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The Rang De Basanti mov(i)ement
Jalandhar group makes it to the Rakeysh Mehra documentary based on hit movie
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 31
“After four years one wouldn’t imagine people bothering about a movie. But it’s different with ‘Rang De Basanti’. We always knew there were many RDB fans, which is why we started making the documentary, but the more we researched, the more astonished we were. There are fans whose lives are still regulated by the movie made way back in 2006!” says Ritu Jhingran, research assistant for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the man who made the path-breaking flick.

In Jalandhar, sitting at the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall auditorium as enthusiastic members of theatre group ‘Yuva’ chant ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna...’ on the stage, Jhingran says it was an article in The Tribune that helped her track down ‘Yuva’ for the documentary on how RDB changed lives.

Though Jhingran is tightlipped about the protagonists of the documentary -- ‘Rubaru’ -- lest it should ruin the suspense, she does share some stories. She talks about Dhruv Suri from Delhi who set up Justice for Jessica. “He had been thinking about doing something for society for long, but RDB acted as the final catalyst. He set up Justice for Jessica and fought for a cause he had nothing to profit from,” Jhingran tells.

Mumbai’s Maithili also saw her life change post-RDB, she adds. “Maithili was in school when she watched the movie and is now in college. She has watched RDB at least 30 times! She is crazy about it and after watching the film she started working for NGOs and distributing saplings. Finally, Maithili formed a group ‘Flat No. 303’ that works against domestic violence,” says Jhingran.

The RDB trail has so far taken Jhingran to Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai and Jalandhar. There are many more stops on her schedule. With a production team headed by RDB editor PS Bharti, ‘Rubaru’ is a Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures production and is slated for a January 2011 release.

‘Yuva’ founder Ankur Sharma says the film gave the group a fresh direction. “Inspired by RDB, we did Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons’, Pali Bhupinder’s ‘Main Fer Avanga’ and the play ‘Jagriti’, based on a poetical composition of the same name. We felt a strong need to bring a change and to mobilise people,” he says.

One of ‘Yuva’s’ members, a schoolteacher, relates an RDB-inspired experience. “It was summer and the fans in my classroom was not working. The students were sweating. I had complained to the principal but nothing was done about it. The next day, I took the students to an open ground. I made them stand in the shade while I taught them standing in the sun. The following day, the fans were fixed. 

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