Did you know that Ram Gopal Varma and Manish Malhotra made a few trips to shops in Abids, and its Sunday book bazaar in Hyderabad to look for clothes and fashion magazines while planning Urmila Matondkar’s costumes in Rangeela? The 1995 film marked Manish’s debut as costume designer. “Manish was working with Neeta Lulla and would travel from Bombay to Hyderabad to deliver clothes for my Telugu film Govinda Govinda,” Varma recalls, during this interview at his office named Den, in Jubilee Hills, where the interiors resemble a small grove.
Rangeela is set to re-release on November 28. This has been a season of re-releases for him, with Rangeela arriving a fortnight after the 1989-blockbuster, Shiva. “The restoration of Shiva took time. Since the sound was originally recorded on a mono track, it had to be recreated for Dolby Atmos and I was involved in the process. Rangeela’s remastering was simple since it was recorded on Dolby,” he explains.
Re-releases are not a recent trend, says RGV, recalling how it was prevalent in the 1980s and 90s, albeit for a different reason: “Re-releases helped plug the gaps when there weren’t enough new theatrical releases.”
Currently working on the horror comedy Police Station Mein Bhooth with Manoj Bajpayee, Ramya Krishnan, and Genelia Deshmukh, RGV prefers to focus on the present rather than give in to nostalgia.
However, he is game to rewind to the days of Rangeela, which he rates among his most satisfying films, along with Satya.
Inspirations: From Hollywood to a goonda
RGV was enamored by how Mani Ratnam picturised the songs in Roja, and he also wanted to make a musical like Singing in the Rain. Character inspirations came from The Sound of Music, and a goonda named Ramesh who RGV knew in his campus days.
“We saw Ramesh hesitating to confess his love for a girl. When she dated a rich guy, he said the girl might be better off with him. This quality of letting go, and wishing her well, came from Ramesh as well as the Countess of The Sound of Music,” says RGV. Once, Ramesh turned up in bright-coloured shoes to impress the girl. An echo of this can be seen in the canary yellow shirt sported by Aamir Khan in a scene.
Urmila and Aamir Khan in ‘Rangeela’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
“Sridevi, Rajinikanth and Nagarjuna were my first choices for the film,” says RGV. He narrated Rangeela and Govinda Govinda to Sridevi, who chose the latter. Then, while filming the thriller Gaayam, RGV was impressed by how Urmila, then a relative newcomer, choreographed and danced to a song when the choreographer could not make it to the shoot. “I decided to make Rangeela with Urmila.”
RGV remembers Aamir’s “serious” approach while listening to the story, as against Jackie Shroff’s instinctive call. Rangeela was filmed in real locations in Mumbai and the director says crowd control was never an issue. “We planned some scenes to look as though people on the streets suddenly dance along with Aamir and Urmila, like in a Hollywood musical.”
ARR’s soundscape
Rangeela’s backbone was its music. It was AR Rahman’s first direct Hindi film. Back then, RGV was perplexed when Rahman pitched a rough track, without being accompanied by live musicians, as was the norm.
“The sound, orchestration, and how he processes the singers’ voices were all new to me. It was tough to decide if I wanted a tune, based on the rough track he hummed with a blank expression,” says RGV, explaining how, when he first listened to the outline for ‘Hai Rama’, he thought Rahman sent him a Carnatic classical tune by mistake.
“The reference I had given him for a sensuous, erotic song was ‘Kaate Nahi Kat Te’ from Mr India, and he gave me a classical tune. I thought it would put people to sleep.” The tune grew on RGV like slow poison. When the orchestration was done, he was blown away.
AR Rahman
| Photo Credit:
Special ArrangementChennai
The ‘Hai Rama’ song, RGV recalls, was not composed when he and Rahman travelled to Goa for this purpose. “Each day he would come up with some excuse; finally he said ‘Ramu, next time don’t book me into a room that has television’. I was livid.”
Aamir, Jackie Shroff and Asha Bhonsle warmed up to the songs gradually. “Rahman’s method was new. If a director does not know what he wants, it can throw him off balance.” More than once, RGV made Mani Ratnam listen to the rough tracks, and the latter asked him to go ahead, given its new-ness.
Music-inspired innovations
As the music shaped up, RGV was “on tenterhooks.” Eventually, it inspired the choreographers to think out of the box. “Saroj Khan was startled when she first heard ‘Tanha tanha’… Later, when she could not give me the dates to choreograph the other songs, I asked her assistant, Ahmed Khan, to take over. He too was surprised by the music, disappeared for a few days, and when he demonstrated what he had in mind for ‘Rangeela re’, it was special.”
The hunger of newcomers — Ahmed Khan and Manish Malhotra — along with ARR’s music, helped Rangeela. “The song ‘Kya karen’ came from the state of mind of Aamir’s character. The cinematography (WB Rao) was also not complicated. We would discuss the colours and compositions. In the ‘90s, we did not have concept artists for cinema. I just wanted all my characters to appear realistic.”
Jackie Shroff in the film
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
For a brief while, Aamir doubted if a story without an antagonist or a strong conflict point would work. But once RGV explained his point of view and cited The Sound of Music as a reference, the actor worked “with complete conviction”. RGV says such discussions are natural for any film: “Eventually one person has to make a firm decision.”
Test screenings were held to gauge the response. “One has to weigh feedback carefully since not everyone can point out what works or doesn’t for a film. A few didn’t care for the ‘Hai Rama’ song, but we went ahead.”
Rangeela’s music had grown popular by the time of release. RGV recalls how Mumbai’s Eros theatre was decorated by distributor Shyam Shroff, who was exuberant about the film’s prospects. During the intermission of the preview, RGV spotted directors Shekhar Kapur and Vidhu Vinod Chopra debating if the character of Steven Kapoor (Gulshan Grover) was inspired by either of them: “Steven was a mix of both, more of Vinod Chopra.”
The reception to the film was warm from day one. RGV adds, “On Saturday evening, (producer) Boney Kapoor told me that all four popular trade magazines gave the film a thumbs up, something that had not happened in a decade.”
RGV recalls how the audiences threw coins and cheered for Urmila in the ‘Rangeela re’ song. “A star was born. It remains a mystery to me as to what makes people warm up to an actor for the first time.”
He reasons that her styling, which was different from the other heroines of the ‘90s, may have worked. “And the story of a guy who is unable to express his love, and his fear of rejection, are relatable. We told a simple story with visual splendour and great music.”
Weeks later, Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge arrived, scripting box office history. While some trade analysts stated that the success of Rangeela was nearly overshadowed by DDLJ, RGV differs: “Not at all. Both films continue to be celebrated.”
