Haphazard views : A snooping psyche dissected

I hadn't been getting enough free time for movies of late and hence was a bit late in watching this flick "Rang De Basanti" finally last night although it was released three weeks back.
The number one reason I went to watch this movie was of course, Aamir Khan and number two, A.R.Rahman - two of my all time favourites.



Frankly speaking I didn't have very high expectations from the Director, Mr Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra as I was really disappointed with his way of storytelling in his previous movie 'Aks' although it was technically one of the very best movies ever made by an Indian. RDB, too, I knew would be technically outstanding but I wasn't too sure about the screenplay and editing.

Lights off, doors closed, pin-drop silence and the movie begins presenting an all new fresh face , the face of Alice Patten , before the audience and, my! she takes everyone's heart away rightaway. With her innocent looks and broken yet very well-engineered Hindi dialogues, in the shoes of the character of a British aspiring filmmaker 'Sue' she rocks. She just ROCKS !!!

Sue's grandfather was a jailor in India in the pre-independence era when young freedom fighters accepted death with smiling faces. So amazed was he that he wrote in his diary "I thought there were two types of people. Ones who die quietly and ones who die screaming. Here I met a third kind....". After reding his experiences in India at that times Sue comes to India to shoot a documentary on Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his contemporaries. Searching frantically for people to suit the roles she happens to meet a group of friends in the Delhi University through her friend Sonia (Soha Ali Khan Pataudi) who is the only girl in the group, the other members being Karan Singhania (Siddharth), Daljeet Singh aka DJ (Aaamir Khan), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor),Sukhi(Sharman Joshi) and Lakshman Pandit (Atul Kulkarni). She could see the characters of her movie in these people and after a lot of hue and cry convinces them to act for her. DJ,meanwhile,develops a soft-corner for Sue.
R.Madhavan looks pretty impressive in his brief guest appearance as Sonia's boyfriend Flight Lieutenant Ajai Singh Rathore who dies in a MIG plane crash and the Defense Minister (Mohan Agashe)tells the public and the media that it happened due to his own inadequate flying skills whereas the truth was that it was due to the use of sub-standard and low-cost machinery in the MIG flights. This awakens the true Indian in everybody in the group. So far they were so engrossed in their own worlds inside the campus that they didn't even bother what was happening in the outer world. This whole incident made them aware of their very existence and they decide to go on a protest demanding the resignation of the corrupt Defense Minister which gets disrupted as the Minister and his party call for Police intervention and the cops just beat away all protestors, injuring many of them and sending Madhavan's mother Waheeda Rahman to comma. After all this, DJ and his group decide to finally take the Bhagat Singh route and kill the corrupt Minister. After they accomplished this mission, they go on further to let the people of the country know through all India Radio about this by announcing what they have done and why.

It would be an understatement if I say Siddharth has done full justice to his role as Karan. He probably outshone everyone who shared the screen with him. Although it was just his first movie in Hindi, he showed no signs of tentativeness. In fact, at times, he just stole the show even with the sheer screen-presence of Aamir Khan. There couldn't have been any other actor to suit the role so perfectly. Full marks to Siddharth.

Alice Patten does her job wonderfully well and her gentleness only makes the Character of Sue all the more lovable.

Aamir, as usual, is brilliant. Especially in the comedy part when he tries to woo Sue and again when in anguish, frustration and desparation he breaks down at the dinner table with food in his mouth.

Soha did a reasonably good job as Sonia, the bereaved fiance of Madhavan. She is maturing as an actress with every movie.

Atul Kulkarni portrays the character of Lakshman Pandit, a wannabe politician to perfection. He delivers exactly what was expected of an actor of his calibre.

As far as Sharman Joshi is concerned, considering the way his acting career has been shaping up lately, he couldn't have asked for a better role at this point of time. And when the opprtunity came he grabbed it with both hands. He has done beyond everyone's expectations as Sukhi. Good Job, Sharman.

Kunal Kapoor, looks pretty convincing as soft-spoken Aslam and does justice to the role.

Mohan Agashe, although he plays the main villain, his acting prowess has been, in a word, underutilized. Same happens with Om Puri's and Anupam Kher's roles as well.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra does wonderfully well as the director. Three cheers to him.
No technical flaw at all. Absolutely nothing....except, er.....the Defense minister of a country being shot in broad daylight with almost no security guards and commandos.

Don't really need to say anything about A.R.Rahman, the Superman. His work speaks for itself. Pathshala, Ru-ba-ru, the title track, khali bali - he has composed every score to the perfection.

And, last but not the least, amazing piece of cinematography by Binod Pradhan. The man with the magic camera has done it yet again. He really deseves a standing ovation for this.

To sum it up, RDB is a must watch for every Indian, especially the confused young generation of today's India.





PS*** After Kamal Hasan's 'Sadma' I don't really remember I had felt tears rolling down my cheeks while watching a movie.....till I watched RDB.



Verdict : Sahi mein rang diya

Labels: Fun, Miscellaneous, serious