RANGITARANGA (Kannada/2015) - A well-shot and skillfully directed mystery thriller with a fine mix of horror and suspense. (Review by Bobby Sing)

RangiTaranga (meaning ‘colourful wave’), though might not be a perfect mystery-thriller to be rated as an outstanding ‘who-dun-it’ movie. But it does have its own exceptional merits in terms of cinematography and a very superior mix of horror and suspense elements woven into the narration, written and directed by Anup Bhandari making a highly impressive debut.

Revolving around a novelist writing his novel titled ‘RangiTaranga’ using a fictional author name, the film begins with his visit to the village of Kamarottu (his wife’s ancestral home) for some kind of sacred purification. A young journalist is following him too searching for the real author and there they all get to experience many strange and unexpected events (including deaths) hinting towards occult and crime together in a quite frightening manner. The continuous incidents slowly get linked to many powerful people of the village and from there onwards the film moves to many serious twists and turns leading to all carefully kept dark secrets revealed in an engaging end.

To be exact, a few worth mentioning outstanding merits truly convert ‘Rangitaranga’ into an engrossing must watch thriller as mentioned below.

First of all it’s the visual breathtaking impact the film makes on the viewer with a stunning cinematography (by Lance Kaplan and William David), an effective background score (by B. Ajaneesh Lokanath) and a well written story progression, keeping you involved throughout despite a few moments of dragging in the mid.

Second is the superfine, entertaining mix emphasizing on the regional flavour, natural surroundings, the culture, the local superstitions and the usual romantic and thriller elements enhancing the basic theme.

But most importantly it’s the fact that the film is a highly appreciable collective effort of many debut performers including the writer-director Anup Bhandari who has even composed the songs and written their lyrics too. Though it surely could have been much tighter and focused with a few less songs, still they mostly work due to their catchy compositions by the director himself, that isn’t less than any rare exceptional achievement made in the present times.

Adding all realistic scary sequences in the film, Anup reportedly got his inspiration from a track featured in a television serial (as mentioned at more than one places) and then found a commendable support from many debutant artists too playing the key roles of his script making it a worth watching crime thriller.

In short, if you love this particular genre offering an enjoyable mix of horror and mystery together, then RangiTaranga will not disappoint you for sure, even though it might leave you with a couple of questions unanswered post an emotional and mature climax. So do go for it as your next and have a good time with this colourful wave of suspense having a technical edge.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Written, Music, Lyrics and Directed by : Anup Bhandari
Produced by : H. K. Prakash
Starring : Nirup Bhandari, Avantka Shetty, Radhika Chetan, Saikumar and more.