Thursday, February 8, 2007

Rang De Basanti


Rang De Basanti- A Generation Awakens

There are two ways of living - to flow with the current & the other to have the courage & determination to go against it.

As I returned from the last show of the much-discussed RDB, my mind raced – Do we really take our freedom for granted? The answer, I’m afraid is yes.

The movie follows the story of Sue (Alice Patten) coming to India to make a documentary on Bhagat Singh & his fellow revolutionaries. She with her friend, Sonia (Soha Ali) audition hundreds of youngsters, but none display the vigor & depth to play the characters. After much trial, they meet 4 friends – a misled Punjabi DJ (Aamir), a rich spoilt brat Karan (Siddhartha), a down-to-earth Muslim Aslam (Kunal) & a typical joker Sukhi (Sharman). Along comes Pande (Atul), a Hindu fanatic. While living these characters, they realize the importance of the blood spilt for their independence that they took for granted. When Ajay (Madhavan), an ace IAF pilot dies in a plane crash due to technical faults & the authorities tag him a lunatic, they revolutionize their acts. They take matters in their own hands to deal with a corrupt Defense Minister (Agashe) & an equally corrupt businessman, Singhania (Kher), who is unfortunately Karan’s father!

Today’s youth are more inclined & rather comfortable with the fact of being ignorant about our glorious independence history. They would rather enjoy themselves partying hard, than appreciating the enthusiasm & steadfast courage with which our young revolutionaries took part in the battle for independence. Children today are more inclined in mugging up the names of latest models of Beyblade (a game of tops), than, those of our martyrs.

In reality however, these are not the ones to be blamed, it is sadly their parents. When they themselves have taken their social rights for granted, you can hardly expect them to teach their children moral values of patriotism & a feeling of pride in one’s nation. The youth shown in RDB were not very different– all of them, preferred to sit on the sidelines & blame the system, rather than changing it. The youth today, want to adopt the so called “American Dream” & they think that the path to realize this dream is the American way of living which includes back answering your elders, smoking, boozing & free casual sex escapades. However, if you really want to adopt that “culture”, adopt it with its pros – the teenagers are financially independent at the age of 16, they have dignity of labor, & most importantly, they are hell proud for there nation.

It’s not that, there the system is not corrupt, bureaucrats are not stingy, but they do not blame it, instead they fight against it & bring it to justice. The people are united against crime; here our personal differences consume all our time so when do we have the time to be just. People do not actually realize the importance of the freedom they enjoy; perhaps they should experience another reign of terror. What they said was right, you want to change the country, make it a developed one, and be counted as one of the super powers, than change yourself, your outlook towards your life, work & elders. Our youth prefer to sell their knowledge & expertise to the west. It’s so ironical, they learn from our country, our schools, and universities, enjoy free ships & then catch the next flight to the west. Our brains serve them, when they should be utilized for the development of our own society. Do we see an American or a European come and work in our civil offices? Why do we do this? The answer is, we think the west deserves it more. I do not ask you to start coming to college in kurta – pajamas & saris, but what I ask is simply the courage of being different & repaying the very society which gave you such freedom. It is not necessary that you get in the civil & defense services; you can very well serve your nation in whatever field you place yourselves.

So guys, awaken, we are the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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