I’d love to remake 'Navrang' some day: Remo D’Souza

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Singin’ In The Rain is like the Bible for any filmmaker who’s even contemplating to make a musical. Any filmmaker interested in depicting music in his/her films should watch the film a 100 times.

When I say musical, I don’t just mean a film which has songs. A musical is where the entire film is shot like a song — like in opera. The script of a musical is written in such a way that you don’t realise when a song starts and ends, it should flow in the narrative seamlessly. Singin’ In The Rain is the perfect example of that kind of a film.

I even consider Chicago to be a great musical. The courtroom scene in Chicago, depicted in a musical format, is one of the best scenes ever shot. But nothing beats Singin’ In The Rain.

Navrang (1959)
In Navrang, each and every song was simply outstanding. The film was a musical, one of the few made in India, and V Shantaram was an expert in the genre. I have enjoyed all his films, like Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje etc, but Navrang remains one of my all-time favourite films. Each and every song in the film has a deeper meaning, and the choreography is outstanding.

Like in Singin’ In The Rain, the songs here are part of the narrative and don’t stand out individually. I would love to officially remake Navrang some day.

Jewel Thief (1967)
Vijay Anand was another Indian filmmaker who had a great music sense. Whether it was Teesri Manzil, Johny Mera Naam, Kala Bazaar or Guide, each of these films had great music and well-choreographed songs.

Another aspect of Vijay Anand’s films was that they were all technically more sound than those by other filmmakers of that time. Jewel Thief is a personal favourite among all Vijay Anand films. The film had some amazing numbers, especially ‘Hothon pe aisi baat...’ in which Vyjayanthimala looked simply stunning. There have been few Hindi film heroines who were good actors and great dancers too, like Madhuri Dixit, Hema Malini and Meenakshi Seshadri. Vyjayanthimala was one of them.

Rangeela (1995)
Rangeela was a film which changed the whole perception of how songs should be shot in Hindi films. Before that, there was a typical way of shooting songs. For eg, there would be older looking dancers in the background. Rangeela introduced the trend of having college-going boys and girls, who were good-looking and good dancers at the same time, to dance behind actors.

The choreography was very stylised too. Of course, AR Rahman’s music in the film was simply outstanding.

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)
Uttam Kumar’s music in Dil To Pagal Hai was just great. The film had some of the best choreographed sequences in Hindi films. The competition sequence — the face-off between Madhuri and Karishma — is among the moments that have remained in my memory much after I saw the film.

Also, it’s among the few Hindi films that open with a dance number. Shiamak Davar brought a new style of choreography in the film and the opening number, ‘Le gayi…’ set the tempo straightaway. I remember being slightly late for the film the first time I saw it at Gaeity cinema and entering at the same time the song started. I was so taken up by the beauty of the song that I stood transfixed at the door, not bothering to find myself a seat till it ended.

Remo D’Souza is a choreographer-turned-filmmaker. Here he talks of five films that used music exceptionally well