The Quintessential Outsider

Again, a post after a long time. I have been busy, & will continue to be for the rest of this year, so the posts will be few and far between. However, every now and then, some incident forces me to get back to my blog. This time, it is a movie.
Rang De Basanti was only the second movie I watched on the day of its release, the first being Mangal Pandey. Usually, I wait for some reviews of the movie to come in before deciding whether it is worth spending money on, but Aamir Khan movies are an exception. Now, in one line, my opinion is that RDB was definitely worth watching on the first day in the theatre, quite unlike Mangal Pandey.
I have already seen countless reviews of RDB with differing opinions about it. It is definitely a well-made movie, with amazing songs and cinematography. But the point that is being discussed the most, is whether the movie does what it promised to (Hint: The tagline is “A Generation Awakens”). I would say I am not in a position to judge that, basically because I am already aiming for an ‘unconventional’ career, so it was not like the movie made me think and change my mind (I know another person with a similar reason; he is already doing what he would love to. However, unlike him, I basically liked the movie).
One reason I loved the movie was that I went with a group of friends who were joking around, and so there was no dull moment at all in those 3 hours. The opinions of those friends about the movie also differ a lot, and I had long discussions with some of them. I don’t think anyone of them has been so impressed by the movie that he is going to go out & do something like that. But let me not get into that.
One objection that many people have is that the movie is unrealistic or impractical. Even if it had to give an idealistic message, it could give a positive message like Yuva did. Well, firstly, we have already seen many movies with an honest police/IAS officer or journalist fighting against the ’system’, and many more eulogizing the armed forces, and of course, Yuva, where the protagonists enter politics, so these guys had to make something different. What they showed is obviously unrealistic under the present conditions, but if we look at the conditions built up in the movie, it seems logical. Let me explain.
When they start working in the documentary with Sue, they cannot relate at all with the thinking of the revolutionaries. Slowly, however, they begin to understand and relate with the characters that they are playing. The revolutionaries have, of course, been depicted in a very shallow manner; for example, it is more like Aamir Khan playing Azad than the real Azad coming alive on screen, but that was exactly the point of the movie. It is still a story of these modern guys, and not those revolutionaries, unlike say, The Legend of Bhagat Singh. As for the complete ideology of those great revolutionaries, RDB does not do justice to that, but again, it was not supposed to.
The turning point of the movie is the MIG crash, and again, I read somewhere that the filmmakers have shown a very shallow understanding of the whole MIG issue. Well, they themselves accept that the issue was dramatized for the sake of the movie, and they show a message to that effect. The movie was seen and cleared by the Defence Minister and the three service chiefs (which is, I feel, besides the point; the only reason the Defence Minister did not object was that they had shown the BJP in power, and the BJP didn’t protest because that would have been like accepting some hidden guilt). The way the media raises the issue of corruption after the crash was something that actually happened, and someone told me that there was also a real protest march like the one shown in the movie.
What did not happen in real life, however, was the arrogant and high-handed behaviour of the Minister. For me, that was the first unrealistic part in the movie. Also, the way he got alarmed at the protest march and ordered a lathi charge was difficult to digest; most ministers don’t give a damn for such protest marches. However, we should also not forget that in many parts of the world today, and even in India during the Emergency, for example, such protests would really face the kind of treatment shown in the movie.
Also, before the MIG crash, those guys lived their lives from day-to-day, with no long-term plans or ambitions. They didn’t/couldn’t fit in to the regular material world, as was depicted through Aamir’s confession of his insecurities, or through Karan’s tiff with his father. They also didn’t have the confidence and idealism of their pilot friend Ajay. Their life was colourless, in a way, not wanting to accept the white-collar or blue-collar world of work, or the olive-green uniform of the armed forces, or the colour of religious fanaticism (as depicted through Laxman’s rejection of his party ideology, and Aslam’s quarrels with his family). In such a situation, and with the death of their close friend and the subsequent lathi charge, their lives assumed the yellow (basanti) of the revolutionaries’ lives. (I am not waxing poetic out here The English translation of this movie is actually called Paint It Yellow [courtesy IMDb]).
The juxtaposition of the scenes of the revolutionaries with the scenes in the present, is not just for dramatic effect, but also a metaphorical depiction of how their lives are changing colour. After that, the way they execute their plan, and then decide to announce it to the country, is a logical extension. The movie ends with their deaths, and students nationwide expressing their anger on television. As I read in some review, if they wanted a Bollywoodish ending, they could have shown the PM intervening and announcing some award for them, etc.
All in all, I feel that it was an honest effort (one reason I say that is because I know that the filmmakers arranged a special screening for a group of young students a few months back, took suggestions from them, and actually implemented those suggestions by re-shooting and re-editing some scenes. One of my friends was a part of this select group). It does get unrealistic at a few points, but that is necessary in order to take the story somewhere. It is obviously not going to cause a revolution in India or anything, but even if it makes a few people think, the purpose will be served. (The actual purpose, by the way, is just to make money so let’s leave that aside)
People are not going to shed their cynicism by just watching a movie. It will require much more than that. Most of them might just find it a nice excuse to curse the ’system’ and get back to their lives. Also, some of us who believe in the positive ways of changing the ’system’, like joining the army/police/IAS, media/social work/politics, etc. may feel uncomfortable at the negative message the movie seems to send out. Let me say that I am not a cynic, and I also believe in those positive ways, and yet, I liked the movie. Maybe, in the end, we are just expecting too much from the movie. It is not a landmark film, but it is a good film nevertheless, and I wasn’t disappointed.