Ok..finally got a chance to go see Rang De Basanti and I can honestly say it was brilliant! One of the best made Hindi movies yet. The acting was superb, the cuts were clean, the dialogues authentic and disarming and sooooo much eye-candy! And the direction was liberating! It’s nice to see a movie that has such a larger-than-life feel and yet touches you with its simplicity. Ok…enough of me sounding like a textbook! Aamir, as usual, has done a brilliant job…but since we’ve come to expect that of him anyways I guess its par for course! The newcomers though (..at least I haven’t seen them before..) have completely stolen the show. Siddharth and Kunal have both done exceptionally well as mutinous anti-establishmentarians. The plots quite interesting and there’s really never a dull moment. It draws parallels between the revolutionary youth of pre-independence India and their contemporary counterparts and does it with élan!
The first half was hilarious and completely had me in splits. The second half of course, gets heavier and while I wouldn’t call it a patriotic flick (..not in the traditional sense of the word… this is NOT the story of a man who builds a hydro-electricity plant single handedly out of thin air!!!) it does inspire some jingoistic introspection. The climax could have been a tad more subtle…but in a way, I guess it had to be thunderous. It’s a story of the energy and spirit of youth and its channeling… and it had to be based in Delhi, known more for its fervour and political high ground than the more temperate south. Another brilliant addition to the already rocking star cast was Atul Kulkarni as Laxman and frankly I kinda thought even Sharman Joshi didn’t do too badly..(..guilty as charged !! ;))
The women had pivotal roles but were side tracked towards the end of the movie… probably the one aspect I would like to see changed. Soha delivered quite a performance as did Alice Patten (her English accented hindi was too cute!).
But all in all it was awesome to see Hindi cinema come of age. Good to see a movie where the plot and story is more important that it’s one “superstar” element and most of all nice to see the kissing scenes smoothly incorporated into the flow as opposed to those superficial lip-locks of the Neal’n’Nikki fame! Seventeen thumbs up!!!
