AllMovie

The life of one of India's most acclaimed artists inspired this period drama from writer and director Ketan Mehta. In the late 19th Century, Raja Ravi Varma (Randeep Hooda) is a famous but controversial painter who is celebrated by critics for his warm, earthy realism and condemned by Hindu clerics for his nude studies and portraits of deities personified as beautiful women. Varma's favorite model and greatest source of inspiration is Sugandha (Nandana Sen), a beautiful woman who gives him love and support, and his celebration of her beauty has helped to make his work popular with the masses, who eagerly buy reproductions of his works. But Varma's popularity has not earned him any favor with authorities, who have declared some of his nudes obscene, or the religious figures who consider his canvases blasphemous; a framing story set in the 21st Century finds his work still generating strong opinions in the present day. Adapted from a book by Ranjit Desai, Rang Rasiya (aka Colours of Passion) also stars Paresh Rawal, Rachna hah and Jim Boeven.