Rang De Basanti, Swades, and Patriotism for our times

At the outset, would like to clarify two things. One, this article is not a comparison of the two movies, both of which are among my favorites. And two, I am not a particularly patriotic person. When I first heard the phrase "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel", I was quite taken aback by the seemingly pre-posterous idea. After all, I had been brought up on, and strongly believed in, the notions of loving one's country (which, at least then, seamlessly translated into hating Pakis), and sacrificing everything for the motherland, and so on. Today, I would like to believe, I know the difference between patriotism and jingoism. One can love one's country without necessarily hating another one. And one can love humanity without regard to nationality. Not that I have reached that stage!

Anyway, to get back to the main theme, I first saw Swades during the Christmas break of 2004. I watched it again after a week, and then bought the VCD as soon as it hit the shelves. There is something about the movie that appeals to me tremendously - and even now, I feel pained to think that the movie was not a commercial success. Pained because it seems to indicate the lack of audience for such movies. I am not a movie critic or trade analyst, and cannot speculate on why it flopped. Some said it was too long (so was Lagaan!), some said it was too preachy, some said SRK was deglamorised....I don't know. I personally feel this was the first movie where SRK acted - not over-acted. The music was melodious, the lyrics had meaning (my favorite being "Yeh Tara Woh Tara")...anyway, it was not the first time that I liked a movie that had flopped. What appealed to me most was the idea that there could be battle between good and good, or to put it another way, just because someone is opposed to what we perceive as "good", does not necessarily make him / her "bad". I am referring to the opposition SRK's character faces from the village elders, especially the character played by Lekh Tandon. There is no typecast villain out to ruin our hero's efforts - the villain here is ignorance and the tendency to live in our "glorious past". And the villain is vanquished not through death-defying stunts, but by generating electricity - the light of knowledge. Simplistic - may be, Idealistic - definitely, but it appeals to the simple idealist in me. :-)

On the other hand, Rang De Basanti makes no bones about the fact that there is evil in the system. There are immoral politicians and arms dealers, insensitive police force, etc. And the youth of today is largely self-serving, when not downright clueless. The reality of the "system" is known to all, but it doesn't bother them, because bad things happen only to "others". But when tragedy strikes in their midst, they realize that there is no such distinction like "us" and "them" - it is all "us". And then the movie is about a series of events that have the air of a Shakespearean tragedy around them, ending with the inevitable. The movie strikes a chord because of its believability - we have been, or at least know, characters like DJ and Aslam. We have wondered about our aim in life, while choosing the path of least resistance and getting into obscure jobs paying for roti, kapda, makaan, and then some more. Barely a day passes when we do not learn about some injustice somewhere, and sometimes we witness it ourselves, but life goes on for us, secure in the fond, if stupid, belief that "it happens only to others". We feel good, at least I do, that by not doing anything "evil" we are contributing to the society. And when the Hobbes inside me asks whether "good is more than just the absence of evil", I quickly change the channel.

When I watch movies like these, I feel stirred - and distinctly uncomfortable with myself. There was a comic scene in some movie, I forget the name, where the character says that he wanted to be a freedom fighter but by the time he was born, we were already free. Rang De Basanti and Swades remind me that we are not yet free - we are enslaved by the demons of ignorance, corruption, communalism...the list is endless. There is no dearth of battles to be fought - but I don't seem to have it in me to enlist in any.