Utsav

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.

When i saw Utsav i felt so proud of being Indian. Today ours is a conservative country but in the gupta period we were so liberal about sex. The Gupta era has been masterfully captured in this movie. The only bad thing was that the film has a slightly slow pace. The song "Man kyon behka" is excellent. The Sets are seductive and the cinematography is impressive.

I saw this movie yesterday and felt that the roles of Amjad Khan were underdeveloped, both as the narrator and as Vatsyayana. He is introduced as narrator but does not do anything after that. He then comes up as Vatsyayana but is lost after a few scene. I thought Vatsyayana could have been a recurring motif for the movie- just to highlight the eroticism of the times in the Gupta age, called the Golden Age of India.

Acting wise, Rekha is superb, nearly phenomenal! Debutant Shekhar Suman displays the nervousness of a now-poor man who is being seduced by a famous and rich courtesan- but he lacks screen presence, an obvious side effect. As a rookie and that too in front of Rekha, he would naturally have been nervous! The most curious case was that of Shashi Kapoor's Sansthanak- a role he would never have played anywhere else and something that Akhilendra Mishra's (aka Kroor Singh of Chandrakanta) of today would feel more comfortable playing! Still his acting needs to be commended- I noticed only really late that this was SHASHI KAPOOR!

Overall, the feeling was that while it was good, it could have been even better.

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.