paint it yellow

so when do u say that a movie is a hit ? long time back i read that if the viewers can think or remember abt the movie after watching it, then the director has proved his point and from that point of view the movie is a hit. the same is the case with "rang de basanti". i don't know if commercially this movie will be a hit like the way other SRK movies are but from the fact that the movie is doing a terrrific business in metro cities and the youth have been able to relate to this movie, there is no doubt that the movie is a hit.

there are so many details in the movie which the viewer tends to give a miss in the first viewing and remembers only after coming back when he is deep in thought abt this movie. at least this happened with me and that's why i deservedly gave the movie a repeat watch.

for me the movie is FLAWLESS !! except for the NDTV propaganda towards the end of the movie, there is not a single painful moment in the movie. i have read a lot of public reaction for this movie. people have been concerned abt 2 main things: one, the tragic end of the movie and two, the drastic step of killing the defence minister by the protagonists in this movie.

according to me this was the perfect end for the movie. the whole movie talks abt how our revolutionaries fought for our freedom at such a young age and even sacrifised their lives to give us a better India. the movie then draws a parallel with how the present day youth has gone sick of the prevalent corruption in the country and they are ready to do any sacrifice to amend the society. moreover the director has drawn such a fine parallelism that the movie starts and ends with the same dialogue. "i always believed there are two kind of men in this movie. one who go to their deaths crying and other in silence. and then i met the third kind". at the start of the movie, director shows bhagat singh, rajguru and sukhdev going to be hanged but with a smile at their faces and at the end, DJ and Karan are smiling as they await their certain deaths by the commandoes. so i feel ending the movie in a different way would have probably killed the spirit of this movie.

as for the second point, there are many things to say. first of all, in the movie itself it is shown how they realize that killing the defence minister was probably not right and they now feel sorry abt it. and i don't think that the intention of the director was to show that the only way to change the society is to take arms. what the director was trying to say is that one should realize that we are responsible for our society and instead of just complaining abt the bad things like corruption we should be more proactive in contributing to and changing our society. the reason why there is so much corruption in our country is because we ourselves are promoting it by giving up on our morality and principles & giving bribes etc to get our work done easily. and secondly, personal loss is a big thing which can change the hearts of anyone. in this movie, the turning point was the death of their friend, a friend they looked upto as an ideal and someone who was very dear to them. what followed in the movie is perfectly realistic and i think that their drastic step was very much justified. as thakur also pointed to me, in other bollywood movies also e.g. sarfarosh, it was a personal tragedy which changed the protagonist and prompted him to do something for a bigger cause.

coming back, this movie is really one of the finest in a very very long time. the script, dialogues, cinematography and music, everything is perfect. in fact as prasoon joshi, lyricist, said in the curtain raiser, "music and songs are the voice of this movie". the timing of the songs in the story is amazing and the lyrics are awesome and perfectly complement the mood and storyline of this movie. in fact many a times, the timing of the song simply amaze the viewer. everybody was thinking that "luka chuppi" will be a song between aamir and his mother but it didn't turn out that way. as for me, as the movie was drawing to an end, i was sure that they have removed the "roobaroo" song from the movie and so it was again a surprise. but the best picturized song will be "khalbali" without any doubt. whether we take the present day scenes with all the friends dancing without a care of this world and jumping in water or the past scenes where our revolutionaires are on a hunger strike, the citematography of binod pradhan in this song is breathtaking. i had not seen a better juxtaposition of song and movie scene than the lines "jiddi, jiddi jiddi yeh sama" in the khalbali song with the scenes where britishers are forcefully feeding the revolutionaries but they are adamant not to break their hunger strikes.

hats off to rakeysh mehra for daring to make such a different and though provoking movie. whether it goes on to become a hit or not, it will remain with the viewers for a long time.

some of my fav scenes in the movies:
1. laxman pandey auditioning for the role of ram prasad bismil and saying the lines of "sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil main hai"
2. karan getting up on the car even when in a drunken state and saluting the india gate
3. karan repeating the lines of ajay on radio "koi bhi desh perfect nahin hota, usse perfect banana padta hai" after a 5 sec silence
4. the ending dialgoue between karan and DJ
5. ajay proposing sonia for marriage followed by the "tu bin bataye" song