Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ravikant Nagaich: Director, madman, visionary

I've been obsessing over Bollywood director Ravikant Nagaich ever since reviewing Rani Aur Lalpari. So much so, in fact, that I was inspired to post larger version of some of the screen grabs I made for my earlier review of his Kaala Sona, along with some additional grabs from Rani Aur Lalpari. He obviously had a real love for placing his actors within psychedelic fantasy landscapes.






6 comments:

memsaab said...

He directed a whole lot of films, most of them bad but all with some lunatic highlights. The ones I've seen are Farz, Jigri Dost, The Train (which is made of awesome), Pyar Ki Kahani, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Keemat, Kala Sona, and of course Wardat and Surakksha. I just got Dharmendra's Gold Medal which promised English subtitles but doesn't actually deliver them, so I haven't seen it yet.

He often was his own cinematographer too.

Todd said...

Ah, yes, The Train. Awesome, indeed. I've also noticed that he was the cinematographer on the first Zimbo movie. Obviously the man had the golden touch.

memsaab said...

Yes, but vermeil golden :)

I have decided to rewatch Farz in your (his?) honor. Perhaps I will write it up this time...or perhaps not. Such potential, wasted. It could be his tagline.

Todd said...

I've actually never watched Farz, because Keith managed to communicate so vividly just how disappointing it was in his Teleport City review. I know it's a kind of absurdly binary way to think about it, but I decided that watching Aankhen instead would suffice as far as exposure to pioneering, high profile Bollywood James Bond cash-ins of the 1960s goes.

memsaab said...

I cannot disagree with Keith or the comparison to Aankhen either :)

memsaab said...

...and yet still I managed to review it. Sort of.