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Rang De Basanti (IPA: [ˈrəŋɡ d̪eː bəˈsənt̪i]; English: Colour it Saffron) is a 2006 Indian drama film co written, co produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The literal meaning of the title can be translated as "Paint me with the colours of spring." It features an ensemble cast comprising Aamir Khan, Siddharth Narayan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and British actress Alice Patten in the lead roles. Made on a budget of ₹250 million (US$3.7 million), it was shot in and around New Delhi. Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records in India. It was the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend in India and had the highest opening day collections for a Bollywood film. The film was well received and praised for strong screenplay and dialogues.
The story is about a British documentary filmmaker who is determined to make a film on Indian freedom fighters based on diary entries by her grandfather, a former officer of the Indian Imperial Police. Upon arriving in India, she asks a group of five young men to act in her film.
Rang De Basanti's release faced stiff resistance from the Indian Defence Ministry and the Animal Welfare Board due to parts that depicted the use of MiG-21 fighter aircraft and a banned Indian horse race.
The film was released globally on 26 January 2006, the Republic Day of India, it received critical acclaim winning National award for most popular film. It was subsequently nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 BAFTA Awards. Rang De Basanti was chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, though it did not ultimately yield a nomination for either award. A. R. Rahman's soundtrack, which earned positive reviews, had two of its tracks considered for the Academy Award nomination. The film was well received by critics and audiences for its production values and had a noticeable influence on Indian society. In India, Rang De Basanti did well at many of the Bollywood awards ceremonies, including a win for Best Movie at the Filmfare Awards. The film was declared "Blockbuster" by Box Office India.
A young, struggling British filmmaker Sue McKinley (Alice Patten) comes across the diary of her grandfather, Mr. McKinley (Steven Mackintosh), who served as a jailer in the Imperial Police during the Indian independence movement. Through the diary, she learns about the story of five freedom fighters who were active in the movement: Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil. McKinley, in his diary, states that he had met two type of people in his life, those who died without uttering a sound and those who died with lots of anguish, crying over their deaths. McKinley reveals that it was then that he met with the third kind — those who die with a smile on their face.
Having decided to make a self-financed documentary film about these revolutionaries, Sue travels to India, with the help of her friend, Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), from the Institute for International Studies at the University of Delhi. After a few unsuccessful auditions in search of the actors, Sue finally casts Sonia's friends, four young men – Daljit "DJ" Singh (Aamir Khan), Karan Singhania (Siddharth Narayan), Aslam Khan (Kunal Kapoor) and Sukhi Ram (Sharman Joshi) — to portray the revolutionaries.
Though they aren't very enthusiastic at the idea of acting in a film about the independence movement, Sue eventually manages to convince them. Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni), a right-wing political party activist, joins the cast later, despite initially being unpopular due to his anti-Western ideology, due to which he is often at odds with the other four, and anti-Muslim beliefs and contempt for Aslam Khan. In the process of filming, the idealism of India's revolutionary heroes seeps into the protagonists. They gradually begin to realize that their own lives are quite similar to the characters they portray in Sue's film and that the state of affairs that once plagued the revolutionaries continues to torment their generation.
Meanwhile, Ajay Singh Rathod (R. Madhavan), a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force who is Sonia's fiancé, is killed when his jet, a MiG-21, crashes. The government proclaims that the crash was caused by pilot error and closes the investigation. Knowing that Rathod was an ace pilot, Sonia and her friends do not accept the official explanation. Instead, they claim that he sacrificed his life to save hundreds of other lives that would have been lost had he ejected from the aircraft and left it to crash into a populous city. They investigate and learn that the crash was due to a corrupt defence minister Shastri (Mohan Agashe), who had signed a contract exchanging cheap and illegal MiG-21 aircraft spare parts for a personal favour. To their surprise, they learn that the key person who was responsible for organizing the deal was Karan's father, Rajnath Singhania (Anupam Kher).
Angered by the situation, the group and their supporters decide to protest peacefully at India Gate, a war memorial in New Delhi. Police forcefully break up their protest using batons; in the process, Rathod's mother (Waheeda Rehman) is severely injured and slips into a coma. DJ, Karan, Aslam, Sukhi, and Laxman decide that they must emulate the early freedom fighters and resort to violence to achieve justice. As a result, they kill the defence minister to avenge Rathod's death, while Karan murders his father for his corrupt actions. The minister is reported to have been killed by terrorists and is hailed as a martyr by the media. To bring forth their intentions behind the killings, the five of them attempt to reach the public through a radio station. They forcibly take over the All India Radio station premises after having evacuated its employees. Karan goes on air and reveals the truth about the defence minister and his wrongdoings. While still on the air, the police proclaim that they are dangerous terrorists who have forcefully taken over the AIR, and therefore they are to be shot on sight. The first to be shot is Daljit, who tries to get out of cover and establish that they are not terrorists. Sukhi, unable to control his anger, shows himself and is instantly shot. As they are trying to lock the terrace doors, Aslam and Pandey are then killed by a grenade and the once archenemies die holding hands and smiling, as they have visions of Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.
Daljit manages to crawl to the recording room, where Karan is still on air. When Karan understands that he has been shot, they speak amongst themselves for the last time, regarding the others, about Sue and about Daljit's love for her. They are then killed by police commandos while laughing. It is then revealed that McKinley described the third kind of people he came across as being the ones who embraced death as a friend and an equal, with a heartfelt laughter. After their death, the public reacts with outrage and expresses urge to bring Indian politics to justice, following the motives of all the boys.
The film comes to an end with Sue describing the impact of the boys on her life. As she and Sonia watch from the rooftop that Ajay proposed to her on, they have a vision of the boys running in the fields, singing happily and victoriously throwing their shirts in the air, acting as if they are celebrating life itself, as if the ebb of their once-there vitality still reverberates in the places where they once used to go, and a wave of melancholy comes over the two surviving women.
In an afterlife-like state, the boys watch as a father tells his son (a young Bhagat Singh) about gardening. They watch over him with smiling faces, then depart as friends for eternity.
| Rang De Basanti | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster for the film
| |
| Directed by | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
| Produced by | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Ronnie Screwvala P. S. Bharathi (Creative Producer) |
| Written by | Prasoon Joshi (Dialogue) Rensil D'Silva |
| Screenplay by | Rensil D'Silva Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
| Story by | Kamlesh Pandey |
| Starring | Aamir Khan Siddharth Narayan Atul Kulkarni Kunal Kapoor Sharman Joshi Alice Patten Soha Ali Khan R. Madhavan Waheeda Rehman |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman |
| Cinematography | Binod Pradhan |
| Edited by | P. S. Bharathi |
Production
company |
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
|
| Distributed by | UTV Motion Pictures |
Release date
|
|
Running time
| 157 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi Punjabi English |
| Budget | ₹250 million[1] |
| Box office | est.₹920 million[2] |
