Rang De Basanti: Oh. My. God.
Feb. 6th, 2006 12:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieIf you happened to be at a certain Bollywood theater tonight, at around 11:45 pm, and you would have peeked at the Ladies' Bathroom, you would have seen a white girl crying.
Rang De Basanti had just finished.
Oh. My. God. It's probably my favorite Bollywood movie in a couple of years, at least since Yuva. I've been losing a bit of interest in Bollywood lately, simply because nothing exciting has been coming out, not for ages. I haven't even seen any new release since Taj Mahal because none of them sounded interesting. But after RDB? I am back in the fold.
Oh, Aamir. I am so glad you came back to making movies. And not just because RDB reminded me of how fucking hot you can be through sheer demeanor (because looks? You are OK, but people won't stare at you on the street). And not just because DJ, as acted by Aamir, came across as one of the realest people I've seen on Bollywood screen in a while. But because I really love your choice of movies. First there was The Rising, which I know a number of people didn't like, but I thought that even though it was flawed, it was interesting. Now RDB. And Fanaa coming up. And all of these aren't the same old same old recycled 17 times movies you normally see out of Bollywood. Agree with them or not, dislike them or not, but they do have something to say.
So, RDB? Why did I love it. Aamir was excellent in it, as I've mentioned, but it's a truly ensemble movie. It wasn't an "Aamir" show. We got to know all the characters, all the four students, Laxman, Sue, Sonia (this was the fist movie I've seen Soha Ali Khan in, and if it's any sample, she is goooood), even characters with less screen time (like Ajay who was played by Madhavan and so well that I now want to get my hands on all Madhavan movies I can find). But the thing was, all these characters didn't come across as Bollywood archetypes, they came across as real people. You could imagine bumping into any one of them in the street. And I ended falling in love with all of them, caring for all of them. Of course, the downfall of that is that it made the ending, or Ajay's death or similar events utterly devastating (hence the bawling).
Of course, all the actors are helped by a great script. The conversations they have? Their interactions? I was convinced these people were a group of friends who hung out, not just friends because the movie "told" me to. The horseplay at the bar? The guys watching TV and giving all the models on it scores? Mocking Sonia calling Ajay sweetie-pie? They felt real.
The whole movie had a certain understated realism about it that just...felt right. It never felt overacted, or overblown, even when the political allegory itself between our characters and Bhagat Singh et al was made a little overtly (yes, RDB is a flawed movie. So was Yuva. But I found both of them, even with all the flaws, better movies than most Bollywood films, and amazng movie experiences in their own right).
The little moments felt understated and real: DJ confiding to Sue under a bit too much beer that he is afraid to leave college and face real life. Ashfaq's (who played him? He was gorgeous) spat with his family over his friendships with non-Muslims, which sounded like something that family rehashed 20 times before. The little touch of Karan clearly having feelings for Sonia but it never being overtly mentioned or brought up.
And the big moments? They also felt perfect, not over the top. The sheer rage and horror of the peaceful demonstration turning into a riot through the police interference, mirrored in the look on Aamir's face, the look of a person who sees his whole world shift under his feet. Or Aamir's crying at Sue's apartment over the horror of the day and his helplessness, and it's not pretty crying and it looks like it's breaking him apart and he can't contain it, and it just feels so real and you want to look away (and the somehow very natural touch of Sue just holding his head to her breast and just trying to soothe him). Or Sonia's crumpling on the ground as she hears that Ajay was killed in the crash, and her earlier tenseness at the announcement, not wanting it to be him. I felt this, probably extra hard, because as i said above, I really fell in love with these characters.
And the love stories were handled in a similiarly undestated, naturalistic manner. I bought Madhavan and Soha's love for each other. It wasn't too sappy, it wasn't too cutesy. I've seen people act like this. And DJ and Sue's developing love story was also in the background, never to emphasized, completely natural, from their dancing together, to much later her casually putting her arm on his, to later their kissing, to the fact that (as that scene after the riot demonstrates) he has clearly stayed over in her apartment before. Ending of course with his mentioning to Karan at the very end in the radio station that he's fallen in love with Sue, and typically making a joke of it. It's gradual, it's believable, it's never the focus of the story and it nontheless feels more real that a lot of other full blown 'candles and violins' love stories I've seen.
As to the bone of contention, i.e. 'they killed the minister, it advocated violence, woe!' I don't know. I don't think it advocates violence as much as showing that this is what these particular characters did (and I think it's a very realistic touch that it took something personal, a death of their friend, to get them involved). If anything, the message of the movie would be that you should clean corruption, you should have proper ways to address grievances otherwise people feel they have no outlet and something like this would happen. And of course, they don't get off scot-free. Not only do all of them die (and I love that there are no long dying speeches. They are really snuffed out), but after the murder they fall apart: Karan who kills his own father clearly is someone who couldn't have dealt with his deed anyway, and look at Sukhi's freak-out. And, through the people calling in at the radio station and their own speech at the station, the movie addresses the problems with violence as a means of solving things, it shows problems with it etc etc. These characters did it, and why they did it is understandable, but the movie does not gloss over the problems.
My favorite shot in the movie? DJ and Karan laughing at their mutual last joke as the police busts in and shoots them, and you see Sue outside, screaming in agony, and finally realizing, I think, that there is a downfall in believing in sacrificing everything for your principles: sometimes you might have to. The sacrifice she was documenting, wanted to make a movie about, all of a sudden is not abstract at all and she's really learned the high cost of idealism.
