Rang De Basanti
Dude, I'm still watching the end of this movie from the other night, and I think I've corrupted it for myself forever.
Don't get me wrong, it still rocks the toe socks off of that Slumdog shiz, but uh...was it always so gay?
Because I'm 99.9999999999999999999999999999% positive that Bismil and Ashfaq/Laxman and Aslam have like, gigantic boners for each other. And Sukhi seems to have a boy crush on DJ, and Karan has a man crush on Ajay, and there's definitely some jealousy on Sukhi's part over Karan whenever DJ pays attention to him, so I dunno what's going on there.
Like, I kind of need this to be reworked into fic. I could make it happen, but I don't know how I'd replace the whole Defense Minister angle, because whether I did it as South Park or Disney kids or Big Time Rush, it wouldn't be good without the drama. I might be able to get rid of Sue though, because really she's pretty much a catalyst and observer the whole movie. Even though she has a fling with DJ and he says he loves her at the end- I actually always thought he was saying he was in love with India, back before I got a hold of certain Hindi colloquialisms.
Oh god, my Disney kid fic with this plot...-dies-
I also never noticed, but Karan's like the baby of the group. I always thought it was Sukhi, because he's so silly and has such a carefree mentality most of the time that people are always protecting him, but in the end they're all trying to protect Karan, because his life sucks and his man crush (Ajay) has died, and he feels responsible. When Rahul plays Roobaroo in the radio station and they all hug, Karan clings to them all like a baby monkey.
Agh, okay, for people who have no idea what I'm talking about, Rang De Basanti is a Bollywood flick- actually more Hindi straight up cinema than Bollywood, but whatevs. I'll put it under a cut with spoilers for those who know they'll never watch it and want to read about it.
It's about Sue, an English filmmaker who loses funding for the movie she's been planning- a true account of the revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Rajguru, Ashfaqullah Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil (also Durga Bhabhi and Sukhdev to a lesser degree). Basically, you know Gandhi? Well these dudes were the anti-Gandhi. They were hardcore about getting the British out of India, and in the movie, Sue's grandfather was the soldier in charge of getting them to talk/hanging them.
Anyway, Sue comes to India on her own, meets up with Sonia, her liaison at Delhi University. Interesting trivia, the actress who plays Sonia is Sonia Ali Khan, Saif Ali Khan's sister. Saif Ali Khan is one of my fave B-wood actors. She gets a little depressed when she can't find actors of the caliber she wants, so Sonia takes her to 'the school', which is basically like a hangout for delinquents. There Sue meets DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (I don't know, and he's not hot like Aamir Khan and Siddharth, so don't really care), and Aslam (he is hot, but I forget his name). DJ's like the Van Wilder of Delhi Uni, Sukhi's his best friend, Aslam's a poetic Muslim, and Karan's the rich son of someone who wants to get the hell out of India. They have a confrontation with Pandey Laxman, who is part of a political front to get Western culture out of India.
Long story short, Sue casts them all, including Sonia. There's some grief with Laxman versus Aslam, because Laxman likes to call him a Pakistani which in retrospect feels like foreplay. They get more and more entangled in their parts, going from party boys to serious business boys. They feel like their characters sacrificed themselves for nothing, because India is still corrupt. Enter Ajay Rathod, Sonia's fiancee, who's a pilot for the Indian airforce. He has a lot of national pride. When Ajay dies in a plane crash caused by malfunctioning parts- he could have saved himself but steered the plane away from a city to save them, things go south. Way south. The defense minister publically claims it's because Ajay was a shoddy pilot, there's a public protest asking for the DM's resignation that gets bloody and violent, and then life begins mimicking the movie when Sonia, DJ, Sukhi, Karan, Aslam, and Laxman decide to murder him to get their point across (their characters murdered a British public figure very similarly).
When that ends up getting the DM applauded as a martyr, they go one step further. Knowing that they will get caught, the boys decide to turn themselves in by way of a morning radio show- they take over the station and confess their sins on air, answering to the public instead of the corrupt government. Karan also kills his father, who provided the shoddy parts for the planes. While their takeover of the station is peaceful, they get gunned down with unnecessary force, again mirroring the past. The narrator (Sue's grandfather) talks about the boys of the past going to their death in a way he's never seen before- with clarity, with peace- and that's mirrored here. DJ and Karan die laughing, on the air, talking about DJ and Sue being in love.
All of India responds in a Boondock Saints esque conclusion- media coverage, some people ready to revolt for change, some people angry at the boys themselves. The story ends with Sue talking about how they changed her life, sitting with Sonia in a field where they used to all act like they had the entire world laid out ahead of them. In the same field, you see Bhagat Singh playing, and when he looks up, all five boys are standing above him, grinning. Then they walk away.
It's a great movie, and my summary does it no justice. Other great Indian movies: Kal Ho Naa Ho, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, and Jab We Met are all great- and lighter picks. Well, maybe not Kal Ho Naa Ho on the lightness.
