Rang De Basanti- A breezy & much needed respite!
By Sameer Wadekar, Bollywood Trade News Network
After regaling his fans with his spur of on-screen patriotism in SARFAROSH
and LAGAAN, two of Bollywood’s heartfelt masterpieces of modern times, Aamir
Khan does it again in Rakeysh Mehra’s excellently crafted and diligently made
RANG DE BASANTI. RDB lives up to every ounce of its pre-release hype and while
watching the movie one can’t help getting transfixed with its gripping
narrative and its adorable characters; especially its protagonists who are
nothing but a bunch of post college friends with aimless aspirations. Director
Rakeysh Mehra has gotten all the things in place this time and hopefully he
should be able to score a goal at the box-office. He had earlier missed it
with his debut film AKS, that was a brilliant supernatural thriller but
faltered at the BO. Efficient direction and standout performances from the
cast are the underlined aspects of RDB, but what set the tone of the flick are
its adeptly sound script and a compatibly eclectic
musical score by A R Rahman. It’s been known so far that the film has opened
to a fair response so far and deservingly it should pick up pace in the coming
times.
While in SARFAROSH and LAGAAN, Aamir’s characters, though miles removed from
one another, had a similarity. ACP Rathore or Bhuvan were laconic, thinking
individuals who were focused and courageous that didn’t hesitate to rise up to
any challenges in life. But in RDB his character is a street smart buffoon who
along with his like-minded bunch of pals just goes squandering about obliquely
till one fine day they come across a young and lovely British filmmaker Sue
and the encounter just changes their lives forever. Good films should always
be received and appreciated by the movie-lovers, that’s what one would say and
rightly so and more importantly a film that is talking about one’s country and
is making an earnest attempt in familiarizing the youth with their roots and
their obligations for their motherland. Hindi films have a good reputation of
producing movies dealing with patriotism and the audience has most of the
times have thrown a positive verdict
towards them.
But speaking patriotism doesn’t mean going jingoistic with some heavy to
digest dialogues or some stupidly etched out characters that are contrived just
to carry the situations ahead. Another favorite formula is to create a
God-sent hero who is single handedly capable of bashing the goons and change
the system on his own. No doubt, this formula works but provided a strong
script and a definite range of the movie back it up; otherwise it would just
end up being a fiasco. It worked in the 70’s that saw the rise of Amitabh
Bachchan as the ‘Angry Young Man’, more so because it was the need of that era
when socio-political scenario was much different than it is now. Today’s youth
need a proper understanding of the society and a much incisive look at the
negations plaguing it and this is where RDB works fabulously because it taps
the attitude of today’s Gen-X and tries to bring them under a certain scrutiny
without any harsh critical undertones.
Films like RANG DE BASANTI do not come out often and hence need to be
embraced with all the heart. It is cinema but has got a texture that is so
often missed by this magical medium as far as Bollywood is concerned. Talking
about a serious issue, RDB also accumulates the necessary ingredients to make
a meaningful and an engrossing entertainer, a pre-requisite for any film
irrespective of its theme or subject. In the recent times, movies have not
been doing greatly at the theaters due to numerous reasons, but definitely not
a healthy sign for the most popular business in the country. As far as 2006 is
concerned of the opening two big films, FAMILY has just fizzled away while
ZINDA has managed to do an average fare. Hence if RDB strikes the chord with
the audience it could be a much-needed respite considering the declining
box-office shows of recent movies. Also a classy entertainer that calls for a
recommended watch, RDB should not be missed by a true movie lover
and if anyone dares to, then do it at your own peril!
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/06/jan/31rdb2.asp
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