"Rang de Basanti" Revisited

Amir's Ghajani has been getting rave reviews but I have yet been able to see the movie. It seems it has already crossed 100 crores ($20 Million in 1 week in box-office collection).

I had picked up Amir's "Rang-de-basanti" DVD a couple of weeks back for my collection even though, I had seen the movie on the big screen when it was first released but its memory were fading away from my mind.

I have always been be to appricate the movie betterthe second time as the first time, you are just following the story. The subtlety & nuance can be only be picked up the next time.

I have been astound by the beauty of the movie, the cinematography, the editing, the dialogs, the music, the lyrics, the script, the acting and finally the direction. A must see for all. Its observations about India are so true.

Some gems
  • "घर की सफाई में हात गंदे कौन करे" (Who wants to get dirty cleaning the house) A unfortunate truth with my generation.
  • "मंत्री के कितने बेटे सेना में है" (How many children of the minster's are in the army) This sound increasing true in democracies like India and US
  • "D.J. को सोते हुए येया ख्याल आया की व्हो शायद आब गज रहा ठाट, साब गज रहे थे " (It stuck my mind, seeing DJ sleep that perhaps he was just waking up, everyone was waking up)
Some verses from the lyrics
  • "खुली-सी छोट लेकर, बरी-सी तीच लेकर अहिस्ता अहिस्ता | सवालों की ऊँगली, जवाबों की मुट्ठी || संग लेकर खून चला | कुछ कर गुजरने को खून चला खून चला || "With an open wound, with a big complain, slowly slowly | With a finger of question, With a fistful of answers | Together my blood rose || My blood rose to do something , my blood rose ||
Other observations:
  • FTV (a TV channel with scantily dressed women) - Catwalk women a favorite past time during college
  • Munna Bhai MBBS (The movie they see) - Ironic because I felt that Lago Raho Munna Bhai (Part II) deserved to go to Oscars more than "Rang-de-basanti.
  • Shantaram (G.D. Robert): I totally loved this book. It's proses were poetry and sometimes I feel that it takes a foreign eye to appreciate the beauty of India.
  • Nationalist party - A veiled reference to BJP but facts do not change. All parties in India a corrupt.
  • Candle Light Vigil - A movement that was alien to the country and something this movie changed.
My issue was not with the movie but the idea behind it, the radicalism. It's ending is unnecessarily gory and its does not solve the problem. Armed revolution does not bring about change, but a slow and steady change which results in a cultural shift.

Gandhian values are truer in today's world than Bhagat Singh thought both fought for the same cause. My reasoning for "Lago raho Munna Bahi" to go to the Oscars. Reminds me to watch the movie and blog its review.

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