Rajnigandha

Review By Kamal K

Nothing great about this film but still there is something so contemporary about this film that it somehow doesn't feel like a story specific to 70s India. The actors are fine. Both the leads have nothing great to offer except that they are quite decent. This movie,as it went along,grew on me. At the start,I didn't find the film good and the mediocre production quality didn't help as well. But as the story progresses and Vidya Sinha goes for a job interview in Bombay then the story becomes watchable and interesting as well.

The inclination and the strong pull towards reliving the past (which maybe painful but incredibly seductive) with her first love as compared to the relatively mundane yet trustworthy and reliable present is the primary focus of the film which is done is a very neat manner in the film especially considering that the film was made in the 70s. And in that respect,it was a film ahead of its time in relation to the themes, characters, some dialogues, techniques (although an inarguably poor production quality with some qustionable cinematography). I really liked the idea of freeze frames which is was really a new thing in Indian cinema. Surprisingly,I enjoyed the music in the film quite a bit as well as the song towards the end of the film. But all said,this was nowhere near to Basu Chatterjee's best film but still a good watch.