As Rangeela returned to cinemas on November 28, 2025, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma sat down with Bollywood Hungama to revisit some of the defining moments behind the 1995 classic. One of the most significant stories he recounted was Urmila Matondkar’s initial apprehension about her portrayal, especially in the song ‘Tanha Tanha.’
Varma recalled that Matondkar came from a “very conservative middle-class family” and had mostly played “fully clothed, wearing churidas and things like that” before Rangeela. During their early conversations, he realised that her hesitation stemmed less from the costume and more from the feeling of being exposed on screen.
He explained how Hollywood musicals shaped his understanding of performance. “I had this observation,” he said, referencing classics like Singin’ in the Rain. “The kind of grace with which those dancers do… and they wear short clothes and all that. But look so beautiful. And I used to see my mother enjoying those songs. But whenever she sees a Hindi song… for example, a ‘Sarkai Lo Khatiya Jada Lage’ kind of song… she used to have a frown.”
For Varma, the difference was not the attire but the attitude. “Then I realised it is not so much about the exposure. It’s about how they are taking it,” he said. That became the cornerstone of his guidance to Matondkar. “So I told Urmila, if you feel beautiful, if you feel with a sense of pride what you are…”
To help her approach “Tanha Tanha” with that mindset, Varma used a vivid analogy. “I give an example: if you see a kind of a puppy dog in the garden… it keeps jumping about. It doesn’t even care about who is watching. It is not conscious about what it is doing.”
He extended the metaphor further, asking her to shed all awareness of the camera and the crew. “Just forget there is a camera, forget there is a film unit. You are like an exotic wild animal. And that being seen by Jackie, from his point of view, connected to the chemistry of the thing.” According to Varma, that was the moment everything clicked. “There somewhere she got convinced on that. And she did it completely without inhibition.”
The filmmaker’s recollection offers a rare window into how one of Rangeela’s most iconic performances was shaped—through instinct, trust, and the understanding that confidence can redefine how a scene is perceived.
More Pages: Rangeela Box Office Collection
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