Kanak Mani Dixit is hopelessly wrong in his analysis of Rang De Basanti. Is it possible that generation gap has finally caught up with him? It looks like the only conclusion he could draw from the movie is that it instigates violence. I would instead argue that the movie was more about raising political awareness among the youth than about violence and it seems to have done just that. There has been no clear study to show that any movie is capable of provoking violence to the extent Mr Dixit seems to suggest and in all fairness, people in general take movies for what they are: just movies, a fiction. Obviously, any normal person ought to be capable of differentiating between a fiction and reality. But most importantly of all, the movie in any sense doesn't say it is 'okay to contemplate the murder of politicians on the road to transparency and accountability'. What it in fact shows is how the circumstances pushes these youths, who are full of zeal to commit such a crime. Mehra does not make an attempt to portray these youths as some sort of saviours but they too become a wasted victims and he does a fantastic job of amplifying that sentiment, that all youth are just like them, through their violent death. In doing so he tries to tap into the raw emotions of today's youth and create if nothing else, a debate. If Mr. Dixit did manage to sit and watch the movie till the end, he will find that it leaves the audience with more questions than answers: how can the young generation make a difference?

J Hart,
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