Rangula Kala

aka Colourful Dreams 1983 136’ col Telugu d/st/co-sc/co-m B. Narasinga Rao pc Suchitra Int. co-sc/co-lyr Devi Priya co-sc Uppala Narasimham co-sc/dial S.M. Pran Rao co-lyr Gaddar, Angaiah c Venugopal K. Thakker co-m Janardhan lp B. Narasinga Rao,

7. Narayana Rao,T. Saichand, Kakarala,

Chandra, Venkata Reddy, Roopa, Shakuntala, Shesham Raju,Sangeetha Behal, Rajyalakshmi, Usha Sheikh, Haritha, Amar Mohan

Narasinga Rao’s debut is an existential melodrama with the director playing a romantic painter, Ravi, whose friends include a trade union leader (Kakarala), an autorickshaw driver, a Marxist journalist (Narayana Rao) and a glib, successful painter (Saichand) whose success contrasts with Ravi’s inability to sell his own work. His neighbour Kankamma, who rejects an evil landlord’s advances, is evicted from her house; the trade unionist is killed in police custody; and Ravi starts exhibiting his work on the streets to indicate his growing politicisation to the satisfaction of his Marxist friend. The film is geared to the CPI(ML)-led political movements in Northern AP and included the compositions and songs of the region’s best-known radical poet and performer, Gaddar.

Film