Navrang

Wow. Whenever I find myself watching allegedly show stopping choreography in new Bollywood films which style themselves as fantasies, this sense of total boredom always creeps in at the sheer unimaginative nature of the dance routines. They're ubiquitous of course. Everyone prances about like their fresh from the Brian Rogers Dance Connection on Seaside Special, same kicks, same cutaways, the lot.

And then I saw Navrang on satellite. Wow. This is a truly fantastical film. It looks genuinely unearthly. The plot: 19th Century sage/poet/artistic type Divakar (Mahipal, looking uncannily like William L Petersen circa Manhunter)has lost his muse. This is a time of British Imperial rule (booo), but there's no overt agenda here. Its a simple story via which Divakar starts to be tormented by his artists' block. Which is where Sandhya comes in. In a dual role of his beloved and his muse she performs some gob smacking classically inspired pieces. There's this scene where she's performing a kathak (?) style routine, balancing about 10 water pots on her head, she even bends down whilst balancing them on her head (no strings). There's fantasy set pieces that are simply beautiful too, notably the piece where she's in the temple, and it morphs into a whole white-out room full of giant temple bells, each with a dancer on the ringer, swaying to the music. This is up there with the glorious surreal set designs of some of the Hollywood musicals of the 30's, and the Powwll & Pressburger film "The Red Shoes" in terms of real skill on display. they make it all look so simple too.

I first heard the music at my brother-in-lows house back in the late seventies, and thought it was very original. I have seen the newly re-mastered movie three times (in seven days) and I think the music has passed the test of time and is still exquisite. The story line is subtle and does not have the stereotypical endings of a Bollywood movie where everyone lives happily ever after. The dance sequences (long) are very colorful and superb (however one has to put the special effects in context and keep in mind that Navrang must have been one of the first color movies made in India).

Must see if you appreciate classical music and classical Indian dancing.

It is not a movie its poetry or Cultural Festival .Fully Entertaining...You will feel very Good after watching that movie.. Sandya Favt. Heroine of Shantaram was in full mode in that classic Movie Her Dances are the Highlight of the Movie. It is The best movie of Actor Mahipal who is famous in mythological movies. Music is the Soul of Navrang...C.Ramchander Give The Best Music... Watch it with your Family ...it highlights Eastern Culutre Music.

NAVRANG is a romantic musical set during the middle of 19th century British ruled India. The film is a fairly decent romance tale of longing, separation and eventual reunion, but what sets it apart is that the couple here are married to each other rather than your usual couple during the courtship process, that's found generally in such films. Its timeless musical album and the superb dance performances by the Sandhya is certainly the reason it's remembered most, but many people fail to appreciate the brilliance of Mahipal's performance, and the masterful set designing.

If Jamuna's character was given as much care as Divakar's, the film could have soared even higher. To be frank, Jamuna feels one-note mostly due to her poor writing, and is a character that you fail to root for, despite the fact that she too suffers a lot. But the way she treats Divakar, and the manner in which her character progresses during the 3rd act, definitely makes her the primary antagonist of this film.

Also, why was the entire film a flashback? The current timeline of events in the film serve no purpose at all, and if its entirety removed from the film, it still won't make an iota of difference.

Overall, Navrang is a classic romantic tale with a dose of patriotism on the side, and apart from some hiccups here and there, it's a fairly smooth rowing.

Navrang (1959) : Brief Review -

Lyrical Elaboration of a Poet's Fantasy World with Outdated Storytelling. Navrang was a 2nd Super Hit in a row for V. Shantam after Masterpiece 'Do Aankhen Baraah Haath' (1957) and it also begins with an emotional video message from the Director explaining how did he find the idea. His one eye was hurt during the climax of scene of 'Do Aankhen Barah Haath' and he thought everything was over but then he found colorful insights of Human Life and made Navrang. The film is about a Poet and Singer who sees his beautiful wife in fantasy world and creates gem after another but in real life his wife is unhappy with him. He loses his job and wife both and blames himself but then everything returns back to normal by the end. Navrang doesn't offer anything in the writing and storytelling and both are outdated by far. The storytelling trails almost 15-20 years behind when rest of the Bollywood was fairly upgraded by 1959. I couldn't bear the outdated melodramatic presentation where you see Scenes are cut inaccurately, interruptions in BGM and those milky faces looking up above the sky while delivering dialogues. Somehow these mistakes were covered by Lyrical elaboration of Poetic scenes and Soulful Music. I don't need to tell you how popular Navrang songs are since release till today. Mahipal does that melodramatic part in his outdated style and Sandhya impresses with her Mind blowing Dance moves. Cinematography and Visual effects have been used correctly and that's the only part where film actually looks like an updated film of late 50s. V. Shantaram has made a decent film and comparatively it's below par to his previous Classic Do Aankhen Barah Haath. The real motive of the film never comes to the limelight and ends on an incomplete note. Navrang is hardly a one time watch film and that too if you really want to enjoy the music and lyrical explanation of poet's fantasy world which is far far away from realistic life, otherwise you can easily Skip it and watch any Full Proof Classic from golden 50s decade.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest