The Ideology of Rang De Basanti
Very poignant mores of urban, middle class existence have found a resonance in creations of classical masters of the cinematic form such as Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak who pronounced their class bearings and leanings through the celluloid medium. Whereas Ghatak – an active Marxist – delved into the peripheries of society to bring to life some of the most mind-boggling stories which would otherwise have remained on the sidelines of art and storytelling, Ray postulated a rearguard view of the changing Indian society, capturing the existential dilemma of a whole plethora of people duly portrayed as characters on the silver screen.
Hindi cinema – known more often than not as three-hour fixes churned out by the dozen by Bollywood, the vulgarized epithet provided to an industry that has emerged as a bulwark against the imperialist onslaught of the American film juggernaut that has captured the markets almost completely in the rest of the world – has had a rather long journey through its creative and restorative phases as Bimal Roy, Mehboob Khan and Guru Dutt gave way to the Manmohan Desai’s and the Sippy’s who treated the movie-watching public to glamourized versions of middle class angst and the marginal people rising against a tyrannical and despotic establishment.
The subsequent de-humanization of Hindi films received an impetus with the work of filmmakers like Suraj Barjatya who presented us with two over-the-top marriage video recordings masquerading as films; Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose biopic Devdas was not only claustrophobic and stifling but also inane and petty in terms of both performances and narrative; directorial ventures coming from the Chopra stable transported the viewer to a nether world of palatial, almost immodest dwellings and their Punjabi occupants closeted in their make-believe, surreal warps where in-house politics, songs and dances were the order of the day with love lurking somewhere in the background.
The most pathetic occupant of this pretentious and soulless universe of Hindi cinema is undoubtedly Karan Johar and his brand of films. While Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was gender-insensitive and derogatory to say the least, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham reinforced the unwritten rules of patriarchy like no other film had ever done before. The women in the film are devoid of any agency, going to an extent of being reprimanded by the husband for opening their mouth against something that the husband said or did.
This crowding out of Hindi films by themes disconnected with the mass of Indians, catering only to the nouveau riche segment of the urban landscape as well as the confused NRI population waiting desperately to get back to their roots through a possibly cinematic outlet, one that would give them a heady dose of everything from rich, luxurious lives and mammoth pujas and aartis to the forbidden love of the good son with the zippy yet ungainly middle class girl next door, perhaps had succeeded in trivializing the media. One film that has rewritten the rules of the game over the last few months and provided a new idiom to the audience as well as future filmmakers, completely revolutionizing the manner in which issues are dealt with and symbolized on the silver screen has been the cult success, Rang de Basanti.
I call it a cult film for primarily two reasons. Firstly, the film has captured audiences across the spectrum. From the brand, ear, navel and nose stud- flaunting urban youth to the convulsing marginalized ghetto-dwellers outside the large metropolises where the pelvic gyrations of a Madhuri Dixit and a Mallika Sherawat are enough to enrapture the audience, Rakeysh Mehra’s period-present drama has found more than a foothold. The completely unexpected thread that runs through the film – one that had created a storm in the Communist world as the great revolutionary Lenin and the reticent Indian M N Roy debated the efficacy of lending support to anti-British and anti-colonial movements across the world – which defines the ethos of Rang de Basanti is the other reason why I call it a cult movie. The Lenin-M N Roy debate has perhaps for the first time found an echo in mainstream Indian cinema.
M N Roy – during deliberations at the Second Congress of the Communist International in the year 1920 – raised an issue with the Leninist formulation that full support should be provided to the anti-colonial movements – primarily comprised of and led by the bourgeois classes – including that in India. He declared that communists of any standing should have no truck with the colonial bourgeoisie, which was collaborationist and vacillating. Roy called the conglomeration of nationalist parties and formations the Progressive nationalist bourgeoisie of which the Indian National Congress was the foremost representative. While Lenin concentrated on the ‘revolutionary role’ being played by the nationalist progressive bourgeoisie and kept the question of the ‘proletariat as the vanguard of revolution’ aside, Roy posited the bourgeoisie as the chief destroyer of the interests of the Indian masses.
