Utsav

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.

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.

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

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.