Rang de Basanti? Really?

I am well aware that this entry comes agonisingly close to being the n^n^nth entry in the cyberworld about the latest flick... not an unexpected achievement for a movie that has replaced a simple "Hi! How are you" by "Hi! Rang De Basanti Dekhi?" in as many recent conversations as i can remember. Now that is what you call impact.

I guess what makes it different is the fact that it makes us think... about what our generation stands for in the contemporary world, and most importantly, what should the embodiments of this generation stand for? Sparing the cinematic melodrama (I am not sure whether that's even a word?) there doesn't exist even the remotest possibility of the most charged youth icon being able to put a spanner in corrupt defense deals, much less pull of the glaring (putting it mildly) of outcomes (I dont plan to add a spoiler to the movie, so let us leave it here).

So does it mean that we remain silent spectators as all this keeps on happening to our country? Do we restrict patriotism to convenience, to a patriotism which ceases to subsist whenever a slightest pain is involved? Is there nothing we can do to at least prevent the society from dipping deeper into the filth that it has got itself into? Well, respectively, I guess not, I hope not and DEFINITELY not.

My take is, you don’t need to go and die for your country in order to be a patriot. You become one when you put the wrapper of the chocolate you just ate in your pocket until you find a dustbin. You become one when you refuse to be put up for sale in dowry market when marriages are concerned. You become one when you pay your taxes when you should. You become one when you decide not to indulge in practices like nepotism and bribery when in relevant positions.

And before signing off, kudos to Rang de Basanti for making the youth think so much.