Rang De Basanti – A treat to watch

26th January. A hot afternoon and the first day of the movie, one can sense the motivation we had to watch the movie. The movie previews have been intriguing and it was getting difficult to guess what this movie will be all about. The movie starts with a fantastic bit of graffiti fusing together the Indian freedom movement and the contemporary India.

The storyline talks about the heroics of the martyrs of the Indian Freedom Movement especially the young brigade such as Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad, etc and how the memories of these are alive in a young, Sue, through her grandfather’s memoirs. Sue comes to India from Britain to find actors to shoot the documentary on the young martyrs and soon finds them in the form of Aamir, Soha Ali, Kunal Kapoor and gang.

The movie takes you on a journey of a beautiful and culturally tolerant India where the old generation is still caught up in the chains of caste and creed but the new generation is living drawing up their own rules. Though as normal Indian youth, they too believe that the Indian political and social system is so corrupt that they can’t do anything to change it. A sudden death of a common friend, a MIG fighter plane pilot who always believed that the youth of India can bring about the change if they wanted to, brings forward the hidden fire in all of them. They decide to take a step forward and kill the corrupt people behind the purchase of defective parts for the MIG machinery (which I think was an extreme scenario).

The story telling is one not seen for quite some time in Hindi cinema and all characters have a reason to be part of the film and not stuffed in to fill reels. The movie provokes a thought in all young Indians to contribute to the nation in whichever way possible. I think people are in for a joyride in the movie with moments of hilarity and on the other hand moments where the heart would go heavy a bit. Kudos to the artists who have worked on the film and believe me there is no stopping this film to become a big box office success.