Rangeela
RANGEELA (1995, d. Ram Gopal Varma)
Remember when Ram Gopal Varma used to make good movies? Yes, back when he wasn’t churning out bad remakes of his own films and desperately trying to salvage his ‘retelling’ of Sholay dream project, Bollywood’s answer to Quentin Tarantino actually produced some of the most fresh, slick and unique cinema in mainstream Hindi films. In fact, there was even a time when he veered away from his usual violent gangster fare and directed fluffy romantic comedies, such as here in this light-hearted spoof of Bollywood itself.
Actress Urmila Matondkar became an overnight sensation thanks to her role of Mili, an aspiring film heroine discovered by the famous action star Kamal (a likeable Jackie Shroff), who falls head over heels in love with the sprightly young girl. As she hits the bigtime however, she finds herself growing further apart from her best friend Munna (Aamir Khan, taking a backseat from the spotlight for once), a poor black market ticket seller whose heart also belongs to Mili. Rangeela (’Colourful’) is not amongst the very best work of RGV, but the film’s warm-heartedness, toe-tapping score from A.R. Rahman and mind-meltingly sexy histrionics from Urmila Matondkar all add up to an enjoyable romp that makes for a worthy addition to any collection.
A young Urmila Matondkar sexes it up in Rangeela
A multitude of DVD releases of Rangeela are available, most of which only offer an average presentation of the film. The best of these is the Indian version from distributor Shemaroo which boasts rich, deep, natural-looking colours and decent detail, though the image is cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.85:1 and is not anamorphically enhanced. Well-translated English subtitles are also included.
5 Comments »
Usually, yes. Although since about a year ago, they’ve started including a massive on-screen logo throughout the entire film that’s annoying to no end.
This movie was great not just because of Amir’s acting, but because it had one of A.R. Rahman’s first hit soundtracks, the amazing choreography that was fresh and new to Indian cinema (if you didn’t watch it when it first released you probably won’t see it the same way), and it helped boost RGV’s early career. There were things in this direction that influenced some future hindi films. Also, it launched Urmila… she acted amazing for a new comer. The story was simple, but everything was put together with such skill for a hindi film.
Why is Urmila so sexy? It’s not the bod and the clothing she gets, it’s how she’s directed and how she acts that makes her more sexy than any other actress in hindi cinema to date. RGV’s direction and her sexy acting go hand in hand. Just look at her facial expressions… they come off subtle and sweet yet hot, unlike the insane faces Kareena makes to try to make an explosion (yet often comes out more like a fart). Top that off with Urmila’s voice… aye hai hai kya ladki hai, yaar…
Also SHEMAROO SUCKS. It takes the liberty to censor and cut out scenes on their own. Especially RGV movies where RGV’s staple of above average editing for a hindi film gets ruined because Shemaroo decides to re-edit some scenes. Go with Eros or something.
actually, not Eros, they suck too. Better than Shemaroo though cuz they dont cut stuff. It’s tough but try to find something better than those two. I’ve found adlabs to be good too. Ironically they are called adlabs but there’s no ads.
February 9, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
I don’t get why ‘Rangeela’ is so praised and adored. It’s a mystery to me. I thought it was just ok. I liked Aamir’s performance a lot, but other than that I just thought it was too many not-great songs, way too much pouting and posing by Urmila, and just an ok movie. In fact, a tad boring.
On dvds, is it fair to say that Shemaroo usually produces the best versions?