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Revisiting Rang De Basanti: 50 lesser-known facts about the decade-defining blockbuster

Team CE

Updated:31st Jan, 2022 at 7:05 PM

Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records, becoming the country's highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and holding the highest opening-day collections for a Hindi film.

Aamir Khan was initially uncertain about taking on the role of DJ, as he was in his 40s and DJ was a 25 year old Punjabi in the film. He eventually accepted, though, and hired a tutor to aid him.

AR Rahman worked on the music of this film for three years.

India's official entry to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2007.

The film was to be made both in Hindi and English versions. The English version was to be titled 'Paint It Yellow'. The plans for the English version were dropped subsequently.

Rang De Basanti is based on a poem written by Dushyant Kumar.

The role played by Siddharth was also initially offered to Farhan Akhtar. But Farhan rejected the offer.

Arjun Rampal signed up for the film, but dropped out after getting frustrated with director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's indecisiveness about what he wanted to do with the characters and the script.

Nelly Furtado was to act and sing in the movie. Once the producers changed, the idea of casting Nelly Furtado was dropped.

Later Madhavan took the part, and this cameo turned out to be the best bet of Madhavan in his career in Bollywood.

Later Madhavan took the part, and this cameo turned out to be the best bet of Madhavan in his career in Bollywood.

Preity Zinta was offered Soha's role but she declined.

Hrithik Roshan famously turned down the role of Karan, which was played by Siddharth.

Rang De Basanti was also chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards for 2007.

Madhavan, despite being a well-known Tamil cinema actor, took the smaller role of a fighter aircraft pilot because he was convinced of the film's potential and wanted to be a part of it.

Within a week of the film's theatrical release, illegal copies of the film priced at 10 million Rs. (USD 140,000) were seized at an Indian airport.

Alice Patten was informed that she had won the documentary filmmaker role after she returned home to the United Kingdom.

Soha Ali Khan's (Sonia in the film) mother in real life, Sharmila Tagore, was also widowed by an Air Force pilot in her landmark film Aradhana.

Aamir, Sharman and Madhavan again shared screen as friends in 3 idiots, another praised and successful film which was released in 2009, four years after the release of this film.

The censor board chairman at that time was Sharmila Tagore, mother of Soha Ali Khan (Sonia).

Rakeysh Mehra took seven years to research and develop the story, including three to write the script.

A study of bloggers behavioural patterns during the first month of the film's release revealed a significant increase in public ire towards government and politicians.

In May 2014, Rang De Basanti was released on Blu-ray (plus steelbook edition) which is about 8 years after it's theatrical release.

Randeep Hooda was offered Sharman Joshi's role. Randeep had to turn it down due to Ram Gopal Varma insisting Randeep not work in outside films.

Mehra gave Kulkarni biographies of Ram Prasad Bismil as preparation, including Bismil's autobiography.

Om Puri appears in a two-scene cameo as Aslam's staunch Muslim father.

The military aircraft they created was so realistic that the Indian Air Force called to check the producer's permission of using an actual MiG-21.

After the special screening, the defence ministry did not insist on any cuts, but on their recommendation more names were added to the slide that dedicates the film to deceased MiG pilots.

Mrs. Kavita Gadgil whose son, late Flight Lieutenant Abhijeet Gadgil was killed when his MiG-21 fighter crashed, objected to the release because she believed that the film was loosely based on her son

After hiring international experts for the film's publicity, the marketing expenditure for the film grew to 40 percent of the total production budget of 250 million rupees (USD 3.5 million).

An alliance was formed with The Coca-Cola Company by releasing special edition bottles to commemorate the film's release, a first of its kind in Bollywood.

Inspired by the film, Pakistan's national newspaper, Jang, launched a television channel that was to focus on citizens' issues and support public awakening.

The media uses the terms 'RDB' (abbreviated title of the movie) and 'RDB effect' while referring to instances of public activism on matters of public interest.

Doraha Fort , near Ludhiana or popularly known as the RDB fort got its moment of fame after a crucial scene from Rang De Basanti was shot here.

Shahid Kapoor was also offered Siddharth's role but had issues with his character.

The literal meaning of the title can be translated as 'Paint me with the colours of spring'.

Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records in India.

AR Rahman's soundtrack, which earned positive reviews, had two of its tracks considered for an Academy Award nomination.

Having previously worked as an assistant director, Siddharth praised Mehra as being 'by far the most ambitious technical filmmaker in Indian cinema'.

The Delhi Tourism department was happy to encourage filming in the city if it helped promote tourism, though any filming near India Gate was prohibited due to the ensuing bureaucratic paperwork.

Soha, portraying the pilot's fiancée, was filming Rituparna Ghosh's Antarmahal and David Dhawan's comedy Shaadi No. 1 concurrently with her work in Rang De Basanti.

To use a historical location for filming, the team had to seek permissions of seven officials ranging from the local police to the Archaeological Survey of India office.

Some filming was done at Amritsar's Harmandir Sahib Gurudwara.

Aamir Khan, with his knowledge of Hindi and Urdu, worked with Rahman and Joshi for the film's soundtrack.

Overseas collections from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia were collectively put at over 60 million Rs. (USD 840,000) for the first week.

The film's DVD sold more than 70,000 copies over six months, and as a result the film was the highest selling title at the time of its release.

The review from the BBC gave it the highest possible five star rating and added that it was 'an entertaining mix of romance, history and social commentary'.

Prashant Narayanan was offered a part but later was dropped from the film.

It was the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend in India and had the highest opening day collections for a Bollywood film.

Khan, who would turn 40 during the shoot, lost about 10 kilograms (22 lb) with a strict diet and exercise regime to more convincingly depict a man in his late twenties.

55 percent of the film's revenues came from multiplexes in these cities.

Rang De Basanti marked Siddharth's Bollywood debut, following on the success of his Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana.

Once the locations were finalised, the team of Lovleen Bains and Arjun Bhasin was chosen for designing the look of Rang De Basanti.

In post-production, the visual effects were handled by Tata Elxsi's Visual Computing Labs.

Khan's hair was styled by Avan Contractor, who came up with soft curls falling over Khan's forehead.

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