Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s iconic film Basanti Rank (2006) celebrated its 20th anniversary this month. To commemorate the special day, the film’s star cast members, veteran actors Waheeda Rehman and actor Atul Kulkarni spoke exclusively to SCREEN. During the interview, Waheeda recalled filming a scene with co-star Aamir Khan, when he had to lift her in his arms.
The 87-year-old revealed that she warned Aamir about his weight before filming the sequence together. “When I was seriously injured during the scene where the police use batons to clear the crowd, Aamir had to pick me up to take me to the hospital in a taxi or something. Tab maine unhe kaha, ‘Aamir, yeh mat sochna ki mai halki hu, I am heavy, mujhe patak mat dena’ (I am heavy, don’t throw me inside casually). He said, ‘Kya baat karahi hain Waheeda ji, “I’m very strong.” I was just warning him to be careful. “It was nice to work with him,” she shared.
Talking about the impact and success of the film, he said, “I don’t think it’s been 20 years. I am very happy to be a part of this wonderful film. I may have a small role in some films but they are effective. A lot of people started candle marches after this film. There are a handful of films that you can talk about many years later. Mujhe isse ehsaas hota hai ab ki meri badi umar hogayi hai (it makes me realize that I am already old)”.
Waheeda Rehman, who collaborated with Rakeysh on two films, shared that the director had initially approached her for delhi-6 before Rang De Basanti. “He came to me to Delhi-6. He told me the whole story, I liked it but he disappeared for like six months, so I thought maybe it didn’t materialize. After some time, he came back and told me that we will do Rang De Basanti first. “Most people see how much footage is on the screen, but I see the impact, what the character’s contribution is to the story.”
She further spoke about her film Delhi-6 and revealed, “After Rang De Basanti, when Rakeysh asked me about Delhi-6, I said no. Because, whenever I decided that I would stop working, vo koi na koi achi movie lekar aajaate the (it would come with a good film offer).”
The veteran actor continued: “It was very kind of him. I was in Bengaluru At that time. He flew down to tell me the story. My son was there, he told him to please tell your mother, she has to do it, otherwise I’ll do the set here on your farm. So I said yes. It was a lot of fun, we shot the film mainly in Jaipur. It was a very deep film, all the artists worked hard on it. “There were such great songs.”
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On the other hand, Atul Kulkarniwho played the role of Laxman Pandey, spoke about the landmark film of his career. While director Rakeysh Omprakash disagrees, many believe that making Rang De Basanti in the current socio-political landscape would be difficult. Commenting on the same, Atul said, “Unfortunately, yes. Art in any country and at any time should be independent of the viewers. If filmmakers have a compulsion to think who is going to watch or object, what the censor board is going to say, I don’t think real art can be produced. The kind of things we hear every day in terms of art, it would be difficult to make a film like that today.”
He remembered rehearsing the entire script for the film, for AR Rahman to work on his music. “The songs were written and performed according to the situation of the film. I remember that we had done a 20-25 day rehearsal in the studio before starting the shoot. On the first day of shooting, the entire cast was there and we had read the entire script, recorded it and sent it to AR Rahman to work on the background score for the songs. He made all the characters read their own parts like in a play. The process was very intense. It had a practical impact on the people, on the When “you see people marching with candles in their hands at India Gate, you can see the impact,” he shared.
The actor credited Mehra and Aamir Khan for keeping everyone in touch even 20 years later. “There are very few films where the entire unit is in touch even after so many years, and that happened with Rang De Basanti. We talk, we know each other, it is the spirit of that film that still exists. The credit goes to Aamir and Rakeysh, they are the elders and the captains. It is something very natural for them,” Atul concluded.
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