A MiG-21 Crash Made Rang De Basanti A Cult In 2006. 19 Years Later, The Fighter Jet Is Retiring

NDTV

2 days ago

Almost two decades ago, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti broke new ground. The 2006 film was both a box office and critical hit with the youth at the centre of the story revolving around current affairs. It had a star-studded ensemble cast of Aamir Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Siddharth, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, R Madhavan, Anupam Kher, and Waheeda Rehman. AR Rahman's music and Prasoon Joshi (now CBFC chairperson)'s lyrics made it a memorable soundtrack.
More than that, Rang De Basanti was the first film to put the MiG-21 fighter jet under the scanner as by the time the ageing plane had a long history of fatal crashes, lending it the nickname "flying coffin".
On Tuesday, the Indian Air Force announced that the MiG-21 will be phased out of active service by September, to be replaced by the newer and nimbler Tejas Mk1A fighter jets.
Here's what revisiting the controversy around MiG-21 that erupted when Rang De Basanti was up for release on the Republic Day of 2006.
Rang De Basanti And MIG-21
Rang De Basanti follows a group of young college students who are devastated when Indian Air Force Officer Flight Lieutenant Ajay Singh Rathod (Madhavan), one of their friend's Sonia's fiance, is killed when his MiG-21 jet malfunctions and crashes.
The government pins the blame of the incident on Ajay, calling it pilot error and shuts the case close. Sonia (Soha) and her friends refuse to accept it as reality. They soon find out that Defence Minister VK Shastri (Mohan Agashe) signed a deal for importing cheap parts for the MiG-21 aircraft for a personal favor. It also comes as a massive shock for Karan (Siddharth) when he discovers that his father Rajnath Singhania (Kher) played a key role in the deal.
Hurt and angry by the revelation, the friends assassinate the Defence Minister and Karan kills his own father. Later, the group takes control of an All India Radio station, letting its employees go. Karan goes on air and reveals the defence ministry's corruption to the public. The group of friends are killed by the police later.
The Rang De Basanti Controversy Around The MIG-21
The film showed the Defence Minister as corrupt. Not only that the Defence Minister is also "brought to justice" by the youth of today who avenge the unfortunate death of their friend, an IAF officer, by assassinating him.
It would be surprising had Rang De Basanti got a clearance for the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as well as the government of the day -- Pranab Mukherjee was the Defence Minister at the time under then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
According to producer Ronnie Screwvala, who backed the film via UTV Motion Pictures, the then CBFC chairperson Sharmila Tagore told him that the Censor Board was "not ready to issue the censor certificate" to Rang De Basanti.
"Not that we found anything offensive about your film, just that we want you to get approval from the air force and the defence ministry before we sign off... Look, we're trying to get a special screening organised tomorrow on an emergency basis with the head of the air force. We just want them to see the movie," Ronnie Screwvala wrote in a 2015 opinion piece.
The producer further wrote that Aamir Khan was of the opinion that they should protest if things didn't work out for them after the screening.
"I think we've made the movie with a very clean heart. We're as patriotic as the next guy. I'm telling you, Ronnie, if they want us to cut a single frame of that film, I'm not going to allow it. In that case, let's not release it," the Bollywood star said as quoted by Ronnie Screwvala.
The producer said the team of Rang De Basanti went to Delhi for the screening, which was a "preview, not a review" as Air Marshal Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia put it.
"Not only was the head of the air force in attendance, but the heads of the Army and the Navy, as well as the then defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Two-and-a-half hours later when the lights came up, Rakeysh, Aamir and I went in front of the group to answer questions. The heads of the Army and the Navy both liked the film and had little to say."
Pranab Mukherjee asked, "I really enjoyed the movie, too. What's the problem?"
The defence minister's words must have come as a relief to the makers. But it was not over yet.
Ronnie Screwvala said Air Marshal Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia, the head of the Indian Air Force, was still left to offer his opinion.
"I think it's a fine movie... And we would never censor a movie except under extreme circumstances... All I can tell you is that I get about 10 calls a month from the mothers of my boys who fly the MiGs. Of course, they're concerned about their sons' safety. We all are. Who wouldn't be? But after this movie, I'm going to get 100 calls a month. Best of luck," the chief of the IAF said.
Real-Life Flight Lieutenant Ajay Singh Rathod
Madhavan's character of Flight Lieutenant Ajay Singh Rathod in Rang De Basanti was based on Flight Lieutenant Abhijit Gadgil who died in a MiG-21 crash in 2001. After his death, his parents Kavita Gadgil and Captain Anil Gadgil fought with the government seeking improvements in aircraft safety.
Rang De Basanti got a clean chit from the government and other authorities, was cleared by the CBFC, went on to do great business at the box office (around Rs 100 crore at the time which was massive), earned critical acclaim and won multiple National Awards, brought an important hotbutton topic to the fore, and continues to live in public memory as a radical piece of art.
The film did something that is almost impossible today.