Rang De Basanti (No Spoliers !)

Off late, all Amir Khan starring movies have got loads of publicity and have been hyped as a super hit even before the movies have premiered. Although I was seriously disappointed by Mangal Pandey, courtesy of some really uncomfortable seats in a packed Bay Area theatre, I decided to catch Amir's new offering-Rang De Basanti, before people around me start talking about it.

It's always difficult to co-ordinate an outing with 9 different people adhering to 9 different schedules. Although my work was cut out to driving 4 of them to Little India, thanks to the availability of free airtime and some 'number- punching' addicts, I ended up directing people to the destination half the time. Once on Pioneer Blvd, we decided to try out the new desi restaurants Tirupathi Bimas touted to serve authentic gult food. I realised how popular the restaurant was when I was handed a 20 minute wait time for the table. Even after we got the table, it took the woefully shortstaffed employees 15 minutes and two harsh calls before they got down to take the order. The food, however, was served quickly and was really spicy and delicious. But the customer service was really horrible and it left me thinking why do Indian restaurants and services have such poor service. When things are cheap back home, we dont expect great service. But if you end up paying 14$ for a meal, you surely deserve better. I guess we probably have a lot to learn from the west about customer satisfaction.

We arrived at the theatre only 5 minutes prior to the show, which meant that I sat perched in the 3rd row in front of screen, staring at the screen as if King Kong sat in front of me. For the intial half, I viewed the movie as if I saw a tennis game, moving my head from one corner of the screen to another. Alice Pattern (Sue), whose grandfather was involved during the British Raj and maintained a diary about the revolutionaries, comes to India to make a movie on his diary. Enter Amir Khan, Soha Ali and rest of the gang. I found Soha Ali Khan very unattractive (I couldn't stop seeing her as Saif Ali Khan dressed in Salwar). Her acting was woeful too. Alice Patten with her broken hindi did a much better job, and served as my sole eye candy.

The first half revolves around Sue convincing this happy-go-lucky-out-of-college- but- still-hanging-around-college kids to act in the movie. Although the kids finally get serious and act in the movie, they dont hold much hope for India's bright future and blame it on the system for all the inefficiencies. Things take a wild turn in the second half as Madhavan gets killed in a MIG crash, and Amir Khan & co try to take things in their own hands. I shall not spoil the movie for others here, but I really hated the wild turn the movie takes in the second half of the second half (Let's put it as 4th quarter).

If the movie wanted to convey any message about how the youth should react to the government bunglings, then it's intentions are totally misdirected. Infact, I am very surprised that the censorship was kind against such bad trend setting ends. Also, reference to hindu-muslim animosity was totally uncalled for. There are lot of loop holes in the movies too (figure it out for yourself!!). Rehman's score is great, Amir Khan as usual enacts someone 15 years younger to him with great poise. I found Bluffmaster a much better movie than this one..


ps: Russel Peter's stand up in NYC

pps: .....aah my neck still hurts...