Rangeela Movie Review- The Reason I Love Bollywood

Rangeela really does represent why I love Bollywood and what I love about it!

When one wants to make a film in Bollywood, there are a few beaten tracks one could consider… Rangeela pretty much has all of them and just proves that it’s not the story that matters, it’s the way it’s told.

Here’s a few of those clichés that are worked so well into Rangeela:

1. The underdog who puts sweat, blood and tears into trying to make that girl happy.

2. The ambitious girl (ok, maybe not so much a cliché, seen as she doesn’t want to become a model)

3. The love triangle (anyone who says this isn’t typical, BRING IT ON! “Mujhe karate aata hai”=])

4. The person in the love triangle that seems to have it all easy and the girl appears to only be interested in him.

5. The last minute running, panicking and searching.

6. The we’re-just-friends attitude.

The performances really are amazing, what more can I say? I never knew Urmila Matonkar looked so pretty before… I’ve really only seen her in her Om Shanti Om avatar:

Nothing compared to her in Rangeela.

One issue I had with her character was that she never seemed to be in love with Munna; but then again, she might have only realised how strong her feelings were *SPOILER* after he’d gone *SPOILER*

Aamir was really perfect, right down to the last ‘apun’. I found him quite winning while slightly repulsive but always endearing. I always like to watch Aamir films, old and new because you always see a different person onscreen, that’s not something you see with many other actors. Nonetheless, his character occasionally seemed a little obnoxious and arrogant but maybe that was just to impress the pretty lady ;)

Jackie Shroff delivered quite a restrained performance *SPOILER* expect for when he jumps about in his house yelling he’s in love. They really could have missed that out seen as you could tell from his face, his eyes, how much he loved her, no need for the prancing. It spoilt his restrained, slightly tormented character in a way *SPOILER* Also, normally one of the two men vying for the girl has obvious flaws, like, say, in Jab We Met, but here he really was a character with a holographic heart of gold, which made vying for Munna harder.

The music was above average (well it would be when A R Rahman composing) with one track really sticking in my head, the title track, Rangeela Re.

For some strange reason it reminds me of the title track from Hungama, not that I’m implying the makers of Hungama have copied this song…

This was, as far as I can remember, the first film of Ram Gopal Verma’s that I’ve seen. Actually, that’s one of the main reasons I watched it… seen as I’ve often read his blog and got to know a bit about the kind of person he is. He’s entertaining on his blog but nevertheless, I’d never comment because I have no wish to have my words ridiculed, which must be slightly embarrassing to say the least. As far as I know, he used to be really popular around the time Rangeela came out but then he just kind of died out and no one wants to watch Rann. It really makes me wonder what went wrong…

Rating: 3.5/5 A sweet film that’ll make you fall in love with Bollywood all over again!

P.S. I’ve been trying out these ‘modern classical’ films as I call them that are from the late 80’s and 90’s that were popular at the time or are popular now. I would love recommendations… Do you have any suggestions of such films that I haven’t already reviewed? I’ll be reviewing Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and will watch Raja Hindustani but any except for them two? Any SRK or Salman ones?