Sunday, January 29, 2006

Na koi padhne waala, na koi seekhne waala

Watching Rang De Basanti was an experience that left me in a daze. The couplet that flashes at the start of the movie keeps growing on you as the film progresses. I entered the hall expecting a regular youth coming of age potboiler but was in for a jolt. The magic of the movie, cinematic finesse apart, is to bring home the present day significance and necessity of the ideals and passion our freedom revolutionaries represented. I dont know if I got too carried away by the presentation of the movie, but it did make me stand back and stare at myself. We regularly keep hearing about MiG crashes and passing away of our soldiers in ambushes and battles but treat it with a characteristic impersonal attitude. Its funny how such an event hits you hard when you can relate to the person involved. It is then that all the news reports, talk shows, criticism and mud slinging that you take in mechanically otherwise, with an air of a person keeping himself abreast of current events, assumes a whole new dimension. I recall here the character of Paresh Rawal in the Anil Kapoor starrer Nayak, where he remarks that any average Indian's dream involves a good job, a happy family, and a comfy bungalow or flat relaxing on whose terrace, he can remark with an air of concern while reading the newspaper ,"Darling, politics ne is desh ko barbaad kar diya." How true!!

The deft interplay of past and present in RDB helps you to feel the outrage that led youth like Bhagat Singh to become what he was at such a raw age and how the present is crying out for a similar revolution. The question is, has today's youth lost its conviction, passion and fighting spirit. A student travelling in a train today without a confirmed ticket would rather pay off a ticket examiner and travel comfortably than confront the man. The rationale given is, why take the trouble - I can pay the requisite amount anyway and my bravado wont change anything, it would only get a birth to the next briber while I'll be left shivering near the door without a place to sleep. People like Manjunath are looked upon with pity as an upright lad who dared to challenge the system. Such a situation is, at the very least, alarming.

Tears welled up in my eyes numerous times while watching RDB, and I noticed many of my peers were in a similar situation. If somebody can tell a story so convincingly, he deserves kudos. I sincerely hope the message of the movie doesnt get lost and the film is not remembered only as a hit with catchy ARRahman music.

"dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara"

4 comments:

N said...

hey...pari...!!!
welcome to the blogging..arenaa

RDB postin is awesome..it rightly deserves all the kudos

Today I indeed feel if you have not used your youth to make a postive difference to this world...one has really wasted his YOUTH.
.
.
In our day to day lives if one youth can inspire the other to start smoking ..or something..why cant we use it in the right way at the right time.

$aransh said...

Welcome back pari after a long break!!hey people like u shud b regular here so dat v can enlighten ourselves through such views, presented in a well articulated manner,more frequently.
Now coming to da point::
i too felt da same way as u did after watching RDB and some thoughts\ques tickled my mind also which i'd like to discuss here.
Frankly speaking,da first thought while coming out of KCM(thnx to da only multiplex of varanasi),after watching such a masterpiece,was to watch it again.Not bcoz i didn't understand da movie(as people do comment like dat wen u just even think of watching a movie again)but bcoz dis is one practical\natural thing dat comes to a young lad of 22 yrs age who prefers(or u can say afford) to watch selected movies in theatre and so finds it as a rare opportunity provided to him by bollywood.
Ok,forget it!!Now something sensible!!
As u've already said,one gets attracted not only by da cast,acting,style,dialogues,presentation,script etc. but most importantly by da mssg\feeling dat dis movie leaves in front of da present youth.Well dis doesn't mean dat everyone shud go on a killing spree.(although i myself feel like killing such corrupt people but den self realisation comes into play dat in dis era no man is free from corruption in whatever form\way it may b whether its visible or not)

There r other ways too like recently 5 youngbrains(comprising mainly iitians)have formed a party,giving away all comforts,to jump into political arena and fight against existing corruption.Now its upon da rest of da youth to stand and join dem,support\help dem in achieving da goals,for which movies like RDB has been made.And i think dat answers da ques asked by Paresh Rawal which u've quoted rightly.

I also agree wid da points raised in da previous comment.

Also,one can say after seeing da movie dat not only youth shud awaken but their families shud also come forward understanding their chidren's feelings and support dem in whatever possible manner dey can.

Shweta said...

That was a great post Parijat! It sure looks like RDB has managed to make the impact it intended...let's together keep the spirit alive!
Let the youth of the nation be awakened and do something for our country...our mother land!!

Akshay Rajagopalan said...

Nice article bhaiyya. Simple and elegant, yet hard-hitting.