Rang Rasiya is not a consistent film, but one that tells a story of a pioneering artist and visionary, a story decidedly worth telling..

Rang Rasiya is much more than just a period film. It’s a statement on behalf of people who reject intolerance and are continuously striving for a new India which will give space to free voice. It’s a piece of art.

This film has been in the cans for several years, but given the timelessness of the story it tells and the crucial issues it addresses, it has lost none of its relevance.

Rang Rasiya is as good a film as any you have, or will, see this year. Strongly recommended.

Rang Rasiya is a colourful triumph, director Ketan Mehta meriting applause for his portrait of painter Raja Ravi Varma, skillfully blending a biopic, a period film, a love story and a social critique, within a tight frame.

Rang Rasiya is not a perfect film and not for everyone but for those who would like to know more about one of the best painters ever, this one will be worth your time.

Smeared in color, vibrancy and sensuality, Rang Rasiya revels in its operatic beauty and narrates a liberating tale of love, passion and freedom of vision. Ketan Mehta brings out the best from its actors Randeep and Nandana; especially the latter who unleashes on screen much beyond her sublime beauty, the vulnerability of her character. The inspirational story tells an uninhibited tale of a man who will always remain eternal through his art.

It’s these superfluous sex scenes and the appalling acting by the girls (except the delicate Feryna Wazheir playing Frenny) that just destroyed this otherwise interesting and smoothly told tale. By adding (because they really do seem lathered on top) these dispensable, obvious moments of lust, the film cheapens itself and stops feeling like an artistic A-grade take on the life of a world class artist that it should and could have been.

For those in the creative field and who love works of art, watching RANG RASIYA should definitely be on your ‘to-do list’ this weekend.

If you love art and cinema, and cinema as art, then don’t miss this one. The best film of the year.

Irrespective of any fault Rang Rasiya is a piece of cinema you could watch. This one will stand as one of the most deserving biopics in an industry which is suddenly trying to make films on just about anyone. Rang Rasiya is on a league of its own, meaningful and relevant a century after the man has gone.

Watch it if you have a thing for history, to know how Dada Saheb Phalke played a prodigy to Raja Ravi Varma and of course for the aesthetically rich treatment of the plot.

The relevance of this movie then will be lost on no one in the audience. The relationship between art and morality (or the public and morality itself) has not been a linear one. We tend to go back and forth on this subject every few generations.

For choosing to tell the story of this extraordinary artist and for standing up for artistic freedom, Rang Rasiya is recommended. That it could have been a far better film, is another story.

If you love art and cinema, and cinema as art, then don’t miss this one.