WINNING IS NOT EVERYTHING IT’S THE ONLY THING

That’s the motto of Sohail Khan’s upcoming Aryan that is being produced by Telebrands India, in association with K Factor Entertainment Pvt Ltd. There have not been many movies that have revolved around the life of a boxer. If one tries hard, one remembers Mithun Chakraborty’s BOXER that released a couple of decades back. Written and directed by debutant Abhishek Kapoor who had earlier acted in ‘Uff Yeh Mohabbat’ opposite Twinkle Khanna, ‘Aryan’ is a film is about dreams and following your dreams to the best of your ability, irrespective of the fact whether you win or loose. The moral is to give it your best shot, that’s the most important thing!

Aryan [Sohail Khan] had two things that excited him the most - his passion BOXING and his love Neha [Sneha 'Lucky' Ullal]. He couldn’t dream of living without any one of the two. In the case of boxing, he was rising from one level to another and one man responsible for this journey of his was Ranveer Singh [Puneet Issar], the college coach who was training him to go all the enable him to reach the nationals.

But was this good enough for Aryan to succeed?

Because at every step of his, if there was someone who used to infuse life in him by her mere presence, it was Neha. In short, Aryan needed both to exist simultaneously, boxing as well as Neha, to facilitate his very existence!

As all good things have to come to an end, the same happens in the case of Aryan too. He comes at such a juncture in his life where he has to choose between his passion and love. Just like any other human being in such tough circumstances, even Aryan opts for the latter and chooses to forget about his skills when he was nearing the peak! But is he unhappy at his decision? Not at all, because he continues with his life just like any other person of his age and even goes on to have a child. Neha continues to be the strength of his life as she manages the dual role of a housewife and a professional woman amazingly well. But things do not continue to be rosy till eternity and cracks start appearing more visible in torrid times!

Meanwhile Aryan still remains connected with the world of sports through his job as a sports commentator. And this is where he realizes that his heart is still there in the boxing ring. With things not being particularly good in either his professional or personal life, inspiration from Ranveer Singh was the only thing that was required for Aryan to enter the ring again.

Aryan gets into the boxing gear soon. He manages to encourage himself to take on the world once more. He can now dream of being a champion boxer all over again!

But can he really do it this time around?

He may be able to get his physical prowess through intense training. He may be able to convince himself mentally that he has in him to make him reach THERE.

But what about his soul, his heart, his life - Neha!?

Because now she is no more with him! She has left him! He is all alone. With just his dreams, aspirations and willpower! But no one to give him supporting hands when he requires them the most!

What happens to Aryan now? Will sheer physical prowess, great mental strength and will-power enable him to be the invincible? Or would his resolve be brittle enough to break soon in absence of his love?

Will ARYAN WIN again?

What does one expect from a movie that has a title that goes as ‘Rang De Basanti’? Which genre would it belong to? Chances are that it may turn out to be yet another patriotic flick belonging to pre-independence era. With Aamir Khan in the lead, who has two period films ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Mangal Pandey’ to his credit, one half expected ‘Rang De Basanti’ too belonging to the same genre.

Well, there is a surprise in store for those who have been keenly awaiting the release of the movie as ‘Rang De Basanti’ is quite contemporary and belongs to Generation X. Yes, there is an undercurrent patriotic theme but that is also coupled with a social message that is narrated in an unconventional manner by director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who had earlier debuted with a daringly different ‘Aks’ [Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai].

How much do we know about our roots? What kind of awareness do we have about our culture? Do we have all the knowledge about our past? Are we truly aware about our freedom struggle? Or are we just staring from the peripherals?

These are just some of the questions that director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra raises and forces you to think about while you watch the movie. But then a subject like this could just turn into a documentary and hence Mehra presents this in a contemporary manner with a fine mix of experienced and young starcast that gives it a good commercial edge. Unlike some of the recent flicks where Aamir Khan has held center stage from first to last frame, ‘Rang De Basanti’ has a host of characters that play important part in the narrative.

Aamir Khan plays DJ in the film. DJ is a young man who continues to hang around in the University from where he has already passed out 5 years back! Reason? He feels its great to be a part of the University and have a great time with his University mates rather than facing the outer world as it hardly excites him. Other people in this group of youngsters are Karan [Sidharth Suryanarayan], Aslam [Kunal Kapoor], Sukhi [Sharman Joshi], Laxman Pandey [Atul Kulkarni] and last but not the least Sonia [Soha Ali Khan], who loves to hang around inspite of being the lone girl in the group.

Each of the people in the group has an identity of their own and has a different tale to tell. Karan is a man who is emotionally cut-off from his rich family, Aslam is a middle class boy from Chandni Chowk who has a stable mind and thinks hard before he acts. Large part of this comes from the fact that he is intellectually oriented and hence thinks differently. To add to this, he is also a poet and a writer with a rational outlook towards things.

Sukhi, as the name suggests, is a happy-go-lucky boy with only one interest in life - girls, girls and more girls. A young kid with an innocent heart, he is the most loved boy in the entire group. Sonia is a tomboy who loves to be a part of the group and is meanwhile engaged to an air pilot Ajay [Madhavan]. But then it’s not just fun’frolic all the time in the group as there is also a man who is a fundamentalist and has a vision to change the world. His tool? Politics. He looks at the brighter side of politics and strongly believes that if used correctly, politics has all the power one may want to make things better!

Life is as usual for each of them when Sue [Alice Pattern] enters their life. She is a young British film maker who intends to make a film about Indian freedom fighters. Her eyes are especially set on people like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad and how they contributed towards India eventually getting freedom. She looks at the group to act the parts in the documentary film she is making.

But does the buck stop at just the creation of the film? Or does it do something to all the protagonists in the movie?

Is patriotism and spirit of changing the world only restricted to the history books and philosophy of life? Or is it something that should be an intrinsic part of our own self?

Because soon the youngsters start realizing the value of not just the freedom struggle but even our culture, custom, rituals and how everything is still holding on inspite of the times in which we live in. Their journey takes them to Punjab and they start discovering things are in stark contrast to their metropolitan life.

Because these are some things that are unseen, unheard of, unrealized by the current generation.

And this is when different colors come to fore in ‘Rang De Basanti’……

A unique tale told in an unconventional narration by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, ‘Rang De Basanti’ is a film by UTV banner that arrives on 20th January.