Rang De Basanti (2006)

A young woman from England comes to India to make a documentary about her grandfather's diary which was written in the 1920s about the Indian Independence with five young men.

Director:

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Writers:

Renzil D'Silva (screenplay), Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (screenplay),

Stars:

Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 16 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aamir Khan	...	Daljeet 'DJ' / Chandrashekhar Azad
Siddharth	...	Karan R. Singhania / Bhagat Singh
Sharman Joshi	...	Sukhi / Rajguru
Kunal Kapoor	...	Aslam / Ashfaqullah Khan
Atul Kulkarni	...	Laxman Pandey / Ramprasad Bismil
Alice Patten	...	Sue
Soha Ali Khan	...	Sonia / Durga Vohra (as Soha Ali Khan Pataudi)
Steven Mackintosh	...	Mr. McKinley
Madhavan	...	Flight Lt. Ajay Rathod (as R. Madhavan)
Waheeda Rehman	...	Mrs. Rathod
Anupam Kher	...	Rajnath Singhania
Kiron Kher	...	Mitro / DJ's Mother
Om Puri	...	Amanullah Khan / Aslam's Father
Lekh Tandon	...	DJ's Grandfather
Cyrus Sahukar	...	Rahul

Storyline

A young idealistic English filmmaker, Sue, arrives in India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British Raj. Owing to a lack of funds, she recruits students from Delhi University to act in her docu-drama. She finds DJ, who graduated five years ago but still wants to be a part of the University because he doesn't think there's too much out there in the real world to look forward to. Karan, the son of Industrialist Rajnath Singhania, who shares an uncomfortable relationship with his father, but continues to live off him, albeit very grudgingly. Aslam, is a middle class Muslim boy, who lives in the by-lanes near Jama Masjid, poet, philosopher and guide to his friends. Sukhi, the group's baby, innocent, vulnerable and with a weakness for only one thing - girls. Laxman Pandey, the fundamentalist in the group, the only one who still believes that politics can make the world a better place ...

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Plot Keywords:

friend | freedom fighter | revolutionary | diary | muslim | 

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Taglines:

A Generation Awakens.

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Urdu English Panjabi

Release Date:

26 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paint it Saffron

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£221,226 (UK) (27 January 2006)

Gross:

$2,197,331 (USA) (31 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ROMP, UTV Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

157 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shah Rukh Khan was the original pick to play DJ, but the shooting for the film was in Delhi, and Khan was forced to decline because he was shooting Paheli at the time, and did not want to conflict schedules.

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Goofs

During one of the flashback sequences - set prior to 1947, the historical characters are on a roof of a building. In the distance is another large building, and, on its roof, is a large satellite dish.

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Quotes

Karan: [refering to India] Here you try to change the syste and the system changes you.

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Connections

Referenced in The Smell (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Tu Bin Bataye"
Written by Prasoon Joshi
Composed by A.R. Rahman
Performed by Naresh Iyer and Madhushree
Courtesy of Sony Music India

User Reviews

Celebrate your Freedom ...

Paint It Yellow…. Oops….that's suppose to be Rang De Basanti….. Well that's exactly the director tries to convey. Its about today, us and our present, yet the similarities we have from the Pre-independence era. The Gen-x who knows Mac-D but still prefers the Dhaba Paranthas with sweet Lassi. However they restrict their national values only to food and nothing more. Its not a run of the mill stuff with 6 six romantic songs, couple of foreign locales and then finally some emotional drama….. No no no….. Rang De…is a Cult movie. It is more of an introspection, a food for our thought process. It makes us think, as to how should we actually celebrate our freedom. I was really moved by some of the ending lines by the narrator, "I thought there are 2 types of people in the world, one who die crying and other who move away in silence but today I learned there is third genre, people who go laughing". That says it all…

Rang De… is definitely a very brave and innovative attempt by the director and for that matter he has selected a near perfect cast. However veterans like Om Puri and Anupam Kher looked disposed. All the characters grow gradually in the film and make you think their way. Everyone is given enough space to justify their talent. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra is a director of the new emerging Indian cinema, he always tries to bring in something very different. I was really impressed by his last attempt in 2001 for Aks (Amitabh Bachchan and Manoj Bajpai ), and he definitely has succeeded in making another fabulous master piece. The highlight of the movie is the great use of cinematography techniques. Its probably for the first time in Indian cinema that juxtaposing has been used with such a great effect. The way each character gradually immerses into scenes from the past leaves you fantasizing about the hard work that has gone in the background to create this, both technically and on the part of the actor.

The movie starts on a very high spirit reflecting today's youth mindset who believe that patriotism is something that looks good in history chapters and today's world is far ahead of all that, they would prefer to go boozing and dancing rather than thinking on any of those lines. The way the campus scenes are shown really makes everyone go down the memory lanes of beautiful college days. This is followed by some intriguing drama and events which turns the life of a group of buddies upside-down altogether.

The film grows on you gradually. The director has made sure that there is a clear message in everything he presents, even the group of boys represents different sects of society and religion. Hence creating an appeal for everyone watching it. Music is another high point of the show, its foot tapping and very much with the mood of the subject. The songs give you a sense of freedom from within, a freedom to think in one's own way. A.R. Rehman doesn't need any introductions and he is surely one of the most original music directors we have in the country.

The brilliance of Aamir Khan is something very difficult to narrate, he has proved it umpteen number of times that he is truly the most versatile actor in the industry. His comic timing in the first part is better than anything seen in recent past. He is extremely fluent even with difficult Punjabi tongue twisters and the acting prowess he has shown would be very difficult to match by anyone around. He appears so natural and his complete look with new hairstyle (which is now part of his every new movie) gives a very striking combination.

Well the most wanting part of the whole thing has been the script to certain extent, it appears very loose in the second half and at times gives a droning feel. Few new ideas presented by the author looked half-baked. However it has been the technical expertise of the director who managed to save the things with some outstanding camera work and editing.

Rang De … is for sure a must watch movie, it doesn't have any preaching but still it will force you to think once. As they say it "There are two primary choices in life, to accept conditions as they exist or take upon the responsibility to change them". I believe most of us want to bring about the changes without doing anything, so its time to think again folks and take some responsibility, lets Paint It Yellow …