Color Me Saffron

'Color Me Saffron' seems outta place right. But so does Rang De Basanti. I tried to give it a modern connotation by converting it into English. But I dont feel that Rang De Basanti is so outta place, specifically after watching the movie by the same name. The analogy drawn between todays India and that of the pre-Independance is amazing. The film succeeds in not enthralling the audience by patriotic fervor, but by pushing us into a space where we as a generation dont like to delve into. A space where we are forced to think about how we feel about our nation and our role in its present and future. Well let me take back the word force and replace it with coax because forcing would be the jingoistics of a 'Border' or a 'Kargil'. No Sir, this movie does not even preach about how one needs to give a thought to our great nation like the slow yet very well made 'Swades' does. RDB just leads u into the world of todays youth and shakes the foundation of our cynicism and lets us re-visit our value system.
Be it the dashing yet vulnerable DJ (inconspicuously played by Aamir) or the anachronistic believer played by a typecasted yet brilliant Atul Kulkarni, every one of the characters are people who u meet everyday. They are characters to which we relate to. And they say things which we must have said at some point of time in our life in India. The film depicts a slow yet sudden change in the mindset of the characters and on some level of that of the audience without ever slackening the pace of the movie. Well I would like to go on and on about the movie's unique concept and brilliance, but I would not like to spoil it for the reader. Its a movie to be experienced and promises to be a timeless piece.
But then, I would like to share with u the feelings this movie has aroused in my mind. This has certainly made me re-think (forgive me for the repetitiveness) about the place I call home and analyse why we as Indians expect others to take up the cudgels against something which we all know is wrong. We always expect someone else to clean the house for us dont we? And the cynicism in the belief 'Is Des ka kuch nahi ho sakta' is really killing India as we know it. Maybe we need to change the India as we know it. I have experienced a change in myself after watching this movie. I dont know whether this will last beyond this weekend or maybe even tonite. Nor do I know whether I will be able to stand up for what I believe is right. All I know is that if watching this movie really changes some of us to fight the 'system' then it has found its mark.
So till the next blog.....Range De Basanti.........