Rang De Basanti
Films like RDB try to jolt the youth out of the pathological apathy they exist in and raise questions in their minds. Like most of us, the protagonists keep saying that nothing would change in the state of affairs in the country, but as one of them points out- what do we do about it at all? We do not move a muscle to change anything.
The film does not incite violence- or shouldn't-- if the audience can be expected ot decode the message correctly-- but what it does raise through situations in the movie is the question as to whether all action to better the state of affiars is indeed futile. Perhaps one can make a small difference today- perhaps one can try to participate in the system in some manner in order to correct it from within.
Does that mean that the attempts will not be fraught with disillusionment? No. But as the parallelism of the Freedom Struggle also shows, it is the manner in which the protagonists of today's youth take the steps that will decide whether they will have an impact. I don't think Bhagat Singh or his comrades thought of the possible efficacy of their actions- they burnt with a passion not to give in to the oppression they lived under. Perhaps the movie tries to remind us what passion of that nature can do?
The movie should inspire the youth not with the warm fuzziness that dissipates once the movie is through, but with seeds of thoughts that will lead to actions once they take root.
To answer the question and agree that it does not incite violence, the last word is this- the movie provokes thought, and raises discomfort in the haze of apathy. I think the youth is mature enough not to let this result in outbreaks of violence.
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