Rakeysh Mehra, perhaps in a burst of creative genius posits the trigger-happy General Dyer against the incumbent Defence Minister (Mohan Agashe) accused of taking kickbacks in the MiG-21 deals as faulty parts and spares are used in the machines leading to the death of young fighter pilots, one of them being Ajay Rathod (R Madhavan). The politician thus is shown to have donned the mantle of the colonial oppressor Dyer who fired at helpless Indians inside the high walls of the ill-fated Jallianwala Bagh. The M N Roy line of thought is reflected in the treatment given to this particular scene. The import is very clear. The colonial dispensation or the white Raj has been replaced by the colonization of the powerful bourgeoisie, which is mirrored by the Indian political class.
Gandhi’s decision to pull out of the Non-cooperation movement following the Chauri Chaura incident led to the disillusionment of several nationalist youth such as Bhagat Singh who later took to the gun to uphold the rigorous pattern of constant pressure on the colonizers. The Gandhi-Chauri Chaura event is episodic in that it defines the break that came about in the mass movement and the growth of the revolutionary movement in right earnest, one that made the legendary Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ashfaqullah Khan, Chandrasekhar Aazad and Ramprasad Bismil household names. This also led to the emergence of a trenchant critique of Gandhi’s politics, which pronounced that he treated the bourgeoisie with kid gloves and actually pandered to the interests of the landed and wealthy classes.
It was also around this time that socialism became the prime-mover of the revolutionary terrorists who saw equality and egalitarianism as the only way out for an India mired in the exigencies of religion, caste and the Raj. The revolutionary critique of nationalist, bourgeois politics pioneered by Bhagat Singh, remarkably well-read and articulate at 23-years of age based its argument on the role of the proletariat in the attainment of complete freedom from all forms of oppression. ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long Live the Revolution) – a slogan coined by Bhagat Singh and his comrades – symbolized the attack on the existing methods and means of social segregation along with a veiled counter to the overlordship of the British. Freedom for these young revolutionaries thus not only meant an overthrow of the colonial masters but the also the forms of production generated and protected by the bourgeoisie.
Rang de Basanti highlights a few important markers of the revolutionary’s life that exhibit his political orientation. The film opens with Bhagat Singh (Siddharth) reading Lenin before going to the gallows, a cumulative indication of the practice of armed, irreligious revolution that these men lived through. A young Bhagat Singh chopping off his hair, a symbol of his Sikh faith, thus giving up his overt religious identity for a larger cause is the other scene that signifies the overall ideology of the film. This act signals his firm decision to sever ties with religion. The fact that the film also showcases an intriguing sub-plot of Hindu-Muslim antagonism is reflective of the secular ethos that dictates the narrative.
The coming-of-age of the hard-boiled, bigoted present-day Hindu zealot Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni) and his relationship with the liberal Muslim youth Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) – once the bete noir becomes someone for whom he cares deeply – is the best portrayal of communal relations in modern Indian cinema. The subtle yet immanent rage that infuriates Aslam in all his encounters with Pandey makes a profound statement on the state of the post-Partition, post-Babri, post-Gujarat Indian Muslim. As Pandey metamorphoses into Ramprasad Bismil, the poet-revolutionary and Aslam becomes Ashfaqullah Khan, the gulf between the present and the past seems to close up. The climax of the film is instructive. Both Pandey and Aslam, by now friends and brothers in arms, die together hand in hand, a silent but powerful indictment of communal discourses and their impact.
Rang de Basanti’s narrative also does not impinge on the tautology of class consciousness at the same time the differences are finely etched. In a break from the past as far as Hindi films are concerned, the film dares to bring forth the underlying complexities of a class-divided society. The scene where Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) – a representative of the urban middle class – accuses Karan – the brooding young son of a millionaire arms dealer – of having used the rest of them to settle scores with his father is illuminating. The class divide creeps into the accusations as he condemns their vulnerability to fall victim to the machinations of a cruel system. Karan is seen as one wielding power owing to his societal status while the rest of the characters become pawns in the hands of a sharply divided country. The scenes that follow carry the class narrative further as Karan decides to put the ghost to rest by leading the others in a battle to the finish. Again the climax provides an insight into the fact that he kills his father to prove that he did not actually know of his father’s misdeeds and that thus, was merely one of them, a pawn, a victim.