Anyway, yes. I can see the casting now...except the last thing I need is more fic. I need to go study Japanese. Blah.
Don't get me wrong, it still rocks the toe socks off of that Slumdog shiz, but uh...was it always so gay?
Because I'm 99.9999999999999999999999999999% positive that Bismil and Ashfaq/Laxman and Aslam have like, gigantic boners for each other. And Sukhi seems to have a boy crush on DJ, and Karan has a man crush on Ajay, and there's definitely some jealousy on Sukhi's part over Karan whenever DJ pays attention to him, so I dunno what's going on there.
Like, I kind of need this to be reworked into fic. I could make it happen, but I don't know how I'd replace the whole Defense Minister angle, because whether I did it as South Park or Disney kids or Big Time Rush, it wouldn't be good without the drama. I might be able to get rid of Sue though, because really she's pretty much a catalyst and observer the whole movie. Even though she has a fling with DJ and he says he loves her at the end- I actually always thought he was saying he was in love with India, back before I got a hold of certain Hindi colloquialisms.
Oh god, my Disney kid fic with this plot...-dies-
I also never noticed, but Karan's like the baby of the group. I always thought it was Sukhi, because he's so silly and has such a carefree mentality most of the time that people are always protecting him, but in the end they're all trying to protect Karan, because his life sucks and his man crush (Ajay) has died, and he feels responsible. When Rahul plays Roobaroo in the radio station and they all hug, Karan clings to them all like a baby monkey.
Agh, okay, for people who have no idea what I'm talking about, Rang De Basanti is a Bollywood flick- actually more Hindi straight up cinema than Bollywood, but whatevs. I'll put it under a cut with spoilers for those who know they'll never watch it and want to read about it.
It's about Sue, an English filmmaker who loses funding for the movie she's been planning- a true account of the revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Rajguru, Ashfaqullah Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil (also Durga Bhabhi and Sukhdev to a lesser degree). Basically, you know Gandhi? Well these dudes were the anti-Gandhi. They were hardcore about getting the British out of India, and in the movie, Sue's grandfather was the soldier in charge of getting them to talk/hanging them.
Anyway, Sue comes to India on her own, meets up with Sonia, her liaison at Delhi University. Interesting trivia, the actress who plays Sonia is Sonia Ali Khan, Saif Ali Khan's sister. Saif Ali Khan is one of my fave B-wood actors. She gets a little depressed when she can't find actors of the caliber she wants, so Sonia takes her to 'the school', which is basically like a hangout for delinquents. There Sue meets DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (I don't know, and he's not hot like Aamir Khan and Siddharth, so don't really care), and Aslam (he is hot, but I forget his name). DJ's like the Van Wilder of Delhi Uni, Sukhi's his best friend, Aslam's a poetic Muslim, and Karan's the rich son of someone who wants to get the hell out of India. They have a confrontation with Pandey Laxman, who is part of a political front to get Western culture out of India.
Long story short, Sue casts them all, including Sonia. There's some grief with Laxman versus Aslam, because Laxman likes to call him a Pakistani which in retrospect feels like foreplay. They get more and more entangled in their parts, going from party boys to serious business boys. They feel like their characters sacrificed themselves for nothing, because India is still corrupt. Enter Ajay Rathod, Sonia's fiancee, who's a pilot for the Indian airforce. He has a lot of national pride. When Ajay dies in a plane crash caused by malfunctioning parts- he could have saved himself but steered the plane away from a city to save them, things go south. Way south. The defense minister publically claims it's because Ajay was a shoddy pilot, there's a public protest asking for the DM's resignation that gets bloody and violent, and then life begins mimicking the movie when Sonia, DJ, Sukhi, Karan, Aslam, and Laxman decide to murder him to get their point across (their characters murdered a British public figure very similarly).
When that ends up getting the DM applauded as a martyr, they go one step further. Knowing that they will get caught, the boys decide to turn themselves in by way of a morning radio show- they take over the station and confess their sins on air, answering to the public instead of the corrupt government. Karan also kills his father, who provided the shoddy parts for the planes. While their takeover of the station is peaceful, they get gunned down with unnecessary force, again mirroring the past. The narrator (Sue's grandfather) talks about the boys of the past going to their death in a way he's never seen before- with clarity, with peace- and that's mirrored here. DJ and Karan die laughing, on the air, talking about DJ and Sue being in love.
All of India responds in a Boondock Saints esque conclusion- media coverage, some people ready to revolt for change, some people angry at the boys themselves. The story ends with Sue talking about how they changed her life, sitting with Sonia in a field where they used to all act like they had the entire world laid out ahead of them. In the same field, you see Bhagat Singh playing, and when he looks up, all five boys are standing above him, grinning. Then they walk away.
It's a great movie, and my summary does it no justice. Other great Indian movies: Kal Ho Naa Ho, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, and Jab We Met are all great- and lighter picks. Well, maybe not Kal Ho Naa Ho on the lightness.
Anyway, yes. I can see the casting now...except the last thing I need is more fic. I need to go study Japanese. Blah.