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Lidt mere om 'Rang De Basanti'
Sorry to keep banging on about it - men jeg faldt over nogle gode perspektiver på dette års bemærkselsesværdige nye indiske film Rang De Basanti.
Bl.a. en omtale, der meget rammende understreger hvor speciel en film der egentlig er tale om (Advarsel: Der er spoilers gemt i dette link - ikke gengivet herunder):
... in another 90 minutes, the final credits rolled. I passed my verdict- not good enough!Rang De Basanti har, som tidligere omtalt, undertitlen A generation awakens, og den har ganske ublu til hensigt selv at deltage i og sætte yderligere gang i en sådan opvågnen.
Don’t know whether it was the over hyped promos or the over done revenge thread – Either way I felt disappointed. The rickshaw wallah quoted a prince’s dowry. Got shortchanged- for the second time!
That night as hum-paanch-lukkhas crammed into a mattress piece for three, as the fan refused to settle down for anything but the top speed (and switching it off would have meant sweet lullabies from the mosquito-mummies, which I could definitely do without), an eerie thing happened. All five of us started humming that Arabic note together.
One is chance, two is coincidence, three is weird but when all five start to sing the same piece at the same instant (without any conductor twirling his baton), that’s absolute goose bumps stuff. But then we covered that up with a nervous giggle and sang on. The tune had stuck..
And when we started dissecting the movie – a cut here, a stitch there- I knew. The movie had stuck too.
(...)
You can't pitch this movie into the hallowed realms of a classic. But it still manages to work, to stick - somehow.
Blame that on the sheer avant garde performance of the stars, or the pleasant surprise of a relatively new kid, Sidharth stealing the shine from Aamir Khan in an undoubtedly author-backed role (and maybe it takes an Aamir Khan to graciously play second fiddle).
The eclectic mix of vulnerability and machismo of Kunaal Kapoor.
The endearing goofball act of Sharmaan Joshi.
The revelation called Soha Ali Khan
The very dependable Atul Kulkarni.
And the very attractive Alice Patton.
Four youngsters, and the not-so-young Aamir – Youth as they come. With not a care in the world and showing the finger at life. The way they crack up at the non-sensical mumbo jumbo mouthed by Bhagath Singh & Co will make you smile.
(...)
RDB is not your idea of the perfect movie. But still it has something, which you can't put your finger on, which makes the movie, like the music, grow on you.
Men er der da ved at ske noget i Indien? Vel ... ja og nej, er nok svaret: Et rungende måske.
Der er tegn på, at folk ikke længere finder sig i så meget, i korruption, i små beskidte handler.
Et eksempel på dette er Jessica Lall-sagen, hvor Manu Sharma, søn af en minister i delstaten Haryana skød modellen Jessica Lall ned for øjnene af 300 mennesker - og slap godt fra det ved at lade sin fars penge og indflydelse "smøre" retfærdighedens hjul.
Tehelka skriver om den folkelige reaktion på denne frifindelse og trækker en parallel til netop Rang De Basanti og dens appel til netop den desillusionerede ungdom, den handler om:
Accustomed to seeing their vacuity constantly magnified on screen in saturated colours and designer labels, stunned by the constant affirmation around them - in films, newspapers, TV channels - that they are pleasure-seeking automatons committed to little but self-love, they have thrilled to the suggestion that they could in fact be Bhagat Singhs in waiting. In the film, the aesthetes find their catalyst. The audiences seemed to be waiting for theirs.Så, igen: er der ved at ske noget? Vel, måske - hold your horses, synes artiklen at mene. Vreden og lysten til at gøre en forskel var ubetvivlelig, men spørgsmålet er stadig, hvor dybt det stikker:
It came barely a month later. February 22. All nine accused in the Jessica Lall murder case walked free. The country was stunned. Barely seven years earlier, Manu Sharma, brat son of a powerful politician, had shot Jessica down point blank in full view of at least 300 of Delhi’s most posh set. Yet he’d been declared innocent? Yet the court had ruled that there was not enough evidence? As the media reeled out a story of terrible dereliction - a deliberately botched investigation, compromised police, witnesses brazenly bought over, perhaps even a collusive judiciary - the outrage began to spill.
(...)
On March 4, close to 2,500 people gathered spontaneously at India Gate. We kept it simple. We brought a table and two chairs for people to stand on, one battery operated PA system, lots of candles. The evening before, we asked Sabrina Lall, Jessica’s sister; Neelam Katara, whose son was killed by Manu Sharma’s accomplice; and Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy who lost both their children in the Uphaar tragedy to share their struggle at the gathering. Then we opened it up to the public.
The evening was at once exhilarating and disheartening. At one level, this was truly a spontaneous act of citizenship from people not normally given to acts of citizenship. A quiet rage surged through the crowd. One after the other, people of every contour took the mike: Justice! everyone demanded. Reopen the investigation. Hang Manu Sharma. Create a witness protection programme. Make criminal trials time bound. Punish hostile witnesses. Shame on parents who harbour brazen criminals. Clean up the system. Clean up the system. Clean up the system.
Public pressure has forced the Jessica trial to reopen. The middle class has tasted its power to impact. If it were to respond again the same way to an injustice outside of their class, it would appear the sleeping idealists might finally have woken.Og kan så kun tiden vise. I mellemtiden kan jeg kun gentage min opfordring til at se filmen, så snart man får chancen - en genfortælling af handlingen lyder måske ikke af så meget, men som antydet i det første citat, er den lidt af en sleeper.
Og det er ikke kun i Indien, folk kunne have brug for at vågne op og gøre en forskel!