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There's a buzz about this tale that rocks to the beat of the
urban youth and has all the trappings of a successful film
NAMRATA JOSHI
Bollywood
didn't expect to be in for a surprise so early in the new year. It has come in
the form of the Rs 30-crore gamble called Rang De Basanti. This is not a
raunchy comedy, nor the evergreen shot-in-Switzerland love triangle. It's a
film that talks about something as non-sexy as the lost spirit of nationalism.
It has been helmed by a director called Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra whose
filmography boasts of a resounding flop called Aks. The film's cast is headed
by Aamir Khan with the disappointment of Mangal Pandey behind him. There have
been more odds to contend with: a motley group of young actors whom no one had
heard much of. Yes, there's rocking music by A.R. Rahman, but certainly not of
the kind that can approximate the mobile-downloadable kitschy popularity of
Himesh Reshamiyya. It gets worse. Rang De's reclusive star Aamir has been
cussedly reluctant to promote the film in the media, he's only
talked to his young viewers in forums, chatrooms, studio discussions; the
journos kept waiting in the queue. In a nutshell, no one would have predicted
the phenomenal response that Rang De has been getting from viewers.
It has struck a unique chord with its target demographic: urban youngsters and
the Indian diaspora. The film has started off exceptionally, earning Rs 22.8
crore worldwide in the first four days of release, and the first week's gross
comes to about Rs 33.91 crore worldwide. It has emerged as Aamir's biggest
opener in the overseas market. Released widely with about 600 prints over the
extended Republic Day weekend, it is being dubbed by the trade pundits as a
"class hit", a "multiplex success", "the Black of 2006".
But more than that,Rang De has turned out to be one of the most fervently
debated and dissected films in recent times. Just log on to the web and you'll
encounter passionate discussions. "The reactions are not just good, bad or nice
but extreme," says Kunal Kapoor, who plays Aslam in the film. "Liking the film
is one thing. Rang De has created a certain sweeping spirit," says Atul
Kulkarni who plays Laxman Pandey.
According to desicritics.org, the film yielded as many as 2,234 posts on
blogger search just four days after its release. Rediff.com already has 29 web
pages of a continuing discussion on the film. In fact, the debate in the
blogosphere, the realm of the young and the restless, has now moved on from the
film to analysing the historical figures it draws parallels from, to Bhagat
Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, and whether they are indeed the big heroes that
our history text-books make them out to be.
You don't need to put Rang De under the scanner to know what's wrong with it.
The flaws stare at you hard. The caricaturised minister, the naive politics,
the misplaced cause, the violent turn of events, the pat comparisons with the
historical figures, the far-fetched and confused finale. Like any other
celebrated film, after the first round of applause, it is now at the receiving
end of complaints.
And yet, you can't just wish away its peculiar tug. However silly its story,
theme and ideology may sound on paper, something about it comes alive on
screen. So even the most hardened of cynics in Bollywood, young filmmaker
Anurag Kashyap (yes, the one who brazenly lammed the critically acclaimed Black
last year), is in Rang De's grip: "I just love it".
What's with the film? At one level, it is a very well-made, technically
accomplished effort which offers popular fare in a new format, specially in its
bright, breezy and delightful first half. "Its sensibility and style is the
future of cinema," says screen-writer Javed Akhtar. The script (Kamlesh
Pandey), screenplay (Mehra and Rensil D Silva), dialogues and lyrics (Prasoon
Joshi), music (Rahman), photography (Binod Pradhan) and editing (P.S. Bharati)
are something our dream factory doesn't conceptualise every other day. And they
come together, rather than work independently of each other, to carry forward
the film's theme. Just listening to the soundtrack will inform you of the
film's thematic trajectory. "The Prasoon Joshi-A.R. Rahman combine offers a
fusion of meaning and music," says Baradwaj Rangan, film critic, the New Sunday
Express. Akhtar thinks the film has great dialogue. "Even while the lines are
natural and real, they still have complete dramatic impact when
required," he says.