For the first time, a mainstream Hindi film brought middle-class, marginal characters into full fruition in its treatment and narrative. DJ’s (Aamir Khan) lines would help to put this in perspective: ‘Gali ka kutta bhi nahin bhonkega hamare marne pe’(Even dogs won’t bark at our deaths). Not only does it put the feeling of despondency and helplessness in context, the dialogue charts out a brilliant critique of progress and regress in Indian society. The structural duplicity of present –day India weaves its way through the film through the pronouncements of all the characters including Karan and Aslam who project a nihilistic attitude when denouncing the real India where the population is shooting through the roof, unemployment is a permanent problem and the system is so moth-eaten that everyone who tries to change things is co-opted by the high, mighty and corrupt. Their nihilism gradually diminishes with time and the fact that their friend gets killed in a MiG crash and they end-up battling the system single-handed and unarmed.
The juxtaposition of the past with the present, another first for a Hindi film, is an essential ingredient to put the narrative in perspective. The critique of the Indian political system would have been but another monologue on what all is wrong with it. Rang de Basanti tells what we could do about it. Not only is the film a debilitating effort to throw up the wrongs of the ruling, dominant class, it succeeds in its mission of creating a persona that thrives on pain and trauma. With a crucial socialist argument for a background and a pioneering leap towards rewarding cinema, Rang de Basanti, unlike any Hindi film of the past carries and pronounces an ‘ideology’ of its own.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
OMG!!!
true – KJ/SLB/SB brand reeks of the superficial.
but i am done listening to people every now and then harping about lack of better cinema! society gets the films they DESERVE. as long as there are thousands of them queuing up for that ultimate dose of escapist fantasy devoid of any soul this is precisely what u get in lumpsum.
also true- RDB is one of the more cleaner masala movies seen recently
but under no circumstances does it make or break away from the potboiler path. its better than the crowd. thats all.
well written article =d>=d>=d>
I’m sure it’s true that RDB captured the imagination of a nation but it didn’t do so by being original. Preying on the sentiments of the masses has long been the mode by which most mass-influence undertakings have succeeded.
All RDB does really is reiterate that rebellions will be quashed more often than they will bring change. Sure the boys take over a radio station to ‘get their message across’ but what was the message?
Suggesting that violence is the answer is totally different from implying that sometimes people resort to violence when all else fails. This movie did the former.
And are we agreed that something’s being ‘cult’ makes it good?
What about the accusation levelled against the film that it is ‘inspired’ by a previous Oscar winner?
Sure it appeals to people across economic and ideological strata but that is because the nation is angry – at the way the lay man is treated, at the way celebrities and the influential get away with breaking laws and who knows what else…but I think eventually everybody is angry about how little they can do to change anything.
Next time I need my nose rubbed in the fact that I’m neither rich nor powerful I’ll watch a gangster rap video.
I have seen this movie twice, to really find out if it was oscar nomination worthy. I have my opinion reinforced that the movie is just a sudden bout of consciousness for “King Fisher” generation youth and nothing more. As far as the cinematic merits go, good cinematography and editing. It is a good “Hindi” movie. Definitely there were atleast 10 other movies from Indian art house and regional cinemas that deserved nomination. However looking at the class of Oscar movies themselves this year(Except Pan’s Labyrinth), RDB was typical I felt. Neither did Rakeysh have the anger like a Balachander or Mrinal Sen, nor did the actors possess the potential to convey the same like a Saritha, or Kamal. All in all a “different” hindi movie for those who were fed up with YRF stereotypes. Nothing more and nothing less.
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^ great post!
