"Triply R." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This is my rebuke to Khalid Mohammad's review of RDB.
Before anyone proceeds, I would request you to read
that review first. And this contains major spoilers,
so anyone who hasn't seen the movie, read no further!!
First, let me start off by saying that Khalid Mohammad
is my pet peeve. The die-hard Rahman fan is also a
very biased Aamir Khan Movie reviewer. When Khalid
used to review movies for Times of India I used to
have a thumb rule that if ToI said a movie was bad, it
was good and vice versa. It worked like a charm, with
exceptions of course. So I was especially interested
in reading his view of RDB. I didn't have to wait too
long. He put across his view and I offer my take on
his view.
The thing that strikes you immediately is the flippant
way in which the review starts. Usually Khalid
reserves his mock statements and his "lets try to
rhyme and pun" routine for movies that are doomed to
get a 2 star rating. I personally cant stand flippant
reviews, even for movies that I dont like. Reading a
review that flows like this one does, for a movie I
like, is really painful. But, lets move on to the
first part of the review.
Khalid starts off with "It takes as much guts as
madness to do a Rang De Basanti an anti-Authority
tract which assigns full marks to wayward youth, and a
big round zero to wrinkly-crinkly ministers,
politicians and armament wheeler dealers. I agree
with this but the latter part of the statement is a
generalisation. Sure, the ministers are given a zero,
as is Anupam Kher, but the youth are definitely not
given full marks. That is the whole idea of the movie.
Besides Madhavan, none of the others are really given
full marks. Everyone is presented with their flaws.
And the ultimate fate of the group further underlines
the flaw the youth has. I will get back to that in the
end.
He then continues with "Welcome to India where
everyone is looking for excuses to kill one another.
Indeed". The first flippant remark we find. While the
protagonists of the movie believe that nothing is
worth fighting for or dying for in the country, they
definitely aren't looking for a reason to kill anyone
else. The very attitude they project is live and let
live... or maybe live and let die, but the attitude
definitely isn't "kill them all, let God sort them
out".
"Thats writer-director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
badland which is so fiercely feverish that you might
need a thermometer to check your fluctuating
temperature". I cant even begin to fathom what he is
trying to say here. I wont even try to speculate. I
will just add it to the "flippant-remark-o-meter". "At
times you're elated by the Mehrathon, at times you're
brain boggled". Since this is purely subjective, I
will leave it at that. I am sure that many people
would find the movie puzzling and/ or frustrating,
while others will love it.
"Aah, its one of those: a quasi political diatribe
which leaves you with conflicting feelings". The
flippant-remark-o-meter continues to tick. Again,
mixed feeling is purely subjective. I was overwhelmed
by the movie and I mean that positively. It touched a
cord somewhere. Just as Lagaan touched me as a pure
entertainer, this one touched me, but it was something
more than just an entertainer. Sure, a lot of
nihilistic movies are entertaining, but something
about RDB really touches since it is so entertaining
and peppy and then so serious and morbid... the real
lingering feeling for me was the loss of innocence. I
felt sad, very sad. And at the same time it was
euphoric since the movie was so entertaining and
technically so brilliant. If that could qualify as
mixed feelings then maybe the film does leave mixed
emotions. But obviously what Khalid is talking about
is the frustrating feeling you get when a movie is not
as satisfying as you would like it to be and, at the
same time, it isn't disappointing enough to write it
off. Remember the first time you saw Dil Se..? That
was pure mixed feelings for me. It took me a couple of
subsequent viewings and a lot of retrospection that
made me consider it a great movie.
Khalid then proceeds to bring up 3 movies with similar
themes. While I had only watched Inqulaab, I really
dont see any similarity between it and RDB. If we are
going to stick to one point, that MPs were gunned down
in both the movies, it is absurd. I mean, you might as
well say that RDB is similar to Angaar cos Jackie is a
happy-go-lucky guy who is changed to a motivated man
in that movie and it ends with Khadar Khan blowing up
the entire parliament. Whereas Inqualaab, if anything,
was a cry and a lament by the film maker about the
state of affairs, RDB was a wakeup call to a
generation. But I guess Khalid is just trying to
address the common refrain made for RDB, that it is
different. He is trying to say that it isn't.
He then proceeds to give a rundown of the story,
ensuring that we notice that Madhavan has a wig. Yes
Mr. Khalid, we already noticed it. If you have seen
Madhavan lately you will notice that his hair style is
similar to Aamir's in RDB and no air force pilot has
that kind of hair, so why the comment? It gives me the
impression that he is desperately trying to draw our
attention to small facts, trying to prove that they
are negative. I'm sure that even if someone didn't
know he had a wig on and were later made aware of it,
the common refrain would be "so what?"
But, a few flippant remarks later (the documentary
being discarded like tissue paper) he proceeds to tear
apart the finale. This is where I have a major bone to
pick. Symbolism seems to be lost on this man. As far
as I can tell, the documentary goes till the very end,
till they show Chandrashekar Azad shooting himself. Of
course, it is left to speculate if the documentary was
really shot till there, or, like the prologue to the
movie, this was a symbolic representation of Aamir
Khan. Yes, we do wonder why nothing was ever made of
the documentary in the end, but that isn't the point
now is it? The documentary was a catalyst to give the
"losers", as Khalid calls the boys, a reason to live
for and believe in an ideal that is worth dying for.
This isn't a 666 minute movie like the Lord of the
Rings trilogy wherein every catalyst is accounted for.
And, if we really want to get technical, we know that
by definition, a catalyst itself never undergoes any
change... so the documentary never undergoes any
change. It just remains unfinished.