But the most attractive aspect are the characters. They have become mini icons
for the young. What they represent—their values, attitude, lingo and
lifestyle—has found an easy echo with GenNow. "Everybody in the audience wants
to be part of the group, or they think their own group is as beautiful. They
travel with the group and after a point forget that they are fictional
protagonists, that's why they take us home with them," says Siddharth
Suryanarayan who plays Karan Singhania. The drifting, the beer, the canteen,
the music, the bikes, the speeding jeeps, the dazzling lights and trendy
jackets—these are images and experiences almost every urban youngster has lived
with. "The film works if you care about the people in it. I laughed with these
guys, I cried with them, I was happy when they were happy and when I came out
of the theatre I couldn't wait to be back," says Rangan.
Mehra has been successful in defining his characters well and then getting just
the right actors for each of the roles. The individual performances work, so
does the group as a whole. And the spontaneity indicates they would have had
fun filming it. "Each of us had a well-etched, distinct character so there was
no insecurity or competition. And a 15-day workshop before the shooting made us
comfortable with each other," says Kapoor.
The other successful aspect of the film is that its notion of patriotism and
nationalism seems to be in tune with the sentiments of the times. In much the
same way as Gadar was five years ago. Gadar, with its potent packaging of mush
and jingoism, drove the crowds into the movie halls. It played on the animus
against Pakistan, was all about "them" and "us". Times are now a changing. Rang
De talks of the nation with a sense of hope, but a hope that's also guarded,
deeply embedded in cynicism. The most favourite lines reverberate: Ik pair
future mein te ik pair past mein rakh ke aaj par moot rahe (With one leg in the
past and the other in the future we are peeing on the present.) Can nothing
become of this nation? A tad too simplistic and over-the-top but a sentiment
that instantly finds a connection with its viewers. According to Ranjini
Majumdar, associate professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, the
film successfully fuels the "middle-class fantasy of
corruption being the only problem in the country".
We have had a number of films on the rootlessness of the young and their search
for identity. Rang De does not just articulate their angst but also plays out
their engaging banter. Which again makes it very powerful. According to
Majumdar, the film is able to capture the youth experience very effectively.
"There is a non-heaviness to the characters. There's no heavy code of
martyrdom. It allows for fun, happiness," she says. Nationalism then is not the
stodgy Bharat of Manoj Kumar's movies, nor the preachy politics of Swades or
Shikhar. It's nationalism that's edgy, entertaining and oh such fun.
It's also nationalism in the age of globalisation. No wonder then that the film
should have found brand association in Coca Cola, with the multinational
launching a Rang De line of bottles.But this is just one of the things about
the film that is raising hackles. Primarily, it's the historical comparisons
and the seeking of validity for present-day violence from the past. "Bhagat
Singh's fight was a different fight. He was essentially non-violent. It wasn't
that he was advocating violence but used it as a means to draw attention to his
ideology. He regretted the killings later," says filmmaker Raj Kumar Santoshi,
who brought the hero alive on the screen a few years ago. But curiously it is
this "pat" interplay with history that also helps connect the film with today's
young. An entire generation which has constantly been dismissed as callous and
clueless is seen with some amount of positivity in the light of the past.
"Youngsters may seem complacent but there's an unrest
within them that the film is able to touch," says Kulkarni. "It says there's a
Bhagat Singh as an alternative in each of us," says sociologist Shiv
Visvanathan.
Visvanathan ventures so far as to say that Aamir has done more for history than
the ICHR, even as he calls the actor the "bete noire" of positivist historians.
"He makes history interesting, puts fun into it." Observes Kashyap: "It's
initiating discussions. It might be juvenile conversations but youngsters are
at least talking history and politics while leaving the halls."
The other problem is the film's so-called violent message. "It's teaching kids
to be violent," says filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi. But it's not the unbridled
vigilante violence of a Shool, Krantiveer or Gangajal. If you look closely, the
film doesn't really offer violence as a solution despite the nihilism and
anarchy. Within the Bollywoodian notions of poetic justice, it does show up the
utter futility in its protagonists' call to arms. "Despite the sense of loss,
the final impact is positive," says Kashyap.
