Masand's Verdict: Rang De Basanti

RANG DE BASANTI

Starring: Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Sidharth and Soha Ali Khan

Director: Rakeysh Mehra

Every once in a while comes a film that makes you question your indifference towards everything that's going on around you. That makes you feel almost ashamed for being unconcerned about the state of affairs in your nation. A film that inspires you to wake up and react. To raise your voice, or to put your foot down.

You don't see such films in India very often. To be honest, you don't see too many films that stay with you half an hour after you've left the movie hall. And that's why when a film like Rang De Basanti comes along, you stand up and cheer.

Rang De Basanti is the story of a group of young friends in Delhi, who spend the most part of their lives laughing and joking, drinking beer and chilling out.

When they're urged by a British documentary filmmaker to act in her film about the Indian revolutionaries, their lives change forever.

What they may have until then regarded as outdated, stuffy, text-book values eventually begin to assume greater relevance in their lives.

In the end, the line between past and present blurs as our protagonists become one in spirit with the revolutionaries that they set out portraying.

Right away what appeals to you about director Rakeysh Mehra's new film is the fact that it so accurately captures the spirit and mood of the current generation.

The jokes are not forced, the emotions aren't cheated. This is the real stuff.

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On a story level alone, Rang De Basanti is courageous and brave and dares to dream. Even if the screenplay goes horribly wrong in the film's second half, you cannot for a moment deny that it's a path-breaking concept that's imaginatively executed.

In fact, it's fair to say that at most times it's a cleverly disguised history lesson that touches almost all the right notes.

It is post intermission really that the film begins to spiral downwards. The director takes too many creative liberties and creates too many situations that seem far-fetched.

It's highly unlikely that a Defence Minister would go on national television and blame a recently deceased fighter pilot of rash flying, just so that Mr Minister can get off the hook in the larger scam.

It also seems a tad unbelievable that the police would resort to lathi charge on a perfectly peaceful gathering, and beat up everyone including the elderly mother of the late fighter pilot whose death the crowd is grieving.

And the icing on the cake really is the climax where the police opens fire on a bunch of unarmed students who have made it more than clear that they will not resort to violence.

Now this might seem like nitpicking on my part, but in a film that starts off as astonishingly well as Rang De Basanti, even tiny holes appear four times their size.

It breaks your heart to see the film lose its grip in the second half, as Mehra resorts to melodrama, and gets too carried away with his special effects.

Quite like his previous film Aks, this time too, Mehra shifts the focus from the story at hand to too much symbolism. But on the upside, A R Rahman's score complements the narrative perfectly, enthusing life and spirit into the scenes.

In number, the songs may be many, but they're really an integral part of the screenplay structure.

What really takes Rang De Basanti to another level completely, is the ensemble acting. Aamir Khan, spontaneity being his biggest strength, is so good that you're even willing to overlook the fact that he appears too old to be playing this character.

Atul Kulkarni is a natural who conveys as much with his eyes and his expressions as he does with words.

Even the younger actors - Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Sidharth and Soha Ali Khan inhabit their characters so effortlessly that your heart goes out to them.

The actors play off each other remarkably, making their scenes together such a pleasure to watch.

All said and considered, Rang De Basanti is a magnificent effort, and one that deserves to be applauded for its sheer vision.

It's a clever film that credits its audience with some intelligence, and therefore it makes for an undoubtedly subtle but ultimately rewarding experience.

It's compelling, moving and quite unlike anything else you're likely to see this year.

It's also sad, stirring and scintillating - and despite its flaws, it's a touching film that's something of a mini masterpiece.

Rating: (Very Good)

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CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

Starring: Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton

Director: Andrew Adamson

Also at the cinemas this week, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a fantasy film for the little ones, based on the books by C S Lewis.

This film follows the adventures of four siblings who enter the magical, mythical world of Narnia through a mysterious wardrobe while playing a game of hide and seek in the country home of an elderly professor.

Once in Narnia, the kids discover that what used to be a charming land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns and giants has now become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, played superbly by Tilda Swinton.

It's left to the kids then -- of course under the guidance of the noble lion Aslan -- to overcome the White Witch's powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular battle.

Now this film's been compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and while I won't deny that it's an engaging watch meant for the little ones, it's really nowhere as brilliant as Peter Jackson's films.

This one's really a children's fable with little room for interpretation. It's beautiful and there's some fabulous special effects and it's your typical story of good versus evil. But it's hardly the kind of film that you'd want to watch more than once.

Rating: (Good)

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