It is said that our deities in the Dwapar Yug sprinkled kesuda (red flower) mixed with water to calm the ravage of fire. Over the centuries, the kings and the queens replaced the red leaf paste with red powder (gulal) and as years passed by, our generations added multiple colours to the ritual but the message remained the same – it was a festival of joy!
In cinema the festival is even more magical because different filmmakers lend different perspectives to it, so if ‘Ari jaani natkhat, mat chuna mera ghunghat…’ picturised on dancer Gopi Krishna and Sandhya in Navrang is a celebration of music and dance for V Shantaram, for Yash Chopra, ‘Rang barse…’ is revival of romance in Silsila and ‘Aang se aang lagana…’ to evoke conflict in Shah Rukh starrer Darr.
For Subhash Ghai, it was a moment of confrontation between Shammi Kapoor and Jackie Shroff in Hero and reconciliation between warring friends in Saudagar. For Rajkumar Santoshi it was a reason to play truant in Damini and for Ramesh Sippy, a moment of celebration in Sholay. The director combines the happy and the sad moment, where a young Jaya Bhaduri chases Sanjeev Kumar’s Tonga threatening to colour him juxtaposed with Jaya as a widow watching the gaiety from a temple perched on the top of a hill.
To be continued…