Brilliant. I can't wait to see it again.
Rang De Basanti had just finished.
Oh. My. God. It's probably my favorite Bollywood movie in a couple of years, at least since Yuva. I've been losing a bit of interest in Bollywood lately, simply because nothing exciting has been coming out, not for ages. I haven't even seen any new release since Taj Mahal because none of them sounded interesting. But after RDB? I am back in the fold.
Oh, Aamir. I am so glad you came back to making movies. And not just because RDB reminded me of how fucking hot you can be through sheer demeanor (because looks? You are OK, but people won't stare at you on the street). And not just because DJ, as acted by Aamir, came across as one of the realest people I've seen on Bollywood screen in a while. But because I really love your choice of movies. First there was The Rising, which I know a number of people didn't like, but I thought that even though it was flawed, it was interesting. Now RDB. And Fanaa coming up. And all of these aren't the same old same old recycled 17 times movies you normally see out of Bollywood. Agree with them or not, dislike them or not, but they do have something to say.
So, RDB? Why did I love it. Aamir was excellent in it, as I've mentioned, but it's a truly ensemble movie. It wasn't an "Aamir" show. We got to know all the characters, all the four students, Laxman, Sue, Sonia (this was the fist movie I've seen Soha Ali Khan in, and if it's any sample, she is goooood), even characters with less screen time (like Ajay who was played by Madhavan and so well that I now want to get my hands on all Madhavan movies I can find). But the thing was, all these characters didn't come across as Bollywood archetypes, they came across as real people. You could imagine bumping into any one of them in the street. And I ended falling in love with all of them, caring for all of them. Of course, the downfall of that is that it made the ending, or Ajay's death or similar events utterly devastating (hence the bawling).
Of course, all the actors are helped by a great script. The conversations they have? Their interactions? I was convinced these people were a group of friends who hung out, not just friends because the movie "told" me to. The horseplay at the bar? The guys watching TV and giving all the models on it scores? Mocking Sonia calling Ajay sweetie-pie? They felt real.
The whole movie had a certain understated realism about it that just...felt right. It never felt overacted, or overblown, even when the political allegory itself between our characters and Bhagat Singh et al was made a little overtly (yes, RDB is a flawed movie. So was Yuva. But I found both of them, even with all the flaws, better movies than most Bollywood films, and amazng movie experiences in their own right).
The little moments felt understated and real: DJ confiding to Sue under a bit too much beer that he is afraid to leave college and face real life. Ashfaq's (who played him? He was gorgeous) spat with his family over his friendships with non-Muslims, which sounded like something that family rehashed 20 times before. The little touch of Karan clearly having feelings for Sonia but it never being overtly mentioned or brought up.
And the big moments? They also felt perfect, not over the top. The sheer rage and horror of the peaceful demonstration turning into a riot through the police interference, mirrored in the look on Aamir's face, the look of a person who sees his whole world shift under his feet. Or Aamir's crying at Sue's apartment over the horror of the day and his helplessness, and it's not pretty crying and it looks like it's breaking him apart and he can't contain it, and it just feels so real and you want to look away (and the somehow very natural touch of Sue just holding his head to her breast and just trying to soothe him). Or Sonia's crumpling on the ground as she hears that Ajay was killed in the crash, and her earlier tenseness at the announcement, not wanting it to be him. I felt this, probably extra hard, because as i said above, I really fell in love with these characters.
And the love stories were handled in a similiarly undestated, naturalistic manner. I bought Madhavan and Soha's love for each other. It wasn't too sappy, it wasn't too cutesy. I've seen people act like this. And DJ and Sue's developing love story was also in the background, never to emphasized, completely natural, from their dancing together, to much later her casually putting her arm on his, to later their kissing, to the fact that (as that scene after the riot demonstrates) he has clearly stayed over in her apartment before. Ending of course with his mentioning to Karan at the very end in the radio station that he's fallen in love with Sue, and typically making a joke of it. It's gradual, it's believable, it's never the focus of the story and it nontheless feels more real that a lot of other full blown 'candles and violins' love stories I've seen.
As to the bone of contention, i.e. 'they killed the minister, it advocated violence, woe!' I don't know. I don't think it advocates violence as much as showing that this is what these particular characters did (and I think it's a very realistic touch that it took something personal, a death of their friend, to get them involved). If anything, the message of the movie would be that you should clean corruption, you should have proper ways to address grievances otherwise people feel they have no outlet and something like this would happen. And of course, they don't get off scot-free. Not only do all of them die (and I love that there are no long dying speeches. They are really snuffed out), but after the murder they fall apart: Karan who kills his own father clearly is someone who couldn't have dealt with his deed anyway, and look at Sukhi's freak-out. And, through the people calling in at the radio station and their own speech at the station, the movie addresses the problems with violence as a means of solving things, it shows problems with it etc etc. These characters did it, and why they did it is understandable, but the movie does not gloss over the problems.
My favorite shot in the movie? DJ and Karan laughing at their mutual last joke as the police busts in and shoots them, and you see Sue outside, screaming in agony, and finally realizing, I think, that there is a downfall in believing in sacrificing everything for your principles: sometimes you might have to. The sacrifice she was documenting, wanted to make a movie about, all of a sudden is not abstract at all and she's really learned the high cost of idealism.
Brilliant. I can't wait to see it again.
