Rang de Basanti & Flash Activism

after being inspired by the entries in the diary of her grandfather who was a jailer during the Indian independence movement. She recruits five initially reluctant and happy-go-lucky New Delhi college students to play the freedom fighters, and as they dig deeper into their roles, their merriment gradually transforms into a respectful appreciation of the lives sacrificed for independence, but more importantly, into an awareness of and frustration with the apathy among youth like themselves towards corrupt, inefficient and sometimes intolerant government, and how very little had changed in the near seventy years since independence.

When a close pilot friend dies flying a fighter plane known to be an older model purchased by the Aviation Minister in a bribe deal (this story line was inspired by true incidents), and when the Minister blames the crash on the pilot’s foolhardiness instead of admitting the plane's condition or recognizing t

On April 29 1999, 34-year-old model Jessica Lall (left) was fatally shot inside a high-profile New Delhi restaurant, packed with 300 of the city’s glitterati. The gunman was patron Manu Sharma (right), member of the city’s elite brat pack, and son of an influential politician[3]. As is common, the case dragged on in Indian courts for several (seven in this case) years, over which period many witnesses recanted and the murder weapon could not be found. Thus, on February 21 2006 (four weeks after the release of RDB), the Delhi High Court (the highest court after the Supreme Court) acquitted Manu Sharma and his friends due to 'lack of evidence'.

This appalling verdict had phenomenal consequences. As Dilip writes, “Manu Sharma’s acquittal saw the launch of one of India’s most rigorous public protests and media campaigns all of which demanded that he be re-arrested” (p. 39). A sample of newspaper headlines in the following weeks –- “No one killed Jessica”;

Clean up the system. Clean up the system. Clean up the system. Poignantly, a young man took the mike and said, “I’m ashamed to tell you today, I’m a law student and in just a few months I will be part of this system.

There was no mistaking the anger, the yearning for something purer, the sarfaroshi ki tamanna. It was exhilarating to see the middle class break its insular threshold. Yet a curious undercurrent of theatricality underran the entire evening. Several people who took the mike that day referred to Rang De Basanti: at times it seemed more than the injustice itself, the film was their inspiration. It had not just intuited a latent public mood; in a curious twist, it had become the mood itself.”[6]

It is clear from the above -– and from a survey conducted by the influential Bombay Times which revealed that 18 percent of people attributed the recent upsurge in social movements to RDB –- that RDB had become a force to reckon with and had had a direct impact on civic engagement

Although, it is not clear whether Tehelka consciously chose India Gate as a rally venue because of RDB. Even if they did, the point is that individual people spread the word, and individuals made independent choices about wanting to participate.

What’s most heartening is that this event, along with the concomitant intense media attention, scrutiny and reportage, resulted in the re-opening of the Jessica Lall murder case. After that a series of events led to a stunning outcome in December 2006: Manu Sharma was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

RANG DE BASANTI & FLASH ACTIVISM

‘The RDB Syndrome’, as it has sometimes been referred to[7], is a classic, moving case of what I call “flash activism”. ‘Flash Activism’ can be thought of as temporal, temporary, social mobilization around a particular civic issue, mobilization that may or may not have clear-cut goals and may or may not achieve these goals. What allows for the mobilization are at least two factors: (i) an existing body or group of people that are already sensitive to and roused about fostering civic responsibility and maintaining a civic ethos, and (ii) external triggering and mobilizing factors, such as media and culture, and cultural artifacts and products such as film, theater and television. In particular, when cinematic artifacts mobilize ‘flash activism’, we may refer to the process as ‘flash fandom resulting in flash activism’.

In the case of RDB, the film’s narrative, music, marketing, and underlying ideology successfully pre-disposed its audiences into action. People became ‘fans’ of the movie, and their fandom would remain latent until an issue or external event occurred that would bring out their fandom, their passion, their reasons for being moved. A “flash fandom”, then, is a latent admiration of a cultural artifact that is deep enough to transform a fandom's pathos into ethos, or in other words, one that impacts central values driving people’s lives. A “flash activism” then is an external event or issue that allows for the temporary, effective or otherwise, manifestation of a flash fandom.

When Manu Sharma went scot-free, people were angry. However, their anger had a channel to manifest itself with -– in this case, I want to suggest that the imagery and events of RDB allowed people to activate and act on their anger. People sculpted their latent fandom into a real-world activist demonstration. I use the word “flash” to emphasize the suddenness and the self-organization, as well as the suddenness of the self-organization. Of course, both media and people worked together in the case of RDB, but the media itself consisted of people who had been influenced by the film. Joining hands, they successfully galvanized their latent inspiration and admiration into a temporary socio-civic infrastructure that in their case was able to achieve its goals. What’s important to note is that even after the “flash” passes away, the latent affection and inspiration – the pathos – do not. Once one has worn the guise of activist, it is difficult to shed, and it is equally difficult to forget the moments, artifacts and influences that allowed us to dis-guise, or rather, reach out towards our truer or at least fuller selves.

EPILOGUE - NO ONE KILLED JESSICA", THE MOVIE