Rang De Basanti

Plot synopsis:
A young, struggling British filmmaker Sue McKinley (Alice Patten) comes across the diary of her grandfather, Mr. McKinley (Steven Mackintosh), who served as a jailer in the Imperial Police during the Indian independence movement. Through the diary, she learns about the story of five freedom fighters who were active in the movement: Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil. McKinley, in his diary, states that he had met two type of people in his life, those who died without uttering a sound and those who died with lots of anguish, crying over their deaths. McKinley reveals that it was then that he met with the third kind — those who die with a smile on their face.
Having decided to make a self-financed documentary film about these revolutionaries, Sue travels to India, with the help of her friend, Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), from the Institute for International Studies at the University of Delhi. After a few unsuccessful auditions in search of the actors, Sue finally casts Sonia's friends, four young men – Daljit "DJ" Singh (Aamir Khan), Karan Singhania (Siddharth Narayan), Aslam Khan (Kunal Kapoor) and Sukhi Ram (Sharman Joshi) — to portray the revolutionaries.
Though they aren't very enthusiastic at the idea of acting in a film about the independence movement, Sue eventually manages to convince them. Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni), a right-wing political party activist, joins the cast later, despite initially being unpopular due to his anti-Western ideology, due to which he is often at odds with the other four, and anti-Muslim beliefs and contempt for Aslam Khan. In the process of filming, the idealism of India's revolutionary heroes seeps into the protagonists. They gradually begin to realize that their own lives are quite similar to the characters they portray in Sue's film and that the state of affairs that once plagued the revolutionaries continues to torment their generation.
Meanwhile, Ajay Singh Rathod (R. Madhavan), a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force who is Sonia's fiancé, is killed when his jet, a MiG-21, crashes. The government proclaims that the crash was caused by pilot error and closes the investigation. Knowing that Rathod was an ace pilot, Sonia and her friends do not accept the official explanation. Instead, they claim that he sacrificed his life to save hundreds of other lives that would have been lost had he ejected from the aircraft and left it to crash into a populous city. They investigate and learn that the crash was due to a corrupt defence minister Shastri (Mohan Agashe), who had signed a contract exchanging cheap and illegal MiG-21 aircraft spare parts for a personal favour. To their surprise, they learn that the key person who was responsible for organizing the deal was Karan's father, Rajnath Singhania (Anupam Kher).
Angered by the situation, the group and their supporters decide to protest peacefully at India Gate, a war memorial in New Delhi. Police forcefully break up their protest using batons; in the process, Rathod's mother (Waheeda Rehman) is severely injured and slips into a coma. DJ, Karan, Aslam, Sukhi, and Laxman decide that they must emulate the early freedom fighters and resort to violence to achieve justice. As a result, they kill the defence minister to avenge Rathod's death, while Karan murders his father for his corrupt actions. The minister is reported to have been killed by terrorists and is hailed as a martyr by the media. To bring forth their intentions behind the killings, the five of them attempt to reach the public through a radio station. They forcibly take over the All India Radio station premises after having evacuated its employees. Karan goes on air and reveals the truth about the defence minister and his wrongdoings. While still on the air, the police proclaim that they are dangerous terrorists who have forcefully taken over the AIR, and therefore they are to be shot on sight. The first to be shot is Daljit, who tries to get out of cover and establish that they are not terrorists. Sukhi, unable to control his anger, shows himself and is instantly shot. As they are trying to lock the terrace doors, Aslam and Pandey are then killed by a grenade and the once archenemies die holding hands and smiling, as they have visions of Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.
Daljit manages to crawl to the recording room, where Karan is still on air. When Karan understands that he has been shot, they speak amongst themselves for the last time, regarding the others, about Sue and about Daljit's love for her. They are then killed by police commandos while laughing. It is then revealed that McKinley described the third kind of people he came across as being the ones who embraced death as a friend and an equal, with a heartfelt laughter. After their death, the public reacts with outrage and expresses urge to bring Indian politics to justice, following the motives of all the boys.
The film comes to an end with Sue describing the impact of the boys on her life. As she and Sonia watch from the rooftop that Ajay proposed to her on, they have a vision of the boys running in the fields, singing happily and victoriously throwing their shirts in the air, acting as if they are celebrating life itself, as if the ebb of their once-there vitality still reverberates in the places where they once used to go, and a wave of melancholy comes over the two surviving women.
In an afterlife-like state, the boys watch as a father tells his son (a young Bhagat Singh) about gardening. They watch over him with smiling faces, then depart as friends for eternity.

Tags: avant garde, murder, cult, violence, flashback, revenge

Review:
The way each character gradually immerses into scenes from the past leaves you fantasizing about the hard work that has gone in the background to create this, both technically and on the part of the actor.The movie starts on a very high spirit reflecting today's youth mindset who believe that patriotism is something that looks good in history chapters and today's world is far ahead of all that, they would prefer to go boozing and dancing rather than thinking on any of those lines.
