Rang Birangi

Somehow during the 1980s Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies were less popular. It may be because their style started looking dated to the wide audience, who by then started getting used to the mindless action movies of those years. Rang Birangi is one of Mukherjee's lesser known films, and admittedly, it is not as good as his previous comedy pictures. Having said that, it's still a very colourful and enjoyable comedy of errors which deals with marriage. The film starts very well, though towards the end the level of interest is reduced due to the rather messy proceedings. The film stars several good actors, including Amol Palekar, Parveen Babi, Deepti Naval, Farooq Shaikh, and Utpal Dutt. The one who actually shines the most is Naval, who is very natural and lovely. Parveen Babi also does the best of a character that could have looked rather bland in the hands of a less spontaneous actress. Palekar is always good at comedy, and here too he is good although at moments he loses himself. So is Shaikh. Deven Verma and Utpal Dutt are gifted comic actors who can always be counted on to bring a few laughs. Rang Birangi is benefited by a good story which is effectively told. As most Mukherjee movies, it is filled with simplicity, and the film does not take itself too seriously. Overall not among Mukherjee's best but still a fun movie which is worth the watch.

Review By Kamal K

So much of harmless fun! Deven Verma, Utpal Dutt, Farooq Sheikh was superb. Short cameo for Raj Babbar, Bindiya Goswami was a little spice & flavor to this comedy movie. Parveen Babi & Deepti Naval was unforgettable.

The characterization of all and their performance is flawless... A laugh riot movie, a sure time pass...

Amol Palekar is a well settled man - and is happily married to Parveen Babi. The life is simple and monotonus - unchanging till Deven Verma comes in picture. Deven Verma is a foreign returned jolly good fellow and he wants to spice up the life of his friend and does so by arranging the romance of boss Amol Palekar with secretary Deepti Naval, who happens to have a boy friend Professor Farooq Shaikh.

Deven Verma weaves a complex plot and makes other players partially aware of what is going on to make the situation more funny. And to make this happen he ask Farooq Shiekh to play a private detective called "Dhurandar Bhatawadekar". The real "Dhurandar Bhatawadekar" is none other than Utpal Dutt who is uncle of Parveen Babi and a high ranking police officer. And this shatters plans of Deven Verma - brings chaos and leaves us laughing....

A lovely watch. One can see this with the entire family. Lovely cast, well directed, just warms the heart. Utpal Dutt is brilliant as always. Very well performed by Amol Palekar, Parveen Babi, On Prakash, Deven Varma, Dipti Naval. Everyone is outstanding!

There was an attempt to re create comedy of Chupke Chupke but the magic was just not there. The plot was ridiculous with no witty dialogues to keep the audience entertained. The comedy seemed to be forced without the natural flow. Om Prakash, Utpal Dutt key characters in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's previous projects had nothing noteworthy to do except hamming it. The script was so weak that despite Amol Pakekar, Deven Verma, Farooq Shaikh, Parceen Babi & Deepti trying their best to raise the movie failed to generate any mirth. I wouldn't even call it mildly funny, just a bland set of scenes stitched together. Disappointing as Hrishikesh was one of my favorite directors in the light hearted movie genres. What a waste of time.