“I disagree that I made Urmila’s career in Rangeela” – RGV

By Screen Weekly -

July 11, 2012 - 9:08 AM IST

Ram Gopal Varma is a director who is known for films that border on violence and drama. But he revealed a completely different facet with Rangeela, which belonged to a different genre

Playing the middleclass Mumbai girl Mili, (the protagonist's name was a furtive tribute by director Ram Gopal Varma to Hrishikesh Mukherjee) Urmila Matondkar, rocked the box office and changed the definition of how the conventional heroine conducted herself on screen. Bindaas is the word that comes to mind, describing Urmila's character in Rangeela. She scorched the screen, gyrating sensuously to A.R. Rahman's seductive sounds, 'Yaeee Re Yaeee Re Zor Nagake Nachee Re' in her sizzling Manish Malhotra outfit. The magic of the movies is that it foretells a success story even before the story unfolds. Urmila, who did half a dozen inconsequential films before Rangeela, never anticipated the tremendous response that her character whipped at the boxoffice.

A fairy tale

The plot was a cleverly cloaked fairytale. The girl dreams of stardom, is secretly loved by the street hoodlum Munna (Aamir Khan) but is swept off her feet by the nation's heartthrob Raj Kamal (Jackie Shroff). The film was fresh, sassy, unselfconsciously and unabashedly dream-like in choreography, mood and tempo. Mili's life at home is portrayed with a lightness of touch that Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) never seemed to achieve in his subsequent films, which progressively leant towards dark, blood-soaked themes.

In Rangeela, the delight RGV derived in portraying the joy of first love, of success or the first dance of effervescence is vividly portrayed in Urmila's performance.

The domestic scenes with Urmila's parents (Achyut Poddar and Reema Lagoo) and her kid brother, named Motilal are vehemently vibrant. In his later films, RGV invested his energy foraying into the dark realms of cinema.

Rangeela is RGV's lightest film to date. Its unmistakable power can be traced to Urmila's restive performance. She epitomizes the yearnings of the young Mumbai girl with a strong family support-system to realise her dreams. To Mili, family also means Munna, (Aamir Khan) the tapori in yellow pants, knitted vest, stubborn stubble and cocky caps. It would be wrong to call Munna a goonda. He is more the neighbourhood rowdy rathore. One of the finest performances of Aamir's career, Munna gave Aamir a chance to let go, simply have fun with a part without delving deeply into the character. The scenes where he coaches Urmila to memorize her dialogues for her shooting the next day, depicts the unrequited love, as he gets 'in character'.

Aamir actually played the all-giving Chandramukhi from Saratchandra Chatterjee's Devdas. Only, he didn't have to perform a mujra. The lovelorn looks he darts at Mili when she isn't looking (she has her eyes trained to a distant dream) kept Munna's character on the level of a street-smart lover-boy without reducing him to a love lost caricature.

Munna's hurt when Mili excitedly walks off in the middle of a lunch date to be with the superstar, was so palpable, we were inclined to shake Mili by her shoulders and make her aware of Munna's love for her.

A novel experience

Interestingly, films set in the film world fared dismally at the box office. Guru Dutt's Kagaz Ke Phool had nearly killed the film maker's self esteem. Vijay Anand's Tere Mere Sapne, Meraj's Sitara, Rituparno Ghosh's Shubho Mahurat, Sudhir Mishra's Khoya Khoya Chand and Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance are examples of such films not doing well. After Rangeela, RGV's Mast which was also set in the film industry failed at the box office.

Rangeela was another experience altogether. The excesses of the entertainment industry were harnessed into telling a tale where it was okay for the wannabe screen queen to replace the tantrum-throwing leading lady. Rangeela is all about wish fulfillment. Urmila gets stardom. Aamir gets Urmila. The superstar Jackie Shroff is left to walk the lonely path. You can't have a love story without a broken heart.

While the songs and dances were uniquely evocative and erotic, scenes from the film industry were a tongue-in-cheek narration of reality. Neeraj Vora as the sozzled gatecrasher pretending to be an influential producer who beleaguers Urmila at a party, the finicky director Steven Kapur (Gulshan Grover) who threatens to pack up at the smallest pretext, the tantrum throwing heroine (Shefali Shah), the harassed film producer (Avtar Gill) quoting box office figures to hide his own insecurities, the faithful father-like star-secretary (Ram Mohan) - these are all figures derived from the film industry.

RGV wove the wackiness of Bollywood into a fresh tale of rags-to-riches saga. The working-class wannabe star was draped in dresses that defied gravity. RGV never resorted to low-angle vulgarity. His camera had not begun to peer between thighs and down cleavages as yet. Rangeela is a celebration of unalloyed innocence. The fun quotient flowed freely and seamlessly from the actors' own enjoyment of the material that was served up to accentuate the contrast between dreamlike aspiration and harsh reality. Significantly, Munna sold tickets at black market rates outside the theatres where Mili aspired to be on screen. It was the perfect blend of fantasy and reality - stuff that Bollywood fariytales are made of.

Rangeela Trivia

“I disagree that I made Urmila’s career in Rangeela” – RGV

Urmila's character was partly based on RGV's dream woman Sridevi

Urmila had earlier worked in RGV's Drohi. The two subsequently worked in 6 films. The last time Urmila worked for RGV was in Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag where she performed the iconic 'Mehbooba Oh Mehbooba'.

Actor Rajesh Joshi who played Aamir Khan's friend Pakiya died soon after in a road accident. He was actor Manoj Joshi's sibling.

The unforgettable performance by the waiter, when Aamir takes Urmila to a 5-star hotel for lunch apparently provoked RGV to say the waiter performed better than Aamir in the scene. The actor who unknowingly caused a rift between Ramu and Aamir was the Gujarati stage television and film actor Rajiv Mehta.

Aamir and RGV fell out after Rangeela, both vowing they'd never work with the other.

Madhur Bhandarkar who worked as an assistant to RGV made a cameo appearance during a scene showing a film shoot.

While one-half of Urmila's Tanha Tanha number was shot in Goa, the other half had to be shot in Madh Island. And no one could tell the difference.

Ram Gopal Varma Speaks About Rangeela

"For me, Rangeela was homage to two of my favorite Hollywood films, The Sound Of Music and Singing In The Rain. The choreography was inspired by Singing In The Rain. The Sound Of Music was the first film I had seen which had no antagonist. I consciously avoided negative characters in Rangeela. It was set in very real situations. We shot in a middleclass household to depict Urmila and her family's lifestyle. When people say I made Urmila's career in Rangeela, I completely disagree. I am the same guy who earlier made Drohi with Urmila. What happened to that? For any actor, success is a question of getting the right opportunity, then everything falls into place. During Drohi, the choreographer didn't turn up for a song. So I asked Urmila if she would dance on her own and she agreed. And she did a great job. That's when I decided to make Rangeela with Urmila. Aamir's character was based on a street goonda I knew in Hyderabad. When I narrated Rangeela to Aamir he agreed immediately. He is an incredibly passionate performer. Was Steven Kapur's character based on Shekhar Kapoor? Well, I had heard Shekhar and Vinod Chopra arguing whether it was one or the other. When they asked me, I told them to keep guessing. As for A. R. Rahman, you need a lot of patience to work with him. He works at his own pace. I like doing things fast. He likes doing them at his own pace. I didn't have the patience. So after Rangeela and Daud we never worked together again. Rangeela worked. Daud didn't. There's no way we can predict these things. I'd like to do another film in the Rangeela genre.