A gift to India on the Republic Day, where this day of the year is treated as one of the prime holidaying weekends, Rang De Basanti, kindles that fire for India that any Republic Day celebrations/speeches all over the country may fail to do so. Unlike a typical patriotic saga, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra has beautifully blended it with the right quotient of situational youthful comedy that even reminds you of Dil Chahta Hai in the first half of the movie. It is an outcry to the youth of India to contribute more to fight against the corrupt social system.
Sue (Alice), granddaughter of the British Jailor during the Indian Struggle for Freedom(Bhagat Singh Era), wants to make a film on the diary written by him. Comes to Delhi with this dream and meets up with her friend Sonia (Soha ali) & starts auditioning university students to cast them in her film but fails to conclude on anyone. Sonia casually introduces Sue to her buddies DJ (Aamir), Aslam (Kunal), Karan (Siddhartha), Pandey (Atul Kulkarni), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) who are boisterous, defiant and adrift youth of today. Sue visualizes her film characters in them and coerces them to act in her film, which initially is not taken seriously but eventually grows upon them. The film takes you back with the highlights of the Indian struggle for freedom that runs parallel with some slapstick light moments shared between all the true to life characters mentioned above. After the interval the movie takes a serious turn when Ajay (Madhavan), Indian Air Force Pilot & also Sonia’s fiancée dies in accident due to the import of poor quality parts used in the aircraft transacted by the corrupt defense ministry. The defence ministry holds Ajay irresponsible to cover up for their corruption. That is when the same adrift youth rise to the occasion and play their freedom fighter(Bhagat Singh) characters in their real life and make an attempt to awaken the youth to fight against the corruption and free India from the glitches of the insane system that has immunized the youth. The second half of the movie could have be trimmed by 10 to 15 minutes but still it doesn’t really affect the pace of the movie.
This thought provoking patriotic film should compel the audience to watch it for the true to life, fun loving youthful characters played by some amazing performances delivered by the cast mentioned above. Aamir Khan sizzles in a scorcher performance as a care-a-damn college passout and a mature rebel with an equal elan. Sharman Joshi & Alice need a special mention for their breath taking performances whether it is with comedy or with emotions. Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali, Madhavan, Siddhartha, Waheeda Rehman & Kiron Kher have all lived up to their characters beautifully though Om Puri is wasted. Dance Choreography is very natural, songs gel extremely well with the storyline and the music score by A.R. Rehman is great to watch on screen rather than listening to it otherwise. Beautifully shot in Amritsar & Delhi by Binod Pradhan bundled with fast paced screenplay and direction by Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra is truly a visual treat. Prasoon Joshi’s dialogues & Kamlesh Pandey’s script & story are outstanding. It is a hard-hitting movie yet narrated colourfully in a subtle manner. This should be considered as first complete family entertainer for the year 2006 in the true sense.