I must categorically opine that RDB can indeed be viewed as a "coming of age" of Indian cinematics. The juxtaposition of past against present, of the increasing capillarity of the all-pervasive McDonaldization of Indian cultures (as indeed is the case with most "third world" cultures) versus the inner voice within us which cries out to be heard and which thirsts to hold on until Kingdom Come to our once-glorious past, is captured in RDB in a new paradigm, with a new vibrancy, and is indeed reflective of the essence of "Traditional Hindustan" versus "Modern India". RDB is, in some ways, a "tipping point", not just for the petty fiefdoms and narrow bylanes of Bollywood, but indeed of the present era of our nation, where the pull of sartorial splendour and "Lingua Anglicia" prevades over time-bound feelings - feelings which are now perhaps no more than misty myths of memory which will fade in due course and, like all things noble and commendable, will get washed away in the ever-shifting sands of time.
To pose a counter-argument I would declaim, with equal vehemence, that RDB has indeed viewed a plethora of weighty topics through a very narrow prism. The ominscient "Mediafication" of society, the impact of cultural anarchy and rootlessness among our susceptible youth, and of the entire concept of "patriotism" - or more accurately, "nationalism" - is the bottomline thrust of the movie. And how is this thrust achieved? In the process, the director undertakes the mission of glorifying the mirrors that the various facets of media keep reflecting to us, nay to our inner selves. Is this aggrandization necessary? Is it even desirable? Are we now so insular unto ourselves and so out of touch with our feelings that we have lost the ability to introspect and instead need external stimuli - in the form of a typically brazen and biased media - to understand our Ego as opposed to our falsified Id? Perhaps not, as the author so eloquently (though not succintly, alas) phrases it. In any case, a counter-view to every mode of expression is a welcome indicator of a democracy which is inclusive and virile; and in leveraging his indenible right to expression, the author has done no mean disservice to the land of the birth of his forefathers - which is indeed, in itself, in isolation, a patriotic act!