Another amazingly written article! Man ,ur diction is sublime,& the entire analysis of the film only reminds me of an anatomy professor in his element! But I disagree on some points; true the movie suceeds in bringn forth many cntmporary issues and does it subtly, aptly, but I felt the ending & the India gate lathi-charge scenes were too far-fetched, too specious! Siddharth’s speech over the radio gives me gooseflesh, but Waheeda Rehman, a 60 smthng woman, mother of an Airforce pilot getting beaten up so badly for taking out a peacful rally is ridiculous: thats wat left me feeln dissatisfied. Its a movie that starts off really well,continues very well too but ultimately falls prey to the inherent Indian cravng for masala. Ur Black Friday article was also scintillatng . Anurag is a complete genius & the movie is a colossus in Indian Cinema. Check out his short film with Kay Kay : Last Train to Mahakali; it wold hv made Hannibal Lecter smile! Cheers!
A very good article, I must say. Personally I think RDB is a quaity movie, the type of which should really be encouraged, specially in a country like India where meaningful movies are watched by a handful of people and what passes for movies can actually be compared to a circus. As for being Oscar worthy, lets just say that i have seen far lesser movies getting nominated.
Coming to some criticisms that have been directed towards this movie, I must say that most of them are quite unjust. Take for example, the so called message of violence that the movie propagates. RDB does no such thing. The violence that the young men resort to is more of a mirror to the desperation that they have been subjected to, the kind of which the society feels but feels helpless to do anything about. What should be done in such a situation? wait for the law to take it’s own course or really do something about it? There are no easy answers, the kind of which people demand as if it is their birthright. One must think for himself and find out. And thats what movies are for. It doesen’t change the world but makes people think. And RDB does exactly that.
Roshni:
see the irony,
[Lenin's country provided defective parts for Mig and Sukhois!and
Communism spread its own imprealism in most part of the world. Though now its demolished.
M N Roy's Chele - the present days leftists, did not feel any shame on Nandi Grams.
Over the years so called "Revolutionaries aka communists" have been turned in to bourgeois class themselves].
RDB:
Except the Kunal Kapur’s muslim character, noone looks belonging to middle class. They are same filmy as seen in the films of film makers cursed in this article.
DJ and gang is not separated from the gang of DCH.
All unemployed, Rather they dont wish to do anything.
and all maintain Car, bikes, fun all through the day. So their ideology is to escape from reality and have fun.
RDB is full filmy.
Only ideology in the film comes through Madhwan when he preaches his fun loving friends.
If only ideology can work, then I wonder if Masti factor (Ala DCH) is removed from the first half, then film would get such success?
If at all Rang De Basanti, as a film, worked at a political level, it was in putting Bhagat Singh and co.’s contribution in India’s freedom struggle in its place.
RK yaar yeh kya baat hui? Basically what your saying is if you remove all the entertainment value from the film and only leave the ideologies then the film would fail… well yeah, it would. Because ppl don’t go to cinema halls to hear speeches (as if we weren’t subjected to preachy, jingoistic monologues enough)…
The general public accepted RDB in a big way because it was socially relevant cinema, portraying a message, well-packaged in a way that simultaneously entertained and involved us.
Sometimes the ideologies were illustrated subtly, sometimes they were spelled right out. Perhaps that was the Rakyesh Mehra’s way of appealing to a larger segment of the audience. The point is he not only was able to send a message but he was able to send it to the maximum number of people.
Zero, I think the most obvious motive of RDB, on a political level, was to draw a parrallel between the helplessness and suppression of the (collective) peoples voice in Bhagat Singh’s time mirrored to the suppression of the middleclass society in todays time. Though done so in a rather blatant manner, sometimes you have to be loud and clear for people to get what your trying to say.
I think RDB is a average film. And thank god for that. If it was really brilliant piece of filmmaking half the people in India would not have seen it. Like TONY said people don’t wanna be preached. The message was delivered very successfully. It reminds me of how I felt while watching that piece of shit BLOOD DIAMOND. That movie was so so so cliche’… It was just horrible to see all those actors speaking dumb filmy lines. The love story was so pathetic it made me puke. But you know what?? I was glad that the movie was such. Because for me the cause is bigger than the quality of art. And in this case, the bloody business of diamonds in Africa needed to be told to the world. Because the movie was so dumbed down more people saw the film.(I’m not suggesting people are dumb, but most people are not so aware of films as we are). Had the movie been an artistic masterpiece I bet it wouldnt have been a commercial success. Infact I had a huge arguement with my GF after the movie as she thought the movie could be much better & people would have still seen it. We started screaming at each other in a iHOP in the middle of the night.
