POV: How Rang De Basanti's Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod awakened the spirit of activism in my generation!

As we honor the bravery and dedication of the Indian Air Force today, let’s take a look at how R Madhavan's Ajay Rathod symbolized the spirit of our defense officers.  

As a generation growing up with privileges in 21st-century India, we were largely numb to problems that didn’t affect us directly. Yes, there were times when we were irked, but felt too irrelevant as a force to voice out our dissent and bring about a change until an on-screen sacrifice changed it all! I had watched Rang De Basanti multiple times as a kid, but it was only in my early teens that the core message of the film hit me the hardest. I am sure I speak for a lot of people that this wasn’t just any other cinematic experience, but a social awakening that taught us our greatest duty as citizens of a country whose freedom was hard earned is to ask the right questions, and most importantly, register our anger upon witnessing injustice. 

When I first watched the film as a teen, DJ (Aamir Khan) and the gang felt relatable. They were a group of fun-loving people who weren't quite sure what they were doing with their lives and were too cool for politics! They carried a sense of mockery, disdain, and hopelessness about the state of affairs in their country, but cared too little to do anything about it. However, Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod (R Madhavan) was different. He was a traditional patriot who accepted the systematic flaws of the country but also believed things could change for the better if people committed to the cause of the nation in various capacities. Honestly, he felt like a distant figure, whose opinions, just like the gang, we casually dismissed as over-optimism. Nonetheless, we loved the lads and thought of them as our own. I remember getting a lump in my throat when Rathod, a loving son of a widowed mother, a committed fiancé to Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), and a yaaron ka yaar to DJ and the boys, prepared to return to his duty as an Indian Air Force officer. And then came the ultimate heartbreak, the news of his plane crash that changed everything, not just for the characters in the film, but for us, the audience!

Also Read:Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: History, cinema, and a legacy of loss in Rang De Basanti and Sardar Udham

Rathod's sacrifice wasn’t ordinary. He steered a malfunctioning MiG away from a populated area, despite knowing he wouldn’t survive, to save thousands of civilians. Yet the official report termed his sacrifice as pilot error, questioning his skills to fly a fighter jet. This wasn't just an accident, but was a character assassination used to cover up the Defence Ministry’s corruption of buying cheap aircraft parts. His death in the film was an event that made me realise how the lives and dignity of countless men and women were being compromised daily by corrupt systems in our country, and how futures, including my own, could be at stake in various capacities if the establishment gets away with its negligence or in most cases, their self-serving behaviours. Moreover, it tore through my hesitation for activism as I could overlook corruption, understand the occurrence of accidents, but just couldn’t bear being a silent spectator of betrayal, especially of our real heroes! I could totally relate to the rage of his friends - DJ, Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), and understand that inaction was compliance! His sacrifice and the group’s fight against injustice demonstrated to me that you don't have to be revolutionary to start a revolution. You can just be a common man or woman who is angry enough to hold the government accountable and demand justice for a loved one. 

Ajay Rathod symbolised the valour and spirit of the Indian Air Force, and the belittling of his sacrifice compelled us to rethink our idea of patriotism. He showed my generation that loving your country isn’t just about saluting a flag or fighting on a border, but protecting the integrity within our own system in whatever ways we can. His selfless action inspired us to rage against the dying of light and take the responsibility to change things that impact us, even if it means getting our hands dirty in the process of deep cleaning the setups- "Koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota, usse perfect bana'na padta hai!" Rathod's death wasn't just a plot that carried the soul of the film, but a mirror held to our conscience as citizens of the world’s largest democracy, in a way conveying that hundreds of professionals like him are serving the country honestly in real life, but are you? 

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