'Rubaru' revisits making, impact of 'Rang De Basanti'

When Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Rang De Basanti" hit the screens back in 2006, it left a lasting impact on the youth and awakened them to their rights and capability of demanding change. It is this awakening that "Rubaru", a documentary on the making and impact of the Aamir Khan-starrer, encapsulates.

Directed by Mehra's wife P.S. Bharathi, who had worked on "Rang De Basanti" as its editor, the documentary brings alive moments of struggle that the team faced while bringing the film alive.

From the process of casting, getting A.R. Rahman on board to compose the music and Maneka Gandhi's demand to remove a scene involving horses - it will show everything.

Featuring Aamir, R. Madhavan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Waheeda Rehman, Atul Kulkarni and Kunal Kapoor, the movie traces the journey of a group of young college-goers to self-awakening.

More than the gratification of sitting back and looking at what went behind the making of "Rang De Basanti", it was the "amazing experience" and process of getting the movie off the road despite all the "tough times", Bharathi told IANS here post the screening of "Rubaru".

The documentary's maiden screening was held here Sunday at the third edition of Ladakh International Film Festival.

Bharathi put her force behind "Rubaru" four years ago, after completing editing "Delhi-6".

What was the idea behind it?

"A lot of people told us after 'Rang De Basanti' - 'What an effect the movie has had!' So we wished to show that effect," she said.

The documentary has a montage of news clips and archived reportage on the film's success; bytes by Mehra, Rahman, Prasoon Joshi, Alice Patten, Atul Kulkarni, Ronnie Screwala and Kamlesh Pandey; footage of the effect that the movie had on the country's youth, who took to the streets in protest of injustice on various occasions since the release of the movie.

"Rubaru" also shows the fun behind the scenes activities that the team and cast engaged in during the making of "Rang De Basanti", which had a workforce of around 1,000 people.

Mehra shares that the working title of the film was "The Young Guns Of Bollywood", while Bharathi said that while they were in the planning stages of the movie and were having discussions with the general youth, they came face to face with questions like "Was Chandrashekhar Azad the father of Keerti Azad?"

It was this ignorance that strengthened their conviction to make the marvel that "Rang De Basanti" was.