Rang de Basanthi - a zenith in Indian cinema

[Spoilers kept as minimum as possible]

I heard/read so many goodies about the movie that I couldn’t afford to miss it. But then, being a movie connoisseur (as I’d like to call myself :-) ) who loves to hate the so-called youth and teeny-weeny nonsense of movies, I thought enough not to listen to/read in-depth reviews and story-line discussions. And I’m so glad I didn’t.

The last time I saw a Bollywood movie in a theatre was when “Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya” was released. And boy, that movie sucked. Big-time. More so when I started hearing that it was becoming a hit in Indore. I was amazed at how a movie could run without any story-line whatever, and only based on what I’d call bull-shit humour. I guess I’m going to get a lot of flak for this, but I really think that movie was a nadir in movie-making itself. Anyway, the point is: my expectations were pretty low.

And then I saw Rang de Basanthi (RDB). I should say that RDB had it in it to captivate me right from the word-go. The start was beautiful. The first half was funny. The second half was passionate. The music was colorful (as odd as it sounds). The video-editing was breathtaking (I’m into bits and pieces of personal movie-making, and RDB looked like the impossible that I’ve always wanted to do).

The best part, I guess, is the story itself. It takes a genius to give such an offbeat start, digress on and off into history, while keeping the story alive in the present and taking it in a completely new dimension in the end. Honestly, no one would’ve ever thought the movie would have an end like what it did.

Now to some negatives.

As near-perfect as it was, I didn’t like the concept of violence portrayed as a means to justify rebellion. No doubt it worked - it was easy to see that it struck a chord with the mass. The audience suddenly came alive when the heroes took to rebellion. I guess everyone has a violent side waiting to break open somewhere deep down and movies like these are the outlets. It’s been beautifully summarized by Chandoo too.

Critics apart, it’s really the next big thing in Bollywood and, for that matter, in Indian cinema. Just go watch it. If haven’t yet, that is.