Aamir Khan seems to have a penchant for making films with pro-active characters gunning for change and taking the onus upon themselves to initiate it. If you see his filmography from Sarfarosh to Dil Chahta Hai (relatively speaking) to Mangal Pandey to Rang De Basanti, his characters have been inspired and of the type of an outsider trying to make a dent in the system. And it is maybe these characters who have made Khan an icon because these are characters that people respect. The other Khan to have such a formula seems to be Shah-Rukh Khan who has made a career out of the underdog.
But coming to the actual crux of the movie and the lesson to be learnt from it (thereby serving the purpose of a film) I have to unabashedly admit that it is a strong movie. Many have disagreed with the answer it provides to the question of youth power and the responsibility for change in our lives that is invested in each of us. “A Generation Awakens” is the tagline, but I will comment upon that later. To begin with there are great scenes in the movie that truly serve the purpose to rouse the audience, such as the, now famous, reaching up to a fighter-plane soaring above, saluting the India Gate at night, and even the fantastic high-speed bike-SUV sequence. Very slick, very well made. There are also great scenes of great poignancy that are provocative, some instances being the mock funeral procession of Madhavan that foreshadow the events to come and Waheeda Rehman’s reaction of receiving her son’s possessions.
The portion of the film that stood out for me, though, was when all the principal characters have their first taste of injustice and passivity during their campaign for justice for the pilot’s death and the crackdown of the Rapid Action Force and cellular phone toting politicians, while the common man, woman and child all are subjected to the powerplay of politics. The music is just wonderful as the song plays ‘Kuch kar guzarne ko, Khoon chala, khoon chala’. Magnifique! Hardly do I remember any movie moment in past times that has made me react with clenched fist and grinding teeth, and believe me, such injustice occurs day in and day out. I think that is the message the movie sends.
The taking up of arms and vigilante justice is the controversy of the film, prompting the audience to take their own measures to serve justice. But, that truly is not the agenda of the film, otherwise the characters would not have apologized for it on screen. I think the message is one of decisions, or taking a stand, not to fight but to defend. It is taken to the point to when one has to hit back in order to defend what one believes in, but that is the exception rather than the norm. From my own experiences of social activism I have learnt the importance of realizing that there are things to defend which can otherwise be taken for granted. I believe that everybody should find even just one issue to believe in and stand by it in whatsoever capacity, and then just see how difficult it is to stand your ground. We don’t even realize this. Maybe it is with these colours of reality that we should be bathed, and then maybe we will learn to defend what is our own and everybody’s.
Rang De Basanti, indeed.
