Portrait of an artist in technicolour.

The fascinating inspiring story of Raja Ravi Varma, the most celebrated artist of India, says the poster of Ketan Mehta's bilingual period film Rang Rasiya (the English version is called Colors of Passion). Inspiration is what India needs at this point given the current hostile atmosphere marked by terrorism and religious violence. "This is what makes the film contemporary. It is an assertion of freedom of expression and creative freedom," says Mehta ensconced in a leather chair at a Mumbai studio on a Saturday afternoon as a bevy of journalists wait outside for his interview. Rang Rasiya strikes a chord at the outset in a scene where Varma (played by Randeep Hooda) is tried on charges of obscenity for painting mythological characters in the nude. Doesn't that remind us of a similar predicament faced by a celebrated painter of our times, MF Husain? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]