A.R. Rehman doesn't need any introductions and he is surely one of the most original music directors we have in the country.The brilliance of Aamir Khan is something very difficult to narrate, he has proved it umpteen number of times that he is truly the most versatile actor in the industry.
He appears so natural and his complete look with new hairstyle (which is now part of his every new movie) gives a very striking combination.Well the most wanting part of the whole thing has been the script to certain extent, it appears very loose in the second half and at times gives a droning feel.
However it has been the technical expertise of the director who managed to save the things with some outstanding camera work and editing.Rang De  is for sure a must watch movie, it doesn't have any preaching but still it will force you to think once.
If I wait any more to say all the things I want to say about this great soul-stirring movie I will never be able to say it.It is the best use of the film medium that I have seen in a long long time.Here in the west we have virtually abandoned good cinema.Where are our Capras,our Wilders, our Hitchcocks, our David Leans?
We make trivia now that neither entertain nor enlighten.To put it very bluntly, we make utter trash.Good work in the world is being done elsewhere, especially in India where a Bhansali stretches the limits of cinematic expression, where a new Wilder emerges in the shape of Anees Bazmee, where Shaad Ali springs a surprise with a Bunty Aur Bubbly,where out of nowhere comes a Guru Dutt in the garb of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and takes us to a new level of awareness and self-discovery through cinema in a stunning masterpiece called Rang De Basanti.I challenge anyone to name a film made anywhere in the last fifteen years or so to hold a candle to this one.It is simply awesome.As an entertainer it is superb, as purposeful film it goes even further.As a fearless, bold crusader for just causes it is beyond compare.The whole team deserves to be congratulated.Apart from the tremendous contribution made by the writers and the director of the movie, the people who need to be singled out and applauded for the high quality of their work are Aamir Khan(his best role yet),Soha Ali Khan(who finally claims our attention with this role and is destined to be as distinguished as her mother Sharmila Tagore).
Waheeda Rehman makes you feel that Guru Dutt is back directing her from heaven.Kirron Kher who is improving with every picture.And all the boys from Kunal Kapoor to Atul Kulkarni.All have turned in amazing performances.After Devdas and Munna Bhai MBBS, Binod Pradhan has once again shown that as an ace cameraman he is second to none.And what can you say about A.R. Rahman?This time he even sings like a pro.He is paired here for the first time with Prasoon Joshi who makes you think of Majrooh Sultanpuri.But before I forget, I must mention Alice Patten.
Reality is it is a sensible movie which talks to all walks of life.The balance between ideologies,reality and humor has been taken care off in the most spectacular manner; never making the audience feel small,blamed or negative.The characters are very real and they do make a lot of sense.
Salutations to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra for giving to our generation a renewed faith and hope, for making us believe that there is a fire kindling in all of ours' souls and no matter where we are and what we do, we love our country.The Story: A young English filmmaker, Sue (Alice Payton), arrives in Delhi to make a film on Indian revolutionaries and their struggle for independent India.
After grilling auditioning sessions, when Sue is almost disheartened and doubts if she will be able to find her heroes at all, she comes across DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) and Lakshman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni) and she knows she has found what she was looking for.
When I first watched Rang De Basanti, it started out as a fair film, telling the story of a group of friends making a film about freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and his friends.
But when the film ended i thought "Finally symbolism has returned to Indian cinema, and Aamir has regained his status as a superstar." Aamir Khan easily outclasses himself and all the other performances in 2006 and breathtakingly acts very naturally.
Sameer Chanda's art direction and Allan Amin's action sequences are its other strong points.Aamir gets into the skin of the character and delivers a knockout performance from start to end, but the film has more gems when it comes to performances: Siddharth is excellent, Atul Kulkarni is fantastic, Soha Ali Khan is a complete revelation, Kunal Kapoor is natural and Sharman Joshi delivers a powerful performance.Alice Patten is brilliant and besides delivering a flawless performance, her style of speaking Hindi is sure to win a lot of hearts.
And the actor, playing a character 15 years younger, lives the role, conveying the right amount of mischief (as in the banter in Hindi with Sue without realizing she knows the language), carefree flippancy, earnestness, insecurity, even breaking down on screen, and keeping his infectious laughter till the very end.Well, in the movie its said " I always thought that there are two kinds of men; those who met their deaths screaming and those who die in silence.
The comparisons drawn between past and present and the way the characters really emerge out has been the high point of the movie.Aamir khan looks more mature than a college pass out but then he makes up with his fine performance and instinctive manipulation.
