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Feb

RDB - thoughts

   Posted by: gargi   in Films

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I wondered about Rang De Basanti. If the film had been on Gandhi instead of Bhagat Singh - would the conclusion of the movie have been different?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 comments so far

Sriram Venkitachalam
 1 

Yeah, it would have been very different. The assasination would not have happend. So it would be a lot less thrilling. It would have been a lot more challenging though - bcos while the film maker questions himself, “what should these guys do?” he might have found some real answers for modern India and it would have ended up to be more than a film. Of course, it would not have been good business intelligence. I don’t think Gandhi sells.

February 4th, 2006 at 12:30 am
KJ Sen
 2 

Of course it would have been different, because it has to be remembered that most of thes boys, Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, particularly, were originally ardent Gandhiist… they only started to follow their own drummer after the chauri chaura incident, after they were disillusioned by Gandhi’s system as well as the british one, and they decided to tak the law into thier own hands. A movie on Gandhi would never be so impulsive, so young and so unutterably passionate…. it would be a movie about working within the system, not abandoning it’s principles to fight outside it…. while i disagree with sriram about it being more challenging, the challenge would have been different, it would have been infinitely slower and more negotiated… but one thing it could never have been a wake up call to the youth… a filmmaker isn’t trying to find the ‘real answers’ for modern india, he’s trying to force people to ask the ‘real questions’

February 4th, 2006 at 12:40 am
gargi
 3 

Tnx. Sriram
The thing i like about RDB is that it makes you think. About our heroes and their representation in the media. And the legends that form around them.

The transformation of a Nehru from a flitty, flighty rich man’s son, to an idealist and freedom fighter - is quite something. As is the conversion of Gandhi - formerly of London, and South Africa - into Indianess. As is the story of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. But, theirs is a life long process of battering their head against the system without resorting to violence. And frankly they left a more defining mark on society than any of the revolutionaries. We get nice and misty eyed when we think about them - but do we really remember any of their achievements? And honestly, killing is not an achievement. Even the caveman managed that!

But, I agree with you - Gandhi doesn’t sell anymoe in India. If anything it is negative marketing. Probably because - Gandhi harks back to a set of values - that we no longer possess. It is much more the short cut doomed method to ones’ goal rather than the application, effort and achievement of a more difficult path.

February 5th, 2006 at 8:47 am
gargi
 4 

Tnx KJ sen.

I loved this film primarily because it seemed to be the only one that got the Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhev and co as their age. AFterall they weren’t mature freedom fighters but extremely young revolutionaries.

I completely understand where they come from. There are so many times when you break your head against the system - that most of us have thought of the same solution. I joke that the most TRP’s that India will ever see is on a game show where we vote to execute politicians. Can you imagine voter participation? But, the show cannot happen for the same reason we cannot condone violence as a method of achieving one’s aim - that is the insecurity that it brings to civil society.

But, i liked the film. I liked it because it made me think. I liked it because it made me laugh, and cry and empathise with the characters. They carried out my fantasy. But, i would hate for it to be a solution in real life!

February 5th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Sriram Venkitachalam
 5 

Some years back i used to think how everything wud be great in India if we blasted the lok sabha and all the legislative assemblies. Then i went to college. And realised such ideas don’t work.

Films do give answers. Gandhi watched Raja Harishchandra the play and decided it would be cool to be truthful all his life. Its upon you which ones you pick, from which films you pick. I am sure some naive mind in India who’s watched the film is contemplating killing some politician. Films also ask questions. I like RDB for the questions I asked myself after the film. And for the fun film it was. And a Gandhi based RDB would be a bigger challenge because making maturity seem cool is very difficult. Making a young film on Gandhi is a very difficult task.

February 5th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
nayaseed
 6 

I think “Swades” and Yuva was more on gandhian ideology. Critics and masses trashed it as a preachy movie.
Where as RDB holding the guns and voilence is being embraced by everyone.
So may be, we have to conclude that Gandhian way these days is just a hollow speach than real action????

February 7th, 2006 at 2:40 am
Malhithearnaz
 7 

Gandhi doesn’t sell? By extension, could we have said that Bhangat Singh and Azad wouldn’t have sold in 1983 when ‘Gandhi’ was made and won all those Oscars? Just because a movie is made on a certain topic, does not mean all other viewpoints would not have “sold” (whatever that means). It just means this particular film-maker is most passionate about this particular viewpoint. To say that the film-maker made the movie because other viewpoints “don’t sell” is too sweeping a generalization.

There are “real answers for India” in RDB too. And they are not all about killing people.

February 7th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
gargi
 8 

Swades was a bad film - looked and felt like an unedited documentary.

Yuva - Lallan’s story was great but the other two especially michael was poorly developed.

I guess the Gandhian way is difficult. It is about long and hard action - not always successful or popular!
What i liked about RDB was that it brought out the characters of Bhagat Singh , Azad and co a lot better than the chest thumping biopics!

February 7th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
gargi
 9 

Hi Sriram
i guess it is very difficult to turn the other cheek. Imagine a hero who wasn’t a coward, but didn’t fight!

February 7th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Rajiv
 10 

Exactly what I was tryin gto say.

http://witopia.blogspot.com/2006/02/basanti-bashing.html

February 27th, 2006 at 7:38 pm

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