Somehow during the 1980s Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies were less popular. It may be because their style started looking dated to the wide audience, who by then started getting used to the mindless action movies of those years. Rang Birangi is one of Mukherjee's lesser known films, and admittedly, it is not as good as his previous comedy pictures. Having said that, it's still a very colourful and enjoyable comedy of errors which deals with marriage. The film starts very well, though towards the end the level of interest is reduced due to the rather messy proceedings. The film stars several good actors, including Amol Palekar, Parveen Babi, Deepti Naval, Farooq Shaikh, and Utpal Dutt. The one who actually shines the most is Naval, who is very natural and lovely. Parveen Babi also does the best of a character that could have looked rather bland in the hands of a less spontaneous actress. Palekar is always good at comedy, and here too he is good although at moments he loses himself. So is Shaikh. Deven Verma and Utpal Dutt are gifted comic actors who can always be counted on to bring a few laughs. Rang Birangi is benefited by a good story which is effectively told. As most Mukherjee movies, it is filled with simplicity, and the film does not take itself too seriously. Overall not among Mukherjee's best but still a fun movie which is worth the watch.
Review of Rang Birangi