It is a patriotic movie and relates well to the younger generation.I would definitely rate Alice's performance among one of the best and how she's so much comfortable with Hindi is amazing.It is an irony in the film that it took a foreign girl to make the youth realize of their patriotic heritage.
Plot Outline: Sue (Alice Patten) is inspired by the legendary characters of Bhagat Singh, Azad et al from her grandfather's diaries during his days in the British Raj. She lands in Delhi to make a film on them and finds those characters in Sonia's (Soha) friends DJ (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) & Sukhi (Sharman Joshi).
This is whats gonna happen to any youth in this country if the Government continues to BS around and no you don't need no Al Qaida to do, just normal people can".Whats the result?Instead of a History Channel on Bhagath Singh, you get a contemporary rendering of the characters in present day India with a seemingly interleaving screenplay of past/present.
this movie released 4 days back and from the second day till this evening i have watched the movie 3 times.'RANG DE BASANTI' doesn't leave any scope for excuses to not to watch the movie.to tell the story in a few sentences it is a story about a group of urban friends from Delhi who are urged by an independent documentary filmmaker to act in a movie about the Indian revolutionaries fighting against the British empire in the 1920s.
initially as they act they do not believe in the ideal-isms of freedom ,patriotism and revolution as incorporated in the film but as the story moves on they begin to come face to face with the sacrifices made in the past in the revolution.as the story moves on the line between past and present becomes more and more blurred until it vanishes.here the friends become themselves the very characters they were playing in the documentary movie.the rest u have to see for yourselves.the movie is actually 2 movies in one.we see about the revolutionaries BHAGAT SINGH ,RAJGURU,chandrasekhar AZAD,BISMIL etc in flashbacks.we get to see the KAKORI train robbery,the SAUNDERS murder,the SIMON demonstrations,the hunger strike by BHAGAT SINGH and others while in jail,the JALIANWALAH BAGH massacre and many other things.
it is one with the film.it lifts the film to a different level altogether.unlike other typical Hindi movies in here you never realize when the songs come and go.they are simply a part of the story.in fact sometimes you would even wish that they were a bit long.i don't know why it is ,may because of the songs themselves or simply the way they have been shot.the photography is excellent.BINOD PRADHAN like his earlier movies has shown what a good cinematographer he is.the acting was fantastic.not only did the seasoned actors like AAMIR KHAN,ATUL KULKARNI and R.MADHAVAN but the younger ones like SHARMAN,SOHA,KUNAL and SIDDHARTH have done a perfect job.even you have to take the hats off for the support actors ANUPAM KHAR,KIRON KHER,WAHEEDA REHMAN.a special mention has to be there for ALICE PATTEN .she has done a great job.RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH MEHRA this is a movie of a lifetime.thank you for making it..
If you think that this is Yet another Indian movie dealing with the famous Indian freedom fighters.You are wrong.Raang de Basanti was a completely different flavor of all the patriotic films.The script clearly captures and awesomely merges the past freedom and the current India.
The cast selected (Esp Alice and the character Sukhi) were too good.Alternating of past and present and making them to meet at a point was awesome.Hats off to screenplay.First half was fully concentrated on the Film making by Alice which had built a different mindset ti the audience was died or ended abruptly in the second half..
The first 80mins of the movie are really hilarious with DJ (Aamir) one-liners as well as his passes at Sue. Sunil as Sarman Joshi needs special mention as he makes us laugh a lot.The first half cruises as the documentary develops, so do the group of start thinking more about what they are and what their destinies are.
It sure made my day !!!!!!!!........and the days to come !!!Rakesh Omprakash Mehra's movie 'Rang De Basanti' is a must-watch for reasons that the length of this review may not suffice to express.
More than just a technically brilliant flick, 'Rang De Basanti' has a story that entertains you, makes you think and stirs you deep inside in the end.The most remarkable part of the movie is the parallel that Mehra draws between the freedom fighters and DJ and his group of friends.
Starting off as a pleasant enough Bollywood entertainment about disaffected youth and the western blond girl who engages them in life and reminds them of the heroism of their ancestors against the evil British Colonial rulers (let's not even go there) the second half completely changes track and ends up as a political manifesto advocating violent terrorism as a way for social change.It's dispiriting that the film's (initial) message of unity, democratic change and resistance to the evils of power could have been done much MORE powerfully without violating the internal logic of the story.
The last quarter of the film comes out of the blueit's like you're watching a different movie.
There are about 10 different ways the script could have gone differently and held together conceptually, while keeping the message which is (or initially seemed to be) about coming together and resisting oppression: SPOILER ALERT!the youths could have been awakened to their problems, made a stand, and taken over the radio station, (even been killed and martyred for their beliefs) without killing someone in vigilante fashionthe youths could have discussed their understandable vengeful feelings before acting on them.the women, originally portrayed as agents of change, could have been included in the decisions, or continued as characters to encourage critical discussion and thinking (instead of being pushed aside and become the clichéd tragic, mourning, passive, victims).
