Urmila Matondkar still remembers the rush of sprinting across a beach in an oversized white ganji and turning Mumbai’s streets into her personal stage. Thirty years after its 1995 release, her film ‘Rangeela’ is returning to cinemas in a newly restored version, and the actor is moved by the staying power of the story and its imagery. “It’s thrilling because it shows that people never forget such timeless movies,” she says.
Remembering a new kind of heroine
In an interview with Mid day, Matondkar reflects on how the film quietly reshaped the mainstream Hindi film heroine. Centered on her character Mili, the Aamir Khan and Jackie Shroff starrer followed a girl-next-door chasing acting dreams and love. “There was a lot of relatability as she was from a middle-class family,” she recalls. The styling, crafted by Manish Malhotra with director Ram Gopal Varma, sparked fashion trends across the country while presenting a heroine who openly celebrated her sensuality. “I certainly didn’t think of it from that perspective when I did ‘Rangeela’,” she says, adding that “the entire team contributes to a film’s success, and it’s one of the career-best works of these people.”Matondkar also looks back on her long association with Varma that began with ‘Rangeela’ and later included his production ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ (2004). Their collaboration paused not because of disagreements, she insists, but simply because he was working more with other actors, and she was cast only when the story truly required her.
Choreography, music and movement
Another legacy of ‘Rangeela’ lies in its choreography and A. R. Rahman’s songs, from the sensual pull of ‘Tanha Tanha’ to the joyous street carnival of ‘Rangeela Re’. Legend has it that Matondkar herself created some of the steps. “When I met Sarojji after ‘Rangeela’’s release, she told me that I should have also been credited as a choreographer,” the actor remembers. “I was so embarrassed.” She admits she devised certain parts, including the opening of ‘Hai Rama’ and ‘Pyaar Yeh Jaane Kaisa Hai’, and has done the same in other films.Her affection for her co-stars remains vivid. “If my character is the epitome of femininity on celluloid, then Jackie’s is the ultimate male portrayal in cinema,” she says of Jackie Shroff. “He was such a phenomenal co-star to someone like me, who was still trying to find her way at that time.”Then there is Aamir Khan, whose tapori avatar in ‘Rangeela’ astonished her. “I was crushing on Aamir after ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ (1988),” she confesses. On set, he lived up to his reputation. “He was playing a tapori for the first time here, and was a true perfectionist. His beauty is that even after 15 takes, he makes the last shot look spontaneous.”The film has been restored by Ultra Media for its re-release.