He then proceeds to say that we run towards the
revenge story now. Revenge? Excuse me, but which movie
is Khalid watching? Is that what it is? What drove
them to kill the defense minister? When Madhavan died,
they didn't all get up and decide to kill anyone. It
was the constant cover-up by the minister that drove
them to it. Would you say that Bhagat Singh killed
Saunders in revenge? No, it was symbolic. Cause and
effect. Revenge wasn't the motive that Bhagat Singh
had. The movie even spells it out to you, almost
enacting the same scene again, but this time in the
present. It wasn't revenge. It was frustration and it
was the feeling that a message had to be sent. The
feeling that India is better off without the defense
minister. Where does the revenge come? But, even
though the movie makes it so obvious, drawing
parallels to the Saunders killing, Khalid sees
revenge!! Ek Ek ko chun chun ke maroonga. Yeah right!!
Now, a protest by Alaskan penguins. Hmmmm. Firstly,
let me say that the climax of RDB is possibly its most
powerful scene. Again, you could argue that no
minister would order the rapid action force to gun
down college students in media glare. But, but, but...
that is a decision that had to be taken. Dont you
understand? RDB is about waking up and being
pro-active. And, the issue that it underlines as
boldly as "A generation awakens" is that violence
isn't the solution. It is subtle, but it is there. Ask
any frustrated youth of the country what they need to
do to change the country. Go ahead. Ask anyone. They
will say "kill all the politicians". Well, that is
what the movie says will not work. Everybody who I
have discussed the movie with was left with a negative
feeling that nothing would have changed even after the
boys made it clear why they shot the minister. And
that is what RDB is trying to convey. The argument
"Shoot all the politicians" is no solution. You will
lose everything (which is symbolised simply by the
boys losing their lives) and nothing will change. That
is why the epilogue shows a small kid planting a
tree... if it isn't obvious; let me spell it out to
you... that will make a change. The tree planted by
the kid will make a much bigger change than the
killing of the minister by the boys. That is what the
movie says. So, yes, they could have shown the boys
getting arrested. Then what? They are all hung? Same
nihilistic ending. They are set free? Utopian ending.
They are sentenced to jail? Um, ok. So the law is
kept, but ultimately the symbolism is the same as them
being killed. They still lose everything. So, when you
face that decision, you go with what gets a stronger
emotional reaction. And that would be the boys getting
killed. Yes, and that is definitely not as absurd as
an Alaskan penguin protest march. Besides, penguins
did have a protest march in Batman Returns and it
rocked!!
Now, the critique on how the boys die. Lakshman and
Aslam die holding hands. Well, I for one am sick of
the Laila-Majnu comparison. What are you Mr. Khalid? A
homophobe or something? The holding hands was a touch
of class. Amitabh dying in Dharmendra's arms was a
sense of class in Sholay... I am sure that was a-ok
with you. The friendship that develops between the two
is beautiful and their death is a perfect end for
them.
"The supposed hero is reduced to a security guard".
Well, Mr. Khalid, besides you, no one else felt that
way. Everyone was all praise for Siddharth's
superlative performance and for the guts Aamir had in
allowing someone else take centre stage in his movie.
Had Aamir had everything to do I am sure you would be
the first one to complain that he overshadows everyone
and none of the others are properly fleshed out. It is
a no win situation in this case. Siddharth had the
most right to go and put his views across. After all,
he would be the most maligned of the lot since he
killed his own father. And it made perfect sense.
Moreover, he was the one who was closest to Madhavan.
Catch him smiling away so happily when Madhavan
proposes to Soha. See the scene where Madhavan gives
him a jacket simply cos of a throwaway remark that
airforce pilots get to wear sexy jackets. The
proximity to Madhavan and the fact that he killed his
father gives Siddharth the right to be the one putting
his points across. And the final shot had the two of
them laughing hard as they were shot. The so-called
hero of the movie wasn't playing second fiddle there
now, was he?
He then goes on to praise the acting and the technical
aspects. Yes, he does praise Aamir's performance. But
then, who in their right mind wouldn't? Still, he
gives credit to all the departments, except the
script. Overall, he says that no movie is perfect so
watch RDB. And he gives it a 3 star rating.
Let me put Khalid's ratings in perspective, so you can
draw your own conclusions. He gave Sarfarosh a 2 star
rating. He gave Asoka a 4 star rating. He gave Lagaan
a 4 star rating. He gave Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gaum a 5
star rating. I have seen all the movies except K3g and
I can assure you that my rating would have been
different. I would give Sarfarosh a 3.5 star rating. I
would give Lagaan a 5 star rating and I would give
Asoka a 1 star rating.
Overall, I feel the entire exercise of reviewing
movies is a bad job for Khalid. Unless something goes
drastically wrong, I can give 100% assurance that he
will rate Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna a 5 star rating. Those
are the movies he likes. Of course, he is fair to some
movies, like Satya, which he did give 5 stars. But
mostly I just think our tastes dont match!!
Sorry for the rambling!!
p.s: just before sending this I read Rakeysh Mehra's
interview and 2 things he said really struck me.
Firstly, his idea was exactly what I had interpreted,
that kill 'em all isn't a solution. Secondly, at one
point in the movie, when Tum Bim Bataye was going on,
I told my wife that I felt Siddarth also loved Soha. I
was really shocked when Mehra said that was an idea he
had as well!! Please note that this was written
exactly one day before I read the interview, so the
views are from my head, not something I just ripped
off!!
p.p.s: The extended version of all 3 Lord of the Rings
movies really does total up to 666 minutes!!
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