Why I saw it: It is more than 1200days since I entered a movie hall. So more a movie is hyped by media, or huge starcast, banner more I am resolved not to see it. The same was true of RDB until I was forced to see it. A young engineer in my neighborhood who had often seen me preaching patriotism came with its DVD ( most likely pirated ) & said “santhosh you must watch this one, this will change you, the way you think…”. I am not the one who misses a chance to sting someone with criticism, so I asked him “I don’t see any change in you even after seeing this movie. Earlier also you were chewing gutka, even now you are. Earlier also you were spitting on the road, even now you do. Earlier you were often saying saala, now I hear you saying ‘behen di takey’ …..” ….. & I added what I always used to tell him “abey jo apne se pyar nahin karta (refering to his EXCESSIVE smoking, gutkha, drinks habits ) voh desh se kya pyar karega”. The good boy that he was he heard it from one ear & left it from the other. ;-)
The story: I knew the story even before I saw the movie, thanks to all reviews, media hype. So I wont go into detailed storyline. For those of you who are even far away from movies than myself these few sentence shud help get the plot. A certain Sue from UK comes to India to make a documentary about Bhagat singh type of freedom fighters. Without much resources she recruits few students to play these roles in documentary. As they play those roles, the ‘patriotism’ in them is awakened. Adding fuel is an incident of MIG-21 crash & death of pilot-Official apathy –they decide to take up violent way to set things right –end up earning violent deaths. In my opinion they all committed sooside.
Movie’s Claim to fame: Bollywood has few beaten paths like wedding drama, love story, sex, SRK, patriotism to churn ‘hits’. While in real life love, patriotism are ‘wilfull acts’ our movies have painted them as ‘feelings’ & ‘emotions’ ..& then make movies appealing to them. If movie makers succeeded in it, they have hit for the taking. Same with RDB, it appealed to the ‘patriotic feelings’, ‘anger against the system’, of the mob. Adding to it was presence of Amir khan, who does many commercials & is a hit with his fans. In fact the whole cast being young had good number of teeny-weenies following them. Some ppl also tell me the music was good & added to its success.
Applause first: Since I have very few good things to say abt the movie, let me begin with them. I will give a benefit of doubt to the director bcos he too is human & came up with a story – with his 430grams of brain. But I still feel he needs to get a life ..& perhaps a hair cut too. Let some sunlight fall on his head & trigger his grey cells to make something better ;-) if truly they wanted to highlight the cause of MIG-21 they failed miserably. But yes the movie did bring the MIGs into focus for short time ..at least in the media! I don’t know of anything constructive that has happened on this issue, but sure RDB has made its money.
The cast performance was ok, since there was nothing extra-ordinary they had to do. They mostly did natural acting, as the roles they played were equally young. I have already forgotten the songs, & can only recall a scream ‘rang, rang de basanti’. .. abey basanti ko thang kyon kar raha hain ..asiant paints ki dukaan se kharid le rang ;-)
My hero of the movie was the Laxman pandey played by Atul kulkarni, ( who told you hero is one who gets the songs? ) for his rendition of ‘sarfaroshi ki tamanna’. Also among the characters he was more Indian than anyone. He was a patriot even before ‘angel sue’ came all the way from UK to awaken Mr Mehra ;-). One truth the movie showed was how ‘patriotism of people like laxman are hijacked by politicians for their gain’.
Welcome2Commercial Patriotism: What RDB shows & inspires is crass commercial patriotism, very much the way it shows commercialized love. I couldn’t help laugh when after DJ & co create hara-kiri & commit suicide at AIR station. Then comes the scene where news channels are shown interviewing youngsters who say ‘hum yeh karenge, voh karenge’. This enthusiasm lasts only till the next movie is released, if the next movie is a romantic one, they forget patriotism & turn romantic. If movies could change people & nation, we all wud have changed long back. We wud have changed at words of Nana in krantiveer & govt would only make movies. RDB at best gives a momentary excitement to all those ‘armchair patriots’ who in the comfort of their couch will either preach ‘yeh karenge, voh karenge’ or blame everyone except themselves for the state country is in.
Another ridiculous scene I saw was in the climax when the joker in the bunch stands up to rain of bullets & utters “DJ main to kunwara hi reh gaya”. Does Mr Mehra have to put these words in his mouth for the sake of glorifying his death or the openness he shares with DJ. Does the director know how it feels when a spiraling hot piece of metal drills into one’s flesh? Will he have the sense of humor to think of his virginity at that time? So was showing the defence minister as modern day Gen dyre or police lathi charging peaceful march!
To die or live for the country: RDB made heroes of few who kill another as an act of patriotism to set things right. Is this the message RDB wants to convey. To me the message of LRMB seems more attractive, though I am yet to see it. I believe to be patriot you don’t have to kill anyone, nor die, BUT LIVE for the country. No patriotism is true if it doesn’t invoke love of fellow human beings. Will it be patriotism if I love our mountains & rivers but have prejudice against a fellow countryman bcos he is from a certain community? Have you ever thought simple acts like obeying traffic rules ( even when there is no one watching), or paying taxes, not doing any discrimination are acts of patriotism? As siddharth asks “kis kis ko maaroge?” … if killing corrupt ppl was ok, our population wud be half by now ;-) but can we support it as it serves the cause of population control ;-) in fact the corrupt are the majority now & they wud rather make the good ones extinct & rule without any one to ask!!
A generation awakens: I feel that was only half the tagline. Yes RDB did awaken a generation who promptly went back to sleep after putting off the alarm just like Shanthi did. ;-) RDB may have woken up some teeny-weenies but surely failed to awaken the aam aadmi ..ask why? poocho kyon? Aam aadmi has long been awake, its just that he isn’t off the bed yet .. u know there is tremendous pleasure in lying in the bed awake & day dreaming ;-) and what does RDB have for ppl who are pretending to be asleep? RDBs call to the youth to wake up is very valid. at the end of the day patriotism like love is all about action & not just a feeling, emotion, or lip service. this is why aam aadmi doesn’t go rangeela over a movie like RDB.
My Say: if you haven’t seen RDB yet, I wudnt urge you to. If you still want to see just see it as a movie, as a coming together of a script, camera & actors, as someone’s intention to make money. For those of you saw it , if you haven’t forgotten it, share with me your views. Thanks for bearing with me ;-)