In the recent history of Indian youth cinema, Yuva may have been more
proactive, Paanch more subversive, Hazaron Khwaahishen Aisee more politically
aware cinema, but it's Rang De that's turned out to have had the most powerful
impact.
By Namrata Joshi with Lata Khubchandani in Mumbai
magazine |
Feb 20, 2006
The Band Of Boys, And
Those Two Girls
Karan Singhania is
given to brooding. Born into a rich family, he can't communicate with his
industrialist father, but nurses fond memories, and a picture of his (possibly
dead or estranged) mother, above all thinks there is life in migrating abroad.
Siddharth Suryanarayan is best known for playing Vivek Oberoi's character in
the Tamil version of Mani Ratnam's Yuva. An MBA who dabbled in amateur theatre
in Delhi, he has been associate director to Mani Ratnam and wrote the story and
screenplay for the latest Telugu film he also stars in, Chukkallo Chandrudu.
His biggest success before RDB has been Prabhu Deva's directorial debut, the Rs
30-crore grosser Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana.
Aslam comes from an orthodox Muslim family that opposes his Hindu friends and
hedonistic lifestyle. Their willing ghettoisation suffocates him. Kunal Kapoor
has been an assistant to Mehra for Aks. He first ventured into acting on screen
in M.F. Husain's Meenaxi, and has been part of Naseeruddin Shah's theatre group
for the past year.
Sukhi, the joker of the pack, has only one wish in life—that he shouldn't die a
virgin. He is also the voice of conscience and sanity when his friends
spontaneously take to arms. Sharman Joshi debuted with Godmother, and is known
for his competent performances in forgettable films like Style and Excuse Me.
RDB provides the added stamp of quality.
Laxman Pandey is the fundamentalist who discovers his idealistic, liberal heart
when he joins the group. Atul Kulkarni, the only other wellknown and seasoned
actor in the group, apart from Aamir, was trained at NSD, and has been part of
Maharashtra's Rang Vardhan movement that networks amateur theatre groups. He is
best known for playing Gandhi in the play Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi, the humane don
Potya Sawant in Chandni Bar and the firebrand Shriram Abhayankar, the rightwing
leader plotting to kill Gandhi in Kamalahaasan's Hey Ram.
Flt Lt Ajay Rathod is the one who truly believes in the spirit of India. "Koi
bhi desh perfect nahin hota, usey perfect banaana padta hai"—that is his motto.
R. Madhavan used to do television and is now a star.
Sonia, the only girl in the group, cared for and caring. Soha Ali Khan, sister
of Saif and daughter of Sharmila Tagore, seen in less noticed films like Pyaar
Mein Twist, hit big league with RDB and earlier with Rituparno Ghosh's
Antarmahal.
Sue, the documentary filmmaker, who casts her freedom fighters from the band
of reckless youngsters. Alice Patten, the British actress, is the daughter of
Lord Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, before the takeover
by China.
magazine |
Feb 20, 2006
'The Film Will
Encourage Cynicism'
With a scary political prescription, its
message is: Don't think too much, just get on with it
Rang De Basanti is an
attractive film with a lot of bad politics in it. It is attractive in its
stylishness, cast, acting, music and locale. Its politics, though, is not
attractive. And if this is a clarion call to the Indian public—especially to
those who are under 25—then we should be worried. Pretty much everyone knows
what the film is about. A bunch of hedonistic college kids agrees to act in a
film, scripted by a young English woman, dealing with the lives of
revolutionary nationalists led by Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. Their
friend, Ajay, an air force pilot, is killed in a MiG-21 crash, prompting them
to organise a peaceful protest against government corruption and inaction. The
police brutally break up the protest. Inspired by the revolutionaries of the
past, they decide to kill the defence minister. The assassination fails to
ignite the public, so they storm into the studios of All India Radio (AIR) to
publicise their plot and the iniquities
of the Indian state. The film ends with their murder at the hands of the Rapid
Action Force. The vacuous, hopeless young men at the start of the film have
been transformed; they are now heroes, bearers of redemption.
