rang de basanti

all the necessary steps to take to construct a sense of identity..

at the south african consulate yesterday, an old rented building with a grossly italianate interior is to be given a ‘treatment’ of south african motifs- the colors of the huts of the ndebele are suggested as decorations. beaded curtains perhaps?

in wynton marsalis three part jazz composition ‘blood on the fields’ black identity is linked to the pride of a black prince and a soulful black woman as they suffer the indignities of slavery.

in mayurs’ project in amritsar he wants to evoke a sense of sikh identity through the colour of mustard fields in front of the golden temple, 5 minutes from jalianwala baug. ‘rang de basanti’..

in the film the blood of martyrs spilt on these fields inspires a blasé group of young indians to mimic an act of murder and self sacrifice. we follow a british woman as she attempts to recreate her grandfathers version of the bhagat singh story in a film. the young men she finds are not at all like the idealists she imagined to cast the film. instead they are cynical, lost men who seem to give no significance to the concept of a greater common good. in the first half of the film the narrative is split in between the fictionalized historical narrative and the more flippant everyday life of the kids. gradually as the film proceeds, as each young man begins to identify with a character from the past a social ‘consciousness’ begins to emerge in each. in the second half, in their urge to mimic the act of their mythified heroes and fight the oppressor and they kill a corrupt politician and sacrifice themselves for the cause.

simplistic and naïve it is for sure, and more than a little jingoistic- but in creating a polemic is it inevitable to remove any sense of logic or character development. isn’t the distorted depiction of a history (the british girls sepia tinted vision as much as rakeysh sharmas film itself) necessary to create something larger and perhaps more powerful than a drama- an idea? in this case, the attempt seemed obvious, as much as the director wanted us to relate to the characters in the first half he also wanted them to become icons that we aspire to be (as they aspire to be bhagat singh and his group)
this was his own version of the sepia tinted historical dream. a call to arms it what it aspires to be – a myth. i just think it could have been more convincing if the transformation of the happy go lucky boys to killers was more convincing in itself.

otherwise the acting is superb across the cast. while the men seem to hog all the lime light- for me, at least, the film worked because we were asked to inhabit the gaze of the women.. the complete alien- sue- the british filmmaker who watches the transformation of the characters through her lens, and soha ali khan- whose plays intelligent and sensitive sonia, friend to all and also the impetus behind the revenge killing. i believe in aamir khan again; all of the others are fantastic. a r rehmans music though needs to be canned. he slams the most awful strings and drums, shrill tunes which have no relationship to the words all over the most sensitive scenes. annoying as hell.