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"I always thought there were two kinds of people in this world, the kind that go to their death screaming, and the kind that go to their death silently, and then, I met the third kind"

This wonderful film is about those people who fall in to the third category. People who go to their death smiling, because they know they accomplished what they wanted. Rang De Basanti means Color of Patriotism (at least as far as I understood. I’m a Sri Lankan. My Hindi is just above nil.) It is about a gang of contemporary Indian college students who are persuaded act in a documentary by young English women. She is lacking in funds & she recruits the young men with the help of her Sonia, an Indian girl who is part of the gang. She wants to make a film on Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British Raj, with the help of her grandfather’s diary. Which describes his meeting & dealing with these revolutionaries. They go through some wild & funny moments as well as some intriguing & bitter moments. Sue's film makes DJ and his friends stop and stare at themselves for being the actual descendants of these great men and never recognizing and celebrating their courage and spirit.

In the second part of the film it takes a more serious attitude with the eternal struggle & misunderstandings of Hindus & Muslims in India highlighted. Then it reaches the climax with the crashing of an Indian fighter plane which is piloted by Ajay, the boyfriend of the Sonia. The gang is devastated by the incident. And the politicians try to blame Ajay who has heroically stayed with the aircraft to steer it away from a city. At this point the documentary has started to change their perception about life & the react like the legends they portray in the documentary. Although the film ends quite violently, it is not an unnecessary violence. You feel they are justified.

And the way the film is presented with both the documentary & the life of the gang been shown side by side enhances the film. It highlights the changes of the gang goes through with the flow of the documentary. Finally it is a very good movie. And a different one too. All the actor justify their roles brilliantly. The music & directing is the same. But what standout is the editing. Which greatly enhances the look & feel of the film. And which makes a movie that would have been just good to a great one.

# posted by Rambler @ 12:31 AM