A young woman from England (Alice Patten) comes to India to make a documentary about her grandfather's diary which was written in the 1920s about the Indian Independence with five young men.I probably missed something, because this film has had a tremendous influence and incredible positive criticism, whereas I saw a bunch of poor acting (particularly from Patten) and some over-the-top Bollywood singing and dancing.
However it is a very thin line for one to cross from the desired goal of inspiring and overwhelming into soul less preaching So to that end, Rang de basanti, does cause a lump in your throat, a resonating call in your heart and certain empathy for the five likable, very different characters of this story, without ever lapsing into either maudlin sentiments or moralizing to bring to the fore the plague called corruption sweeping India.
well, bollywood wallas don't like to give us too much of a good thing and always seem to come short.It will be great to watch a Hindi movie in which complex issues facing our society are addressed in an intelligent/clever manner rather than taking a short cut and shooting the politicians.
Awesome performances by everyone i would say .Soha was really graceful and AR Rehman stole the show with rocking music .......all in all a wonderful movie to watch ...Aamir yet again doing it..NO SURPRISES!!!!!!!!I guess it was expected .The direction was also up to the mark.The team as a whole look united at every moment and it was clearly reflected that they had done their homework .Aamir's new hairstyles was good for a change.Kirron also added a bit of humor along with Sherman who can been be seen really growing with every film he is doing.Soha has really shown that she has the potential to make a mark ,now we just have to wait and watch how she handles the success and carry forward..
Siddharth (Boys) was the perfect actor cast as the carefree and aimless son of an official military dealer, Anupam Kher(Saraansh, Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Maara) who just wants to leave the country because of the going-ons in this day and age (read "the system").Post-interval the movie deflects into a totally different direction due to R.
The movie goes through several interesting themes, like clash of cultures (Muslims in India), a love story, contemporary Indian politics, family values...
I did not hate it but the film could have ended in a different way.A.R. Rahman's music is first rate and comes at the right time.
It kills me to say this, but I don't think he'll make another film like this again.Now to the performances...but before that, let me say that there is not a hero in this movie...besides the director.
Aamir Khan as DJ played his role with perfection.It has only enhanced my love and respect for him.Other actors should not be deprived of their credit especially siddharth and sharman were terrific.Now,director did full justice to the the movie by not over-or-under doing anything.The contrast screenplay maintained throughout the movie was the main highlight.He has taken really best out of each actor.Ending was quite throat lumping but then "Good" movies have to have such things .Music has also complimented screenplay very well.Background score is extra ordinary and the song Luka Chuppi touches the soul.All in all best movie to come out of bollywood till now.The movie will take bollywood to next level....hopefully....bestest,super extra ordinary,brilliant,........and.......
Get hold of Radio Station, kill the minister and so on...People...don't you feel that the movie was nothing more than hang over of all the past good movies made by talented directors like Dil Chata hai, Lakshya, Yuva etc...Aamir Khan can hire anything....first he does not look 25 and secondly just swearing does not make you Punjabi...All the tution is wasted...Poor chap...he was acting to hard to look punjabi..but..Rest of the guys...sharman joshi was side kick and siddarth has problems with everything...from the country and from his father and everyone....
Kunal .....ok Only Atul Kulkarni was looking good in acting dept.Avoid it guys or you are heading for disappointment ...Full time...Having Aamir Khan does not mean good movie.
This one is piece of art...the ending..haven't seen any end touchy as much as the end of rang de basanti,i was literally into tears,with hicups,Aamir Khans acting was on top,he shown once again that he is the best in business...also Soha,Sidharath and Atul did a great job,Sidarath being a new actor was awesome.
Rang de basanti makes you feel patriotic in a way you have never felt before...The story starts off with Sue (Alice Patten) quitting her job and coming to India to make a documentary on the Indian Freedom Struggle during the 1920's.
R.Madhavan is a pleasant surprise.He plays Ajay, the patriotic Indian AirForce Pilot who is in love with Sonia(Soha Ali Khan).The second half of the movie is completely different.
and I say that not for the classy camera shots, great editing and cinematography, breath-taking music and background score, awe-inspiring performance from all the characters, but for the way Director Rakeysh Mehra had come up with a piece of art which blends moments of Dil Chahta Hai and Mangal Pandey!!
Yet, this time Mehra also proves that he is an excellent story-teller and brings out magnificent performances from all his actors.The title Rang de Basanti is inspired from the legendary song of the same name that the Indian Freedom Fighter Bhagat Singh sang, while he and his comrades were being taken to the gallows, way back in 1931.
Rang De Basanti is a world class movie from India or Bollywood that every youth should watch!