Rang De Basanti Dvd

Rang De Basanti (transl. Colour it Golden Yellow / Saffron) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language drama film written, produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and co-written by Rensil D’Silva.

The film follows a British film student traveling to India to document the story of five freedom fighters in the Indian revolutionary movement. She befriends and casts five young men in the film, which inspires them to fight against the corruption of their own government. It features an ensemble cast consisting of Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, British actress Alice Patten, and Soha Ali Khan in the lead roles. Made on a budget of ₹250 million (US$3.5 million), the film was shot primarily in New Delhi.

The film was released globally on 26 January 2006, the Republic Day of India. Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records in India, becoming the country’s highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and holding the highest opening-day collections for a Bollywood film. It received critical acclaim, winning the National Film Award for Best Popular Film, and being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 BAFTA Awards. Rang De Basanti was chosen as India’s official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, though it did not ultimately yield a nomination for either award. A. R. Rahman’s soundtrack, which earned positive reviews, had two of its tracks considered for an Academy Award nomination. In India, Rang De Basanti won Best Movie at the Filmfare Awards.

Plot

In London, film student Sue McKinley finds the diary of her grandfather James, who served as a colonel for the British Raj in the 1930s. James oversaw the capture and execution of five Indian freedom fighters – Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil – and has written in his diary about his admiration for their revolutionary spirit despite his loyalty to the British empire.

Inspired by the revolutionaries’ story, Sue decides to self-fund a film project documenting their lives and travels to India, where she searches for actors with the help of her friend Sonia, an international studies student at the University of Delhi. Amid a string of unsuccessful auditions, Sue meets Sonia’s friends and immediately decides to cast them in her film, with Daljit “DJ” Singh as Azad, Karan Singhania as Singh, Aslam Khan as Khan, and Sukhi Ram as Rajguru.

DJ, Karan, Aslam and Sukhi are carefree and cynical about their futures, and while they easily get along with Sue, they remain uninterested in working on a film expressing patriotism towards India. Tensions arise when Sue casts the boys’ rival, the right-wing party activist Laxman Pandey, as Bismil. However, over the course of working on the film, Pandey grows closer to the others, and the group begins to identify with the idealism of the revolutionaries. Sue begins a relationship with DJ.

The group becomes devastated when their friend Ajay Singh Rathod, a flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force and Sonia’s fiancée, is killed when his MiG-21 jet malfunctions and crashes. The government attributes the accident to pilot error and closes the case, but Sonia and her friends refuse to accept the official explanation, remembering Ajay as a skilled pilot who died while steering the plane away from crashing into a populous city. They learn that Delhi’s corrupt defense minister, Shastri, signed a contract illegally importing cheap parts for MiG-21 aircraft in exchange for a personal favor. They are disheartened to learn that Karan’s father Rajnath Singhania was a key figure in orchestrating the deal.

Galvanized against the corruption of the government by their efforts working on the film, the group organizes a peaceful protest at the India Gate war memorial, but police arrive and violently break up the demonstration. Among the injured are Ajay’s elderly mother, who goes into a coma, and Aslam. Laxman realizes his father, a party official, ordered the police to the protest, and becomes disillusioned with his own party. However, he is sharply rebuked by his father when he attempts to confront him. Inspired by the revolutionaries, the group decides to take action themselves and assassinate Shastri to avenge Ajay’s death, while Karan confronts and murders his father.

The media reports that Shastri was killed by terrorists and celebrates him as a martyr. The group decides to publicly clarify their intent behind the assassination, and take over the All India Radio station after evacuating its employees. Karan goes on air and calls out the defense ministry’s corruption to the public. The police arrive at the station under instructions to treat the group as terrorists and shoot them on sight, leading to a gunfight. Sukhi is shot dead, while Aslam and Laxman are killed by a grenade and DJ is severely injured. DJ reunites with Karan in the recording room as the latter finishes his public statement, and the two of them die together.

News of the boys’ death enrages the public, spurring a wave of demonstrations against the Indian government. Sue is devastated by the events, while Ajay’s mother awakes from her coma. The film ends with Sue describing the personal impact of meeting the boys and working on the film, while the deceased boys are seen in an afterlife-like state meeting a young Bhagat Singh in his family garden.

Cast

Aamir Khan as Daljit ‘DJ’ Singh / Chandrashekhar Azad
Siddharth as Karan Singhania / Bhagat Singh
Atul Kulkarni as Lakshman Pandey / Ramprasad Bismil
Sharman Joshi as Sukhi Ram / Shivaram Rajguru
Kunal Kapoor as Aslam Khan / Ashfaqullah Khan
Alice Patten as Sue McKinley
Soha Ali Khan as Sonia / Durga Vohra
Kiron Kher as Mitro, DJ’s mother
Waheeda Rehman as Mrs. Rathod, Ajay’s mother
Om Puri as Amanullah Khan, Aslam’s father
Anupam Kher as Rajnath Singhania, Karan’s father
Mohan Agashe as Defence Minister Shastri
Steven Mackintosh as James McKinley, Sue’s grandfather
Lekh Tandon as DJ’s grandfather
K. K. Raina as Raghuvir Mishra
Madhavan as Flight Lt. Ajay Singh Rathod (cameo appearance)
Cyrus Sahukar as Rahul (Radio Jockey)
Badrul Islam as Ravi/Sukhdev Thapar
Abhishek Banerjee as student auditioning for documentary role
Tushar Pandey as Student auditioning for documentary role
Shebani Bedi as student auditioning for documentary role
Manmeet Singh as an airport taxi driver