What awakened this generation?
Rang De Basanti is most certainly going to be the movie of the year. Its sheer directorial brilliance coupled with a tight storyline and top notch acting makes watching the movie a very powerful experience. The movie - without spoiling the plot for those who haven't watched it - sends across the message that the present day Indian youth is not as self centered or indifferent to the nation's problems as previous generations since independence have been. In a very unique way, the movie compares today's youth with the young revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh who fought for the nation's independence.
While it is difficult to condone the violent method of protest depicted in the movie (violence, i feel is justified sometimes. But it doesn't scale well and converts into terrorism at some point), it is true that something has changed in past decade or so. The Indian youth does seem to have awakened from the slumber it went into immediately after independence. The boycott of fire crackers by kids as a protest against child labor is an example. The recently launched political party Paritrana led by IITians is another example. Even college students from middle class families who don't need to work sweating it out in McDonalds represent the change in attitude of the youth.
It is an interesting exercise to try to analyze what caused this change. And how did it happen so fast? And why did it happen now? I think the breakdown of our pseudo socialistic systems is one reason for this change. It is no coincidence that this awakening of youth happened alongside with economic liberalization. Socialism, by definition, promotes mediocrity and kills motivation. The post-independence license raj stifled enterprise. A "government job" was considered highly coveted even though it was low paying because government never fired anybody and promotions were time based. Taking up a "private job" or doing (gasp!) business was looked down upon - not wrongly so because businesses spent so much time greasing the govt. machinery to get work done that almost no private business was completely above board. In such an environment, it is no wonder that the youth remained indifferent and uninspired. Amitabh Bacchan's depiction of the "angry young man" in several movies from the 70s sums it up nicely!
Then, in early 90s, international pressure forced India to do away with license raj and accelarate economic liberalization. Oh, what a blessing in disguise it was! Almost overnight, world's largest companies were knocking on our doors. Not only did that expose India to the western (or rather capitalistic) work ethic, it also forced Indian businesses to shape up and stop relying on government protectionism. This opened the floodgates of oppurtunity. Economic boom created the Indian "yuppies" for the first time. The introduction of cable TV gave us our "MTV generation". The internet brought outsourcing and IT boom. No wonder today's youth is wide awake and raring to go. I bet the next decade will witness the awakening of the rural youth as well.
Finally, as has been fashionable in the blogosphere when talking about this movie, I will close with this quote from RDB -
yeh dekh ke jiska khoon naa khuala woh khoon nahi paani hai.... jo desh ke kaam naa aa sake woh barbaad jawani hai...
Comments
Several Indias exist simultaneously. The India, you live in, has certainly taken off. Overwhelming majority of the new generation, however, will still miss the bus. Rural areas and even the small towns have little hope to offer for their youth. The much maligned "government job" is still the only hope for them. Remember the riots in Bihar and North-east for the Railways Jobs?
Posted by: Devpriya | February 14, 2006 10:30 AM
The movie seems to have had an impact on you too, it did have a tremendous impact on me,I have seen it two times and written 2 posts on it.
We can definetly play our part in taking the country from "Developing" to "Developed", something we've been hearing for many years now.
Inquilaab Zindabad :-).
Posted by: Kirti Dhingra | February 14, 2006 07:01 PM
As bullish as I am about India's future, the only reservation I have is similar to Devpriya's concern about two Indias. In a country as big and diverse economically as well as culturally, does the cultural awakening of the big-metro youth even exist in the second and third-tier cities? Does the economic opportunity? Does anything?
Sitting in traffic in my home town of Patna - guys, I am a Bihari and proud of it - I see very little that has changed for people. Sitting in traffic in Gurgaon, I see a lot that has changed.
Are there any John Naisbitt readers around? He wrote Megatrends decades ago and then wrote Asian Megatrends. If you believe him unconditionally, then we have nothing to worry about. According to him, wide scale urbanization of entire countries is a megatrend, and therefore in the future, most of a country's population will reside in the ever expanding big metros, and will be assimilated in whatever "awakening" is taking place in the society.
Assuming the west is a precursor of the fast rising east, John Naisbitt may be right about Asia. Look at the huge metros of the US. When I settled here in 1973, metros were called LA or Miami or New York. Now it is Southern California or the Tristate area or Chicagoland. NCR comes to mind. The small towns of America are losing population to the big metros. The advent of telecommuting has not reduced man's urge to live in an urban setting with 10 million others.
So, where were we! Oh, Rang De Basanti... I didn't know it was that kind of a movie. I will look for a DVD at my favorite Indian store this weekend.,
Posted by: Sarat | February 16, 2006 11:00 PM
The concern is very valid that the rural India might get left out of this economic development. But unlike in the past, as a nation we are more cognizant of the importance of the rural economy in overall progress of India (Gandhi tried in vain to explain that to our early leaders!). Economies of scale eventually come from rural India. That is why mobile operators are hugely profitable even when rates here are lowest in the world ($3/month - can anybody beat that!)
So I remain optimistic that the next decade belongs to the rural India. The bottom of the pyramid will matter more and more in the coming years!
Posted by: Gaurav | February 17, 2006 12:11 AM
Bottom of the pyramid? Do you know who C.K. Prahlad is? In case you don't, he is one of the topmost independent management gurus in the U.S. There are a lot of Indians in management consulting working as employees of big consulting firms, but C.K. has achieved a guru status purely on his own. And the bottom of the pyramid being the next big thing in developing countries is his theory. I personally do believe in that.
Posted by: Sarat | February 17, 2006 04:01 AM
Yes, I am aware of his theory and I also believe that the bottom of the pyramid is the next big thing for developing countries. The mobile revolution is an evidence of that.
Posted by: Gaurav | February 18, 2006 04:08 PM
Stop Bu**sh****ng people. Here's why
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4723680.stm
Posted by: Cynic | February 22, 2006 04:52 AM
Stop Bu**sh****ng people. Here's why
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4723680.stm
Posted by: Cynic | February 22, 2006 04:52 AM
hey dude,
inkulab zindabad . hail to the nation and to your article . i take pride to be an indian and to see an article by an indian on rdb. awarness is wat is needed .pleased to comment on your art. bye..........
Posted by: VASANTH STANY | March 12, 2006 08:07 PM
hello all of you
I am a script writer for movies living as of nowin Delhi. i am writing on youths of the nineties in their late teens. i am interesting to read and know some sites that would help me share and understand the "generation gap" of the nineties and the alienness of the principles and values coming from their parents or elders which they caanot confine themselves to or see that those values arenot really leading them anywhere as it becomes a lame propoganda or excuse of the compliscent older generation. whqat was it in essence.if anyone would like to give a lead...?
Posted by: siddhartha | August 18, 2006 06:33 PM
heyy ya!!awesome..i agree
indian youth is on a revolutionary phase dese dys..i ask a simple question??why nt utilising de energy n aggressiveness dat we youths hv 4r a gud cause 2 mk r nation thrive??? :)
Posted by: M | April 19, 2007 01:05 AM