Utsav

I had been longing to watch this movie for several reasons. One - it was from Shashi Kapoor (noted for sensible productions like Junoon, Kalyug, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Vijeta etc). Two - Girish Karnad helming the affairs who is quite able in his own right. Three - the songs which I literally grew up with (watching over and again in Chitrhaar, and cursing!). Four - the original choice for the lead pair was Amitabh & Rekha which transformed into a lacklustre Shekhar Suman & Rekha. Nonetheless, its "Utsav - Celebration of art" and it truly lived up to the expectations. Noteworthy is that everything in the movie was classified as an art including robbery & sex.

As mentioned earlier, music was one of the strong motivations to watch the movie and needless to say the songs are top- notch. Its noteworthy to mention that Lakshmikant-Pyarelal were in top form (a la Himesh Reshamiyya) when Utsav was released and the music of Utsav was completely different to their genre and yes, a bit hit. Lyrics by Vasant Dev are exceptional. Probably after Satyam Shivam Sundaram, one gets to hear such poetry in its purest form.

The only shortcoming was was language which I felt that there was enough room to improvise as it did not maintain consistency. In Hindi cinema after Navrang, perhaps one get to hear such pure dialogues and lyrics.

The sets are massive and attempt to create the Gupta age is noteworthy.

Vasantsena - nobody except Rekha.

Samsthanak - the character per se was a mockery and needless to say ill- suited Shashi Kapoor.

Annu Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Harish Patel, Khulbushan Kharbanda, Gopi Desai, Anupam Kher entire NFDC was present except the biggies Naseer, Om Puri & Shabana.

It was good to see innocent Master Manjunath. Reminded me of Malgudi Days.

Neena Gupta suited the fiery Mandolika. Anuradha Patel was quite pretty and well suited for the role of Aditi. Amjad Khan was passable.

Shekhar Suman was the weakest link. How on earth did me manage to lead a lead role opposite Rekha - beats me!

The period painted by the director, art director and the cinematographer is utterly convincing. You simply surrender. Sharad Joshi's dialogue is delightful. Music is just as convincing for the period. Great movie making.

This is based on Bhas' play called mrishchakatick meaning Chariot of clay. However the name has not much significance to the play. The story is about a prostitute (prostitutes had a great respect then) Vsantsena loving a bankrupt seth Charudatta. The movie shows the greatness of Indian Culture where vastyana who wrote kamsutraa was a celibate. A prostitute was a virgin. And person who defeated the king did not accept the monarch but just got mixed up with the crowd. A champiwala became sadhu when he saw how vasantsena loved charudatta. How a Indian wife though angry give away her only ornament to save his husband. The plot is very seductive but it is the story and direction makes the movie a non erotic but a classic

I saw this movie a very long time ago and it was quite controversial when it was released, because of the erotic scenes. The movie is not at all vulgar, there is a beauty to even the adult scenes and it shows how open minded India was at that period.

Rekha is fantastic in her portrayal of Vasantasena, the courtesan whom the entire Kingdom desires. Shashi Kapoor as the evil minister was also good. Shekhar Suman was cast probably for his innocent looks at that time. Amjad Khan as Vatsyana is hilarious. Rest of the cast are also good.

The music is phenomenal. It's sad that the core message of the movie was lost on the masses.

The best part of the movie for me was the last scene which I will not reveal here.

Utsav review :

Based on the famous Sanskrit drama called 'Mruchhkatikam', Utsav was an erotic drama directed by theatre veteran Girish Karnad and produced by Shashi Kapoor. It was on offbeat film with plenty of erotica shot very aesthetically. Newcomer Shekhar Suman had an elaborate love making scene with the gorgeous Rekha. Anuradha Patel and Rekha's sensuous 'aadhi raat' number hinted at lesbianism. Shashi Kapoor was miscast as the villainous king lusting after Rekha. The role was initially offered to Amitabh Bachchan who turned it down.

Overall, Utsav was too arty and abstract to find an audience in the '80s. A complete box office disaster released at Metro Cinema, Mumbai.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.