Rang De Basanti
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Rang De Basanti (Hindi: रंग दे बसंती, Urdu: رںگ دے بسںتی) is a Hindi movie, a product of the Bollywood film industry of India. It was released on 26th January 2006; it was directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (of Aks fame). The film stars Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni, British actress Alice Patten, Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri, Kiron Kher and Anupam Kher. The music is by A. R. Rahman. The movie was well-received all over the globe, and grossed Rs. 345.5M in its opening week. [Indiaglitz article] The movie has become a cult classic for youth disappointed with the corruption in the Indian system. The film has recently been selected for Golden Globe Awards and will compete in the foreign language film category. IndiaFM News Bureau [Rang De Basanti selected for Golden Globe Awards] 6 July, 2006. URL retrieved on 6 July, 2006
Synopsis
Struggling British filmmaker Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India after she reads the diary of her grandfather, who served in the British Force during India's struggle for Independence. She comes to India in order to make a short film about some of the heroes of the Indian Independence Movement, men such as Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad. With the help of her friend Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), she sets out to find actors suitable for the roles. Sonia introduces Sue to some of her male friends:
- Daljeet aka "DJ" (Aamir Khan)
- Sukhi (Sharman Joshi)
- Karan (Siddharth)
- Aslam (Kunal Kapoor)
As the young men learn their lines and learn more about the history of the Independence movement, they realize that, unlike the men they are playing, they have lived completely for their own pleasures and have ignored India's pressing problems. They lack the spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice.
Just as they are beginning to form some higher ideals, they are forced to deal with a real-life tragedy in their midst. Sonia's fiancé, Ajay (Madhavan), is an Indian air-force pilot. He is killed during routine practice when the MiG he is flying crashes. The friends soon come to realize that Ajay in fact chose to steer the plane away from densely populated Ambala city instead of ejecting himself from the plane to save his own life.
The government proclaims that the crash was caused by pilot error. But Sonia and her friends know that Ajay was a seasoned pilot, also that there have been many MiG crashes of late -- too many to be due to pilot error. They discover that the crash was due to a corrupt defence minister (Mohan Agashe), who had signed a contract for cheap, spurious MiG spare parts in return for a large kickback.
Not content to accept this as "just the way things are done", the group decide to protest peacefully. Police forcefully break up their protest. The young men decide to emulate the exploits of their new heroes, Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad, fighting corruption just as Singh and Azad fought the British. Violence ensues.
Box office
- First week box office receipts were Rs. 34.55 crores, or 345.5 million rupees — believed to be the highest of any Bollywood film. [link]
- Compared with the highest grossing films of the last decade, it is now second —[Indiaglitz]
- – Rs. 655.5M (million)
- Rang De Basanti – Rs. 501.2M
- Koi... Mil Gaya – Rs. 489.2M
- Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham – Rs. 451.8M
- Bunty Aur Babli – Rs. 420.1M
- No Entry – Rs. 404.8M
- Veer Zaara – Rs. 384.7M
- Kal Ho Naa Ho – Rs. 350.84M
- Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai – Rs. 350.1M
- Main Hoon Na – Rs. 334.0M
- Devdas – Rs. 333.0M
Trivia
- Some scenes were shot at the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, the holiest shrine in Sikhism. RDB was the first production allowed to be filmed there, in fifteen years.
- Hrithik Roshan was initially asked to play Karan Singhania, but he had to turn down the role, due to time-scheduling conflicts with other films. Arjun Rampal and Vivek Oberoi were also approached; they too refused. Only then was Siddharth approached.
- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra wrote the film for the main role to be played by Abhishek Bachchan as his first movie role. However, Abhishek Bachchan made his début in J.P. Dutta's Refugee . Mehra stopped writing his script, but soon went back to finishing it.
- Rumor has it that Shahrukh Khan was approached for the role eventually played by Madhavan.
- The film was to be made both in Hindi and English versions. The English version was to be titled "Paint It Yellow". The plans for the English version were dropped subsequently.
- Aamir Khan was initially uncertain about taking on the role of DJ, as he was in his 40s and DJ was a 25-year old Punjabi in the film. He eventually accepted, though, and hired a tutor to aid him in Punjabi speech and accents.
- There are cameos in this film from Abhinav Batra, better known as Indian rapper Abs-T, model Mandira Singh and British born director Mousir Syed Iqbal.
- The movie is said to have inspired the method of demonstrating protest in some subsequent issues in India. The protest against the aquittal of the accused persons in Jessica Lal murder case and the 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests are some examples.
Controversies
- The film is critical of the Indian government, and touches on some recent political scandals [South Asia Tribune interview]. Indian films must be cleared by a censor board before they can be shown, and the production crew worried that the film might not pass the censors. They invited Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to a private screening of the newly-finished film in hopes of forestalling a crisis. The film was cleared; whether or not the screening had anything to do with it is unclear.
- Some scenes had to be removed from the movie after animal activist and Lok Sabha MP Maneka Gandhi protested. The scenes had been filmed before the production had applied for and received the necessary permission from Animal Welfare Board of India (of which she is president). The movie poster shown above is a still from one of the scenes that had to be cut.
Cast
- Aamir Khan ... Daljit Singh a.k.a DJ
- Soha Ali Khan ... Sonia
- Sharman Joshi ... Sukhi
- Alice Patten ... Sue
- Madhavan ... Ajay Singh Rathod
- Siddharth ... Karan Singhania
- Kunal Kapoor ... Aslam
- Atul Kulkarni ... Laxman Pandey
- Kiron Kher ... Mitro Singh
- Anupam Kher ... Rajnath Singhania
- Om Puri .... Amanullah Khan
- Mohan Agashe ... Defence Minister
- Waheeda Rehman ... Ajay's mother
- Cyrus Sahukar ... Rahul (a budding radio jockey)
External links
- [The Official Site]
- [IMDB page]
- [Yahoo India Review]
- [Rediff Review]
- [revieware Review]
- [BBC review]
- [Review on sulekha.com]
- ["RDB creates first week record" on indiaglitz.com]
Notes
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