Bollywood Preview -Rang De Basanti

Rang De Basanti – Review
26th Jan 2006 21.37 IST
By N. K. Deoshi

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra ’s movie Rang De Basanti is a well-crafted and beautifully told story that entertains you, makes you think and stirs you deep inside in the end.

The movie stars Aamir Khan , British actress Alice Patten , Madhavan , Soha Ali Khan , Kunal Kapoor , Siddharth , Sharman Joshi , Atul Kulkarni and Kiron Kher .


The plot of the movie straddles two different time periods – first one, the contemporary setting revolving around a group of friends. The second one is in the pre-independence India, revolving around freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Ashfak.

Parallels are drawn between the characters in the two time periods and as the story moves towards its conclusion, the barrier of time begins to dissolve and the characters become one in spirit.

Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India to make a documentary on some freedom fighters about whom she gets to know from the diary of her late grandfather who was a British officer in India before 1947.

After having auditioned many in vain for her movie, Sue, aided by Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), meets a group of friends in whom she sees the characters of her documentary. The group consists of DJ (Aamir Khan), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), Karan (Siddharth) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi).

Also part of the group is Fl. Lft. Ajay Rathod (Madhavan), the love of Sonia (Soha). He is the only one in the group who has dedication to serve the country.

None of the friends is serious enough to be a part of Sue’s documentary. To them values like patriotism, sacrificing oneself for the sake of country are just beautiful words they cannot relate to.

But Sue can see the characters of her movie in them. In DJ she sees Chandrashekhar Azad. In Karan she sees Bhagat Singh and in Aslam she sees Ashfak.

Even as the five friends agree to be a part of her movie, they still cannot accept the virtues of the characters (of the freedom fighters) they play. But then, Ajay dies in a MiG crash and is labeled as a rookie pilot by the Defence Minister who is unwilling to accept shortcomings in the MiG aircrafts.

DJ and friends decide to bring the truth to light. But they choose a very extreme way to do it.

Rakeysh Mehra deserves full praise for making a movie that certainly raises the bar for filmmakers in Bollywood. There is not a single dull moment in ‘Rang De Basanti’. The movie begins on a light note and there are humourous moments aplenty in the first half. The second half gets serious after the death of the character played by Madhavan. From then on, the story takes a grave turn and ends on a tragic note.

Only Aamir Khan could have enacted the role of DJ, the good-humoured, bike-riding ex-graduate who is afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends. Aamir speaks his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there.

Alice Patten is perfectly cast. She delivers a flawless performance and even shows that she can swear in Hindi.

Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni are up to the mark. Sharman Joshi is a delight to watch. Siddharth gets his moments of acting at the movie’s end.