Rani Aur Lalpari: Bollywood Fantasy Film

In a decade where not many Bollywood makers thought of making a movie for kids, Ravikant Nagaich took the risk of making a Bollywood fantasy movie for children. To make it appealing, he roped in some of the most popular stars of that era for Rani Aur Lalpari. Ravikant Nagaich had also directed the 1977 Bollywood horror movie 'Jadu Tona' starring Feroz Khan and Reena Roy.

Rani Aur Lalpari is a story about Rani, a little girl brought up by her mother, Kamla, with Rani's dad being out of the town for Business. Both mother and daughter live with their cruel and selfish relatives. One day Kamla gets the news that her husband is returning, and is overjoyed. This joy turns to sorrow when she finds out that he has passed away in an accident. Shortly, thereafter she too passes away, leaving poor Rani at the hands of the cruel relatives. Rani loves her parents, as they are her world, and she undertakes a journey into another world to try and bring her parents back to life. In the movie, Rani is seen observing Ganesh Festival and decides to take a plunge into the sea to meet the gods. This movie also features the story of Cinderella and Gulliver's Travels, in two songs.

The movie didn't do that well at the box-office though. We thought the intent was to make a kind of a fairy tale, but it just got so melodramatic. A lotta filmmakers back then were probably clueless about how to make a children's movie. This one didn't work but we commend the director for having the guts to make a movie for children.

The cast of Rani aur Lalpari included:

• Baby Raani in the lead role as Raani
• Reena Roy as Lalpari
• Rajendra Kumar as Rajendra, Rani's dad
• Asha Parekh as Kamla, Rani's mom
• Jeetendra as Cinderella's Prince
• Feroz Khan as Gulliver
• Neetu Singh as Cinderella
• Master Abbas as Pappu
• Satyendra Kapoor as Ramlal, Raani's uncle
• Lalita Kumari as Ramlal's wife
• Ramesh Deo as Pappu's father
• Seema Deo as Pappu's mother
• Agha as Cinderella's dad
• Rajee Singh as Cinderella's Mother
• Preeti Ganguli as Cinderella's step-mom
• Jagdeep as King of the Lilliputs
• Aruna Irani
• Danny Denzongpa as Special appearance as self.
• Prem Nath as Yamraj
• Padma Khanna as Mermaid

Watch the full movie here:

Ravikant Nagaich died at the age of 60 on 6th January, 1991. Many of us who love to watch Fantasy and Horror movies will fondly remember him for Rani aur Lalpari and Jaadu Tona. May his soul rest in peace.