(You might have missed Part I, II and III of this series. Never mind. It’s an old trilogy and I’m extending it again. The pattern is basicaly like this. I have talked about movies, which raise interesting questions in reviews with this title).
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Introduction
Quote:
Things change all the time. There’s something that the world will never really stop doing. And that is ’changing’. It isn’t going to stop changing. Ironically, change is always permanent. Or rather ’changing’ is always permanent. We can allow these changes to happen and adapt ourselves to them. We can sit waiting in our cubbyholes and our false paradises, our comfort-zones, allowing the world outside to do whatever it wants to. And when it changes, and the changes start gnawing at our equilibrium, we can make the adjustments we need and go back into our hibernation.
Or, we can realize that those who bring these changes into effect are also people like you and me. When we say that the times have changed, that the world has changed and that things have become different, we can’t forget that the keepers of those times, the limbs of the world and the participant of these ’things’ are us. We are the times. We are the world. We are the things. WE are changing.
Don’t surrender to change. If they can change stuff, so can you. Not today, not tomorrow, but a year or ten years or a century later, you can ensure that this change comes true. If they could, you can too!
---- Unquote, ’’Rang de Basanti’’
Story
Social commentary requires little of story and more of execution. It’s a tightrope act. Tip over to one side and everything comes crashing down. You need a fine balance. You need Rang de Basanti. It’s a story about the rot in our system. Aren’t you tired of this cliche? I bet you are. But the Movie says: Then why don’t you change it?
Money can drive the best people to do the worst of things. It can make them pull each other down, it can make them lie and steal, it can make them kill and it can make them do far worse things than that. It can make them betray. Money can make them betray the legacies of those who were willing to die for you. And for your money. Money can make you a politician.
And I still bet the hairs behind your neck haven’t stood up. You know what that means?
a) You’re still in your cubbyhole and willingly at the mercy of the rest of the world and
b) Rang de Basanti has had no effect on you.
Wake up, boy! Welcome to the real world!
Cast Performance
AMIR Khan can never disappoint me. Versatility is his greatest virtue. Whether Dil Chahta Hai, whether Mangal Pandey, whether Lagaan or whether Rang de Basanti. Aamir Khan will never be himself. He will never make that mistake. He will always be... the character he is playing.... He doesn’t ’act’. He brings ’em to life.
KUNAL KAPUR, SIDDHARTH, SOHA ALI KHAN, MADHAVAN and the guy who did the role of the last chap in the group of friends, whoever he is, were very good in their places. What I liked best about the cast selection and performance was that they were all real-life looking larger-than-life people. The type we remember as heroes. Not the type we ’call’ heroes. Notice the difference.
The entire star-cast was unbelievable. You have a character in mind. And then you pick the actor to play that character. That’s when you make a masterpiece. That’s when you make Rang de Basanti. I wish everyone understood this. I mean: Heck, when are we going to stop making movies by first choosing who plays the part and then deciding what parts to be played? Like... ’’Do you want it to rain? Let’s make a cloud...’’
Rang de Basanti is there for you to change the trend.
Screenplay, Music and Direction
The movie lasts three hours, I think, or may be a little less. But in that time, you get to know the people in the movie. By the time the movie gets over, you’re wondering... Dang, this happened? I’ll never see DJ and Sukhi again? The screenplay, the direction... It takes you into the shoes of the people who were there. There’s one among the characters who you identify with. You come out with goosepimples and think... If he could, I can too!
And the music... It’s... it’s... it’s ’musical’! What else? Brilliant!
Question Marks
I’ve got only three questions.
a) When are you going to watch Rang de Basanti (again)?
b) When are you going to realize that it wasn’t just for entertainment?
c) When are you going to do something about it after realizing it?
Random Ramblings
People debated if this movie is encouraging civil war. They were wondering if this is justifying terrorism. I say to them- SHUT THE HELL UP, SICKOS!
You never want to do anything. You’re lazy. You’re cowardly. And you’re a stinking, rotten hypocrite. There’s only romance when you say you love this country. No meaning. No truth. And then when someone asks you to dust your a$s of and get going... What you do is ask if it’s encouraging violence! Lazy bum!
Remember, after watching this movie, if you think it is instigiating a civil war... Then it means that your mind is so lazy, every time it points out that things are going wrong, you’ll start blaming the tools of research that were used by the chap showing you how things are going wrong. Those whose minds work, sometimes, once in a while, will question their own faiths. And find a way.
Which one of them are you?
Conclusion
There is going to be no conclusion, no end, no result until you answer each question I’ve asked here. Not to me or to anyone else. To YOURSELF!