Nobody spoke on the way home!
So much for a bloody bad movie!
Mainak bhai filmon ka itna passion hai ke GF se panga liya? Shabaash mere cheeteh shaabash! LOL!
Tony: Friend,
No I did not mention to remove All Entertainment value from the film.
I asked, if the Masti factor(DCH part) is removed from the first half, then what would make the film accepatble in audience. Audience especially, youth belonging to 15-30 years age grp!
Rest Kahani puri filmi hai like any other hindi film.
Defense minister, who certainly will be having atleast 20-25 years political experience, will make such statement which may sspread wrath in Air force? It does not matter, he has taken kick back or not but he knows certainly what to say, thats why he is a minister and senior politician.
Ideology- where it is in the film. If its then its like emotional slogan based right wing political ideology or hided kind of left wing politics. Certainly those who have only heard about Bhagat Singh, and associates will be feeling good and feel good factor is more drugs type here as youth, who is often accused of thinking only about selfish fun etc may think ok when time comes we also can do something like this. But if someone starts reading and knowing more about independence struggle then film wont work for him/her in the same way as it works out of ignorance towards our history.
Mean its just a film, an average film which is cleverly intermingled with the past history due to godo knowledge of flasback scene technology but thats it. It certainly has no ideology.
If all patriotic theme based films can be successful then what abt Mangal Pande. Aamir was less good actor there than in RDB?
Surely RDB rationalise mentallity of crowd of youth and they in their imagination feels somewhere that film puts them in right frame as whenever time will come they will also behave like Bhagat Singh etc. India is suffering from so many differences and RDB brings out youth, out of shame they can feel if go to realise exact realities and situations in our country. Daily its happening in India and world and nobody is doing. Surely filmmakers were not knowing this that it will cater psychology of youth in this way. But when they are getting bucks then why to bother.
Moreover film maker and story writer did not bother to dig history properly, BK Datt, an associate of Bhagat Singh was not hanged and he was freed after sometime and he died in 1960. When they show that home minister- guessing he shd be responsible for killings of the DJ and gang inside the AIR bilding as he is responsible for law and order- says,” nobody shd remain alive”. What does that mean. What abt the crowd gathred in support of these confused youth?
Mean- its all filmi attempt to encash people’s feelings and other film makers also do same so why to curse them and praising chosen ones to the hilt?
Tumhara Khoon Khoon hama khoon pani.
Or as Anil Kapur says to Anupam Kher in 1942 – A love story, Pathak ji, ye to jyadati hai, apka prem desh prem, aur hamara prem kuch bhee nahin?
And rest was to bring in notice, where is communist ideology in the present day’s life which is praised secretly in article?
Bhagat Singh, died at 23 , was not in a position to make a fixed opinion about any ideology and his ideology changed with his maturity and that was a sign of a progressive mind. For some time he believed in arms based revolution that too gurrila type(and not open war kind of ideology as Subhas Bose could follow), as his vision could think that only and when he realised it brings minute change he changed his ways and ideology. If he was alive he could have burried his those days liking of ideology propagated by Marx.
His goal was to have freedom for poorest and most depressed section of the society, now Marx or no Marx, does not matter. He could have been more mature than Marx himself at the age of 30, as he was not only following lines of thinking but he was a direct participant in the process of bringing the changes.
Does RDB catalyse one to do in actual or simply cater to self appeasement?
Do makers of RDB, will be following any ideology, if its there, shown in the film or atleast they will be more honest citizens and human beings after making RDB, and thus no tax stealing, no human exploitation etc etc?
If its all business then lest see the film in that perspective only.
Tony Mera Naam,
What I was trying to say was that, the drawing of parallels between those revolutionaries and DJ and co., ironically, worked almost contrarily to me!
