'Life was looking worthless': Ankur Warikoo reveals how Rang De Basanti and The Social Network affected him

Rang De Basanti and The Social Network might be two separate movies, but are considered to be one of the best. One showcases patriotism, while the other is about pursuing power and status and how the app FaceBook was created. These inspiring movies, left entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo feel "worthless". He shared how the two popular movies ended up making him question his life, his achievements and its purpose. While watching Aamir Khan's movie, he felt that he had lived a selfish life, and Jesse Eisenberg-starrer made him feel a different kind of disappointment and unsuccessful. What happened?

Ankur Warikoo says Rang De Basanti made him feel 'worthless'

Taking to X, Warikoo recalled watching Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's 2006 movie, Rang De Basanti and how deeply it affected him. "In 2006, I watched Rang De Basanti. Felt my life was looking worthless. I had lived a selfish life so far. Nothing for the nation. Nothing for the larger good," he wrote.

Released in 2006, Rang De Basanti is a historical drama headlined by Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan and R Madhavan to name a few. The film is centred around how a British filmmaker travels to India to document the lives of five freedom fighters, so she casts five young Indians, who begin to question injustice around them and decide to take a stand. The movie received critical acclaim and won several accolades including a National Film Award. Further, it was India's official entry for the Academy Awards, aka Oscars and even Golden Globe Awards.

The Social Network made Ankur Warikoo feel like a failure

Warikoo then also waatched David Fincher's The Social Network. This time, he felt disappointed after comparing his achievements to those of others. "The film made me feel miserable about my life. I had lived a failed life so far. Nothing to show. Nothing achieved," he wrote.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network explores the founding of Facebook and the events surrounding Mark Zuckerberg's rise. The film received eight Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ankur Warikoo shares a powerful lesson about movies

Reflecting on how differently the two films affected him, Warikoo wrote, "Two very different films. Two very different measures of what a life should amount to." He explained how movies end up becoming a mirror through which people judge their own experiences."And that's the thing about movies. We are rarely watching their story. More often than not, we are watching our story, through theirs," he wrote. He ended his post with a striking observation: "Some people leave the cinema discussing the acting. Some people leave the cinema with a performance review."