I probably won't be able to do it justice in this review so I will simply take a deep breath as I try to express why I totally and completely loved this film.

Director Rakeysh Mehra, I think, set out to make a film about political unrest and patriotic youth, but what the film emerged to be for me, more than anything else, was a story about friendship. You expect Aamir Khan to deliver an astounding performance and he does, despite looking a bit old to play the younger DJ, but he gets into the skin of the character and delivers a knockout performance from start to finish managing to bringing not only smiles but tears (with one of my favorite scenes being the one where DJ breaks down in Sue's apartment after Ajay's service). Yet, it is not Aamir only that you applaud in the film. Every actor is unique and leaves an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of even the most jaded cinema buff. Atul Kulkarni (Laxman) is fantastic, Kunal Kapoor (Aslam) is understated and natural, Sharman Joshi (Sukhi) is by turn hilarious and heart-breaking, Soha Ali Khan (Sonia) is a revelation, Siddharth Narayan (Karan) is absolutely outstanding, and even Alice Patten (Sue) was great as the British foreigner (she also inspired me to continue with my Hindi lessons!). This ensemble of actors is truly inspired and you can't help but feel that if you sat down with this group one evening, you'd hear stories of their experiences as a unit.


The first half of the film focuses on our group on protagonists aptly capturing the lives of the youth. The dialogues are crisp and written extremely well. This is a movie where the lines themselves are humorous and where the movie does not rely on silly situations to provide a forced "comic relief". And then comes the second half, where suddenly the plot just takes off, but unlike the MIG-21's, does not come crashing down. What you see is something that leaves you gaping at what happens, not just because you cannot imagine such a daring step being thought of and executed in a Bollywood movie, but simply because of the extremity of what happens itself.


There's huge debate on the climax and how illogical the last sequence of events are, but I've decided to look at it as the director's attempt to push his message across, even if it's somewhat far fetched. What Mehra asks us to do, however, is not far fetched. He asks us to take a good long look at ourselves, and then asks us to do something about what we see when we do. This is entirely the sort of movie that will put you at odds with yourself because there is a little bit of all of us in its characters. Thus, we sense that the things they do (or don't), we may well do (or not do). There is a moment, early in the film, where DJ, explains to us that he should have finished college years ago, but he remains there because on campus people know him, he has a name, he has the warmth and affection of his peers. If I leave this place, he says, I'll disappear into the hordes that have gone before me, and I will be and feel as insignificant as them. Certainly a sobering thought if there was one.

Cinematically speaking, the film is beautiful to watch, though the mixing of scenes from the freedom struggle with the present scenario worked only most of the time. At first I thought the sequences were stricly Sue's filming, then they became more elaborate I thought "How is she shooting this with her hand held?", then it became evident that they were entirely just narrations from the past... I think. See, confusing. Also, maybe it was just my copy, but the narrations by Sue's grandfather, which were recorded in English and then dubbed over in Hindi were missing any subtitles, as was Sue's monologue at the end. I'm sure I missed huge things during those times.


The music in this film is beautiful, melodious, and inspiring and served well to push the movie forward without overshadowing the story. The most touching and most creative piece of the album is 'Luka Chuppi' by far. Lata Mangeshkar has never sounded better in this maa-beta tune. Full props to Mr. Rahman for invigorating the piece with a sensational play of the guitar and the classical touch of the tabla. Not to mention Rahman has sung this piece with passion, as he does all his songs.



The cast, the music, the visuals, the dialogue, the whole movie in fact, is a vast mosaic of all these, a whole that is not propped up by one or two of its parts alone, and that what qualifies it as a masterpiece in my opinion.