Rather than raising — so to say — DJ and co. to the level of those revolutionaries, the film helped put the yesteryear revolutionaries, Bhagat Singh and co., in their place by equating them to these angry kids. [With due respects, of course, to the revolutionaries; I am not knowledgeable of their political ideologies in any sense.]
RK Bhai it seems as though you think RDB is overrated, at least as far as “ideologies” go.
I agree that RDB is quite “filmi” in that it has many commercial elements. It was geared towards India’s largest demographic – youth. The film depicted carefree, beer drinking, rocking out younger crowd who lived almost recklessly and by doing so created a fun appeal to the youth. It was a great way of drawing them in, no doubt.
But then to balance out the crazy crowd we had characters such as Ajay Rathod and Laxman Pandey who brought out the ideologies. To an extent so does Aslam’s character who, though assimilated with his fun-loving comrades was also not nearly as jaded/cynical as Karan nor did he have the “just fuck it all and have fun” attitude of DJ. Aslams “revolt” against his orthodox Muslim family, trying to show them that sticking with his friends is not turning his back on his religion, was not just a relevant social comment but a powerful statement.
Yes, there was a lot of masti in the film. The film went from one extreme (”Masti ki Pathshala”) to another (into a modern day rebellion post the death of Ajay). The character graph was steep.
I understand your argument RK Bhai. Correct me if I’m wrong but what your trying to say is this awakening of your conscious and taking on the system type drama has been seen before. There have been countless films made on average people living their lives, not giving a shit, going through a crisis where they feel screwed by the system, then fighting the system. Its a fairly standard filmi formula and all RDB did was inject Bhagat Singh’s revolution into this formula and then draw a mirror to a modern day rebellion.
I also agree that it wasn’t always historically accurate. This was perhaps the reason why a foreigner was chosen as the character who wanted to make a film on Bhagat Singh and not, say, a history student at the university. This could be seen as a disclaimer that “ok if we get our facts a bit messed up blame it on the gori chori”.
Your right RK bhai, RDB was for Bhagat Singh beginners, or maybe those who watched on or more of the Bhagat Singh films of 2002 and think they know everything about the martyr. Anyone who has really studied Bhagat Singh could point out contradictions, historical inaccuracies, and critical points missing from the narrative.
The disclaimer for that, as I recall from many of the pre-release interviews, was that “this is not a film on Bhagat Singh” or “this is a contemporary film focusing on the youth of today’s India” and comments of the like (not quoting anyone verbatim).
So lets view the film as a mainstream commercial hindi film, and in that context see what it did well. It delved deeper than most films into the psyche of its characters. It also examined issues such as the Hindu-Muslim divide on a microscopic, individual level, that too from a youth perspective. It also looked at a generation gap, exemplified so well with moments such as when Anupam Kher says “SMS generation: Char lines se ziada bolo to bhashan lagne lagta hai” and of course through the ideological differences between Anupam Kher/Siddarth and Om Puri/Kunal Kapoor.
Anyone who says RDB was a realistic portrayal of today’s youth will be faced with many arguments to the contrary. And yet the film does succeed in relating to the youth.
This is why I think its a great film. It acheives a strong balance between being filmi and delivering a social message against political complacency/apathy amongst the youth. Ok, so it does so in quite a dramatic fashion. It is a mainstream hindi film afterall, and as far as I know its never claimed to not to be.
Zero, thats a very interesting take. I’m not sure if by drawing those parrallels the film was trying to “equate” the youth to those great revolutionaries. The attempt was more so to create an awareness and a realization amongst the youth that they are not as helpless as they may think. Also it was an attempt to take many of the issues faced by the youth in today’s India and relate them to the issues faced by the revolutionaries in their time. It was a way to make a connection, not necessarily to say that the RDB gang were in any way (in moderns times or otherwise) at the same level as Bhagat Singh and co.
I guess the best way to put it is that today’s youth could learn from those revolutionaries, and thus shouldn’t just making blanketing statements like “that was them in their time” or “times have changed”.
Oh my god, this was gonna happen.
