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Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Producer: UTV
Cast: Aamir Khan, Alice Patten, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Siddharth, Kunal Kapoor & Atul Kulkarni
Rang De Basanti has been one of the most awaited films since the day the first promo hit the air. A film starring Aamir Khan is always high on expectations, so is Rang De Basanti. And it meets all the expectations, well almost all.
The story begins with young British film maker Sue who quits her job in UK and comes down to India to make a film on young Indian revolutionaries who so impressed her grandfather, a jailor in British Raj, with their calm in the face of imminent death.
In Delhi, along with Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) she meets DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) and Aslam (Kunal Kapoor). With them and the saffron hued Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni) who joins them later, she aims to fulfil her dream of making a film on Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdeo and Rajguru.
But as she starts working with them she realises that the youth in India has no feelings for the country and they really cannot relate to these freedom fighters. They firmly believe that there is no hope for India and nobody can do anything about it. The film shows how the characters transform as they perform the role and how their perspective about the present and their part in it changes forever.
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra brilliantly juxtaposes the past (Bhagat Singh story) and present and unfolds the change in the characters. Each character is given a single scene introduction but that lays a firm foundation to the character. The transition of the five friends from meaningless to meaningful existence is done brilliantly.
But Rang De Basanti unfolds at a leisurely pace. Even after the characters are established, it does not come to the point. The plot really takes pace only in the second half. Also though the film does not get preachy (unlike some recent ones like Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Swades), the entire country's youth getting together at the end to voice their disapproval jars.
The film is gifted with an awesome technical team which further boosts the proceedings. A.R.Rehman's music is brilliant and more so after you see the lucid use of songs in the narrative. Binod Pradhan's cinematography is brilliant. Sameer Chanda's art direction and Allan Amin's action is first rate. Prasoon Joshi's dialogues captures the Delhi youth lingo very well.
The film has a set of amazing performances. Alice Patten is brilliant (as Aamir keeps saying "Arre ise to Hindi aati hai"), her Hindi is going to win hearts. Siddharth, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan and Atul Kulkarni, all give terrific performances that will be remembered for a long time. Aamir Khan is once again a revelation. He completely gets into the character and you can never demarcate him from DJ. He measures the role perfectly and gives a knock-out performance.
On the whole, Rang De Basanti is a must watch!
-- Ashutosh Mordekar
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