January 27, 2006
New Age Patriotism?
This post talks about Aamir Khan's latest flick, "Rang De Basanti". SPOILERS ahead! Don't read any further if you hate spoilers.
Couple of years back, a mob in Nagpur lynched a criminal, highlighting the failure of law and order system. Last month, a BPO employee was allegedly raped and killed by her driver. There were demonstrations demanding capital punishment for the accused. I was mildly shocked to see the total lack of faith in the judiciary system, one of the four pillars of democracy. Educated, in traditional sense, or otherwise, everybody wants "street justice" - the same, which everybody unequivocally condemns in case of Gudia and Imrana.
Now we have a full-fledged movie glorifying the worst kind of street justice. A bunch of happy-go-lucky youngsters are working on documentary (film?) based on freedom struggle in 1930s with focus on Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and other freedom fighters. They get a feel of patriotism while working together. And then, one of their friend dies while flying MiG. The fever of documentary is still there in their head. And ... surprise, surprise.. they start comparing themselves with the Bhagat, Azad, Ashpak, Sukhdev, Durga; the situation akin to 1930s and (the corrupt) Defence Minister as General Dyer of Jalianwala Bagh. Suddenly, they realize they have to do "something." That "something" happens to be murder of Defence Minister who carelessly quotes their friend as "an incompetent pilot." After the murder, they go live on radio to tell junta that they are the murderers and they have done this to ... what?... clean the system. (They commit one more murder, but I'll save that bit for your theatrical experience.)
You were warned!
For me, these guys are not much different from Ajay Devgan in Apaharn who picks up crime when failed by the system. People ridicule Sunny Deol's chest beating patriotism. This is a slightly more intellectual version of the same. This movie made me remember a quote - "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."
An spineless and extremely jingoistic story, which cannot stand the fire of truth, logic and common sense, doesn't deserve 3 hours of run time!
Other minor problems with this "realistic" movie.
Sorry, I don't have much positive to say about this movie except that I could still watch it without thinking it was a total waste of money, if not bang-for-buck.
Couple of years back, a mob in Nagpur lynched a criminal, highlighting the failure of law and order system. Last month, a BPO employee was allegedly raped and killed by her driver. There were demonstrations demanding capital punishment for the accused. I was mildly shocked to see the total lack of faith in the judiciary system, one of the four pillars of democracy. Educated, in traditional sense, or otherwise, everybody wants "street justice" - the same, which everybody unequivocally condemns in case of Gudia and Imrana.
Now we have a full-fledged movie glorifying the worst kind of street justice. A bunch of happy-go-lucky youngsters are working on documentary (film?) based on freedom struggle in 1930s with focus on Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and other freedom fighters. They get a feel of patriotism while working together. And then, one of their friend dies while flying MiG. The fever of documentary is still there in their head. And ... surprise, surprise.. they start comparing themselves with the Bhagat, Azad, Ashpak, Sukhdev, Durga; the situation akin to 1930s and (the corrupt) Defence Minister as General Dyer of Jalianwala Bagh. Suddenly, they realize they have to do "something." That "something" happens to be murder of Defence Minister who carelessly quotes their friend as "an incompetent pilot." After the murder, they go live on radio to tell junta that they are the murderers and they have done this to ... what?... clean the system. (They commit one more murder, but I'll save that bit for your theatrical experience.)
You were warned!
For me, these guys are not much different from Ajay Devgan in Apaharn who picks up crime when failed by the system. People ridicule Sunny Deol's chest beating patriotism. This is a slightly more intellectual version of the same. This movie made me remember a quote - "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."
An spineless and extremely jingoistic story, which cannot stand the fire of truth, logic and common sense, doesn't deserve 3 hours of run time!
Other minor problems with this "realistic" movie.
- After spending first 90 minutes leisurely, director wakes up and packs a lot of action in next 90 minutes.
- Within minutes of the MiG crash, the omniscient news anchors come up with reason for the crash - poor quality maintenance of planes.
- Rapid Action Force is called for lathi charge on a very peaceful gathering. Hello? RAF is called in when situation cannot be controlled by Police. Imagine what Govt has to face when this lathi charge is beamed live on all 24-hr news channels!
- All the folks get soaked in litres of blood in this lathi charge. Any news channel worth its airwaves will parade such brutality endlessly.
- Political leaders don't make incendiary and borderline stupid statements like "MiG pilot was incompetent." At least, not when they are in front of the camera.
- Very Generous references to NDTV are as pleasing as watching ToI and Hum-Tum scratching each others' back. I am sure NDTV has returned the favour in kind.
Sorry, I don't have much positive to say about this movie except that I could still watch it without thinking it was a total waste of money, if not bang-for-buck.
1
Comments:
Watched it yesterday, though I totally freaked out on the movie, loved it. It was fun - the patriotic fervour mixed with fantastic background score, all in all I loved the movie!
But....I still agree with you, reality takes a backseat for me when I am in celluloid land (that makes sure that I have a fun 3hours), but honestly I think the logic in the movie was the absolute pits! Today's politicians are corrupt alright, but they are smart too! The defence minister of all people would make such a faux pass, and even when he did...makes me wonder, why the defence didn't raise its voice and it was left to a bunch of college junkies to shoulder the responsibility. Another very troubling point as you so rightly point out is the role of the media in the country??
Have we really become that hapless or is it just that the Indian audience has no credibility whatsoever?
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But....I still agree with you, reality takes a backseat for me when I am in celluloid land (that makes sure that I have a fun 3hours), but honestly I think the logic in the movie was the absolute pits! Today's politicians are corrupt alright, but they are smart too! The defence minister of all people would make such a faux pass, and even when he did...makes me wonder, why the defence didn't raise its voice and it was left to a bunch of college junkies to shoulder the responsibility. Another very troubling point as you so rightly point out is the role of the media in the country??
Have we really become that hapless or is it just that the Indian audience has no credibility whatsoever?
# posted by 
: January 29, 2006 12:14 PM
: January 29, 2006 12:14 PM << Home