Roshini,
I want to say that people who liked RDB chose ideology factor as the biggest plus. To me ideology would be the last thing I wanna talk about if I am discussing RDB.
To me the execution of the movie is very mediocre. Too many flashbacks just ruin the pace of the movie. You do not have to go back to Bhagat singh stories every 15 minutes to make a point. Just a simple hint would have been enough and was enough untill they showed use of evry single dialogue of either DJ or Soha ali cut to thei respective characters of the flashbacks. The movie drags to the extent that I think director was trying to explain over and over and over again about the “similarity” of the current situation with british raaj. This is a sign of making the movie “for the audience” and stop being an artist. If people know it, they know it. RDB is a mistake.
Very poorly written and executed.
Ideology? Its an individual choice.
Tony: you described very well RDB. it would have been better if you had written a post on RDB. You can describe film better.
BTW:Most of the points I made, were more related to the material inserted in this post.
But yes, this is true that film RDB works only with simple viewing, means dont think much because if you start thinking then film will fall flat, because it has sucked up ideology, quite immature which does not hold any water. This is not to think deeply in any manner.
Its not different then Inspector Vijay of 70s. Now noone can be Vijay so his powers are distributed in to 5-6 inviduals who form a team to do same what he was doing alone. Only showing faces of Bhagat Singh et al, does not make it a cult classic. Its ok type film and enjoy it that way only.
Most of the people accept that only success is never a parameter of quality.Even in this post most of the successful films and filmmakers are cursed for degrading the quality of cinema!
Story has many faults.
Though Its not entirely fiction, Mig 21 has been an issue and several planes have been crashed and pilots have been killed. Anything happen in the way as shown in film? Defense minister or Generals of the armed forces insulted the dead pilots? No defense minister can do that, even if he is very much corrupt in financial matters.
Now much after RDB, Nithari incidence happened in Noida, in western UP. it was related to killing of childern and people are mostly more sensitive in such matters where children are concerned. irresponsible behaviour of policemen is evident and above this they opted a rude and oppressive beahviour towards the parents of victims.
Brother of CM of UP went too far and even casually termed it as ordinary incidence.
Parents of dead children went to kill the politician or policemen or accused?
Grandson of Maj Gen Nanda killed so many by his BMW, Nitish Katara was killed by son of powerful mafia and politician, his friends and family took law in their hands, and several other incidences are there. accident happen on roads, those who are responsible for these accidents, like traffic police, road makers, or railway people or police anbd those who do rash driving, often misuse power and victimise the family of the died people because they know if they show weakness then they will be in jail. Do victim’s family people go to kill these people?
and all these are causes which affect the masses.
I agree with zero, filmmakers either cleverly or out of sheer ignorance bring down Bhagat Singh and associates to these confused youth. Its not other way round.
Bhagat Singh and colleagues were having a clear goal. They were living every second of their lives with that kind of thought. They were not killing their time in loitering.
and if film makers were knwoing history then they should have known that Bhagat Singh and two others were given death sentence for killing the Sonders and not for their other actions. BK Datt’s involvement was not proved in that particular incident so he was not hanged.
But yes to introduce ABCD abt freedom struggle and just to memmorise Bhagat Singh and Co, RDB is fine.
You never know from what, one can have inspiration.
And Author of the post has to think that Bhagat Singh who was having progressive mind, was going to pardon communists of India of that time, who opposed Quit India movement of 1942. He was progressive and communists of that period were just confused about what to do and prefered to oppose quit india movement. And Sumeet Sarkar unashamadely writes that many political parties had not participated in noncooperation movements of 1920s. So their mind was actually lagging around 30 years.
RK bhai I see ke aap kya keh rahe hain. I think we’ve been debating our respective points from the same side of the fence. RDB, as a film was good, but taking it from a film to a philosophy or ideology is foolish.
Then again, any book, film or peice of art, when interpreted by the viewer, may trigger something inside which could inspire/lead them to into action for a cause or whatever in their own lives.
“It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear”
– Bhagat Singh, in the leaflet thrown in the Central Assembly Hall, New Delhi at the time of dropping bombs in the Assembly on April 8, 1929