RANG DE BASANTI

Synopsis

India's submission to the Academy Awards, Rang de Basanti, translated "paint it yellow," is a story about the youth of India today. A young London-based filmmaker chances upon the diaries of her grandfather, who served in the British police force in India during the freedom struggle. Excited about these memoirs, she makes plans to shoot a film on the Indian revolutionaries mentioned in the diaries. She comes down to Delhi and casts a group of five young friends to play the roles of these revolutionaries. However, products of modern India, the five young stars refuse to be part of the project, as they can't identify with these characters. To them issues like patriotism and giving one's life for one's beliefs is what stuffy textbooks are made of. They would rather party. In this youthful, lively, and entertaining film, 1930s British India and the India of today run parallel and intersect with each other. As the film reaches its resolution, the line between past and present blurs, as they become one in spirit.