Forget mainstream Bollywood, forget candy floss, forget boy-chases-girl-chases-boy around trees... As adorable as regular fare from our favorites at Film City may be, 'Rang de Basanti' takes each and every member of the audience on a totally different ride and upon each viewing I say:
YEH CINEMA HAI, baby!
Last week, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's groundbreaking film was screened before its cast and crew in honour of its 5th anniversary (26th January). Several fans of the film across the world also celebrated the occasion by parking the RDB dvd in their drives that week and I am happy to have joined them.. There is a saying that claims "there is no place like home" and that is exactly how I felt as I re-watched one of my all-time favorite films, not only from India, but from around the world. Yes. This is a film I bought several times in order to distribute copies to friends and of course purchased the special edition with a "gem disk" that features Mehra's ultimate commentary. I could never get enough of it!
For those readers who are Hindi cinema newbies and therefore not familiar with what all this justified fuss is about, a brief synopsis follows the trailer below (purple text).
Sue (Alice Patten), a young film maker from London sets to shoot a film about India's freedom fighters based on her grandfather's diary (a British jailor in India during the pre-independence struggle). She hence flies to Delhi and finds whom she believes are the 6 perfect actors for her film. After hesitatingly accepting to participate in it, all 6 youngsters embark on an awakening journey that will shift their view of their country and will make them act upon it together in order to change a corrupt status quo.
'Delhi Belly' might not be doing the due rounds of Nepali cinemas but it sure has traveled to other exotic destinations! Paris and its quintessential commuting work routine had me a bit dizzy this week until - lo and behold - I discovered a silent film release that would force me to unwind... As I scroll through Internet cinema timings at the local French café I come upon the word "Delhi" on my screen... I wonder if a cinema is scheduling an art-house movie about India but immediately see the word "Belly" on the side. I squint. "Delhi" plus "Belly"?! A suburban cinema in Paris is showing a film I never imagined I could watch on the big screen! Abhinay Deo's 'Delhi Belly' has crashed Paris and has me scrambling to the nearest subway station! Cinema hall, here we come!
As I reach the cinema, nine huge posters announce Hollywood fare and my wallet's target is nowhere to be seen. I stand in queue and ask the cashier for a ticket to watch 'Delhi Belly'. The cashier begs my pardon and for a second I ask myself if I should have pinched myself when I saw the film announced on the Internet. I repeat the name of the film and the cashier looks through the list of films currently showing before actually realizing that a film called 'Delhi Belly' is scheduled. I pay my ticket and hurry to find all seats empty, but thankfully, a few minutes later a small audience starts trickling in. We are a handful of foreigners sitting with a merry group of NRIs, carrying packaged samosas and all. The place suddenly feels like home.