Why should we worry about this storyline? For two basic reasons. First, the
film's critique of Indian society and the Indian state is so superficial and
simplistic it makes you cringe. Indian society is portrayed as embodying
everything good: its people are open, honest, tolerant, affectionate, and, yes,
in the end, patriotic too. The Indian state by contrast is everything bad:
labyrinthine, corrupt, tyrannical and, yes, captive to odious, kleptocratic
politicians. India's democracy—one of the miracles of the modern world despite
its frailties and violence—appears as a sham, a cover for hard men and women
who rule ruthlessly.
Second, the film's basic political prescription is scary. Young people are
encouraged to mete out vigilante justice and then to seek atonement through
populist sloganeering and mawkish explanations. To be sure, Aamir Khan and
friends begin with peaceful protest, but just for a brief moment. After the
police break up their dharna, it is a short step to assassination as
retribution for Ajay's death and the sick politics of the establishment. Later,
the commandeering of AIR is okay because the revolutionary lads now want
everyone to understand them, their mistakes and all, and to join in the
struggle. The rather breathless message of the film, from start to finish, is:
don't think too much, just get on with it.
Rang De Basanti will encourage the kind of paranoia and cynicism that is the
staple of urban middle-class politics. Its fantasy of redemption through
violence is a dark one. As we battle to construct a vibrant democracy, we need
analysis, not caricature, and solid programmes of reform, not bursts of
righteous outrage.
(The writer is headmaster of Doon School, and was earlier a professor at
JNU,Delhi.)
magazine |
Feb 20, 2006
A Message Takes Flight
RDB drives home the point of deceased MiG
pilot's mother
Standing in quiet
dignity outside Rashtrapati Bhavan a few years ago, Kavita Gadgil handed out a
bunch of photocopied papers to waiting journalists soon after she had spoken to
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. All that Gadgil wanted was the establishment sit
up and take notice that she, as a citizen and a mother of a dead MiG-21 pilot,
was concerned about the safety of young air force pilots. Her cause drew
renewed attention when, years later, the film Rang De Basanti (RDB), brought
the whole issue back into focus. While RDB is a runaway hit, it also succeeded
in making the three service chiefs take time off to watch the film at Delhi's
Mahadev Road auditorium. But as the producers quietly accepted the three cuts
'suggested' by defence ministry officials, it brought back into focus the
uneasy ties the three services share with the mass media. For the army, it all
began with Major Saab. Horrified at how it portrayed the prestigious National
Defence Academy, the army
approached the censor board to ensure that any film dealing with the armed
forces would get a nod from them before screening. Since then, filmmakers have
to adhere to several guidelines if they take help from a particular service.
These stretch from ensuring that the service is "displayed in a positive light"
to giving them total editorial control. But a film like RDB did not seek any
help from the Indian air force. Instead, it took a few distant shots of the
Ambala air force station and left the rest to computer-generated images of the
MiG-21.
Where the film succeeded was in exposing, at least partially, the 'real
reasons' behind the spate of MiG-21 crashes. But the defence ministry has
always been skirting this issue. A former air chief flew the MiG-21 from the
air base at Bareilly to prove that all was fine with the aircraft. What was not
told was that on that particular day, none of the MiG-21s at the base was in an
airworthy state. Instead, one was flown in especially from Gwalior.
Today, the Gadgils' message is hitting home, thanks to RDB. They are busy
setting up a memorial in the name of their son to "educate" civilians on the
risks military aviators take when they fly their magnificent machines. Just for
that, RDB deserves applause: the issue taken on is politically live and
sensitive. Even if the three service chiefs managed to get the filmmakers to
drop a scene where a "fictitious defence minister" takes to the skies in a
MiG-21. Did someone say it was too reminiscent of George Fernandes sitting in a
MiG-21 at the Ambala air force base?
http://www.outlookindia.com/fullprint.asp?choice=2&fodname=20060220&fname=Film+Ran+De+%28F%29&sid=1
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