Ram Gopal Varma's Rangeela completed 29 years today (September 8). In an old interview with Zoom, the director talked about the film in brief and reacted if this film turned Urmila Matondkar into an overnight sensation.
Excerpts from the interview
Rangeela remains your lightest film to date.
There’s no such thing as dark and light kind of films in my repertoire. Even dark films have songs of romance and light moments. I am definitely more attracted to films that deal with power conflicts. But every director keeps remaking his favourite films.
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Which are your favourite films?
Mine are The Godfather, McKenna’s Gold, The Exorcist, The Sound Of Music and Singing In The Rain. I came to Rangeela after making a couple of dark films Shiva and Raat. But before Rangeela I also made two very frothy Telugu films Govinda Govinda and Kshanam Khanam. So it wasn’t as if I suddenly swerved into the romantic musical genre.
No matter what you say, Rangeela stands out for its effervescence in your repertoire.
Firstly, I don’t know what effervescence means. To me, Rangeela was a homage to two of my favourite Hollywood films The Sound Of Music and Singing In The Rain. The choreography was inspired by Singing In The Rain.
Rangeela had no other negative characters?
The Sound Of Music was the first film I had seen which had no antagonist. I consciously avoided negative characters in Rangeela. It was set in very real situations. We shot in a real middle-class house to show Urmila and her family’s lifestyle.
Rangeela turned Urmila Matondkar into an overnight sensation.
When people say I made Urmila’s career in Rangeela I completely disagree. I am the same guy who earlier made Drohi with Urmila. What happened to that? For any actor success is a question of getting the right opportunity. Then everything falls into place.
At what point did you decide to make Urmila’s career?
During Drohi the choreographer didn’t turn up for a song. So I asked Urmila if she would dance on her own and she agreed. And she did a great job. That’s when I decided to make Rangeela with Urmila.By the way, she was named Mili after one of my favourite directors Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film with Jayaji.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee is a favourite of yours?
Yes, why are you surprised? I only make films about gangsters. I am not one.
And Aamir Khan?
Aamir’s character Munna was based on a street goonda I knew in Hyderabad. When I narrated Rangeela to Aamir he immediately agreed. He is an incredibly passionate performer.
Was Steven Kapur based on Shekhar Kapoor?
I heard Shekhar and Vinod Chopra argue whether it was the one or the other. When they asked me I told them to keep guessing.
What was it like working with A R Rahman?
You need a lot of patience to work with him. He works at his own pace. I like doing things yesterday, not today and certainly not tomorrow. He likes doing them the day after tomorrow. I didn’t have the patience. So after Rangeela and Daud we never worked together again.
Happy about Rangeela?
Rangeela worked. Daud didn’t. There’s no way we can predict these things. I’d like to do another film in the Rangeela genre.