The Last Color is an Indian Drama film directed by Vikas Khanna. It stars Neena Gupta, Aqsa Siddiqui, Princy Sudhakaran, Rajeshwar Khanna, Rudrani Chettri, Aslam Sheikh, and Neha Garg. It was released on 9th January 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.
The story starts with Chhoti (Aqsa Siddiqui) who is a tightrope walker and has a dream of going to school one day. She with her friend Chintu (Rajeshwar Khanna) struggles daily for food and lives near the riverside of Benaras. Chhoti gets close to a widow Noor (Neena Gupta) who is prohibited from enjoying any festivals especially Holi. Her and Noor's friendship grow stronger.
Though divided by caste and bonded by friendship, Noor always encourages Chhoti to fly high so that no one can touch her and most importantly to study. Whereas Chhoti brings nail polishes for Noor and promises that she'll play Holi with her. But Noor passes away on the day of Holi and Chhoti is in jail as she saw police officer Raja (Aslam Sheikh) killing Anarkali (Rudrani Chettri). Now cut to 24 years later, Chhoti has become a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and is now fighting for the rights of widows so that they could take part in playing Holi.
Story by Vikas Khanna and screenplay and dialogues penned by Vibhav Srivastava are very ordinary though backed up by strong themes dealing with untouchables, caste discrimination, gender differences, and so on. Vikas Khanna is professionally a chef, and his rawness and greenness in filmmaking can be seen in this directorial debut. The film starts with a low note, eventually picks up at the middle portions, and then again dips.
This unevenness works against the film and the big drawback is that all characters somehow feels half baked. We only know them for what we see on the screen and nothing more. The discrimination based on caste and gender is extensively discussed here. Even one villainous police officer is also there and a news reporter and a transgender woman. Vikas thought of packing this film up with characters related to relevant and talked about issues of our current society but he fails miserably to develop them.
His intentions are good but sadly none of these strong issues depicted leaves any impact on viewers. Yes, the scenes between Noor and Chhoti are a delight and fun but apart from that nothing actually works nor it offers anything new apart from what we already knew. I wanted to like this film but everything is so scattered here that nothing hits you as everything has been thrown at you just at a surface level.
Neena Gupta is a joy to watch. She has done beautiful work as Noor. Aqsa Siddiqui is a scene-stealer as Chhoti. At such a young age she's so confident. The rest of the actors have not been given that much screen time hence they are impactless.
The cinematography by Subhranshu Kumar Das is very good in some parts in capturing the riverbanks and lanes of Benaras and the aerial shots, but generally, it is ordinary. The Production Design by Sikander Ahmed is good and the music is okay. The editing by Archit D. Rastogi is quite alright.
The Last Color, as Neena Gupta said, is made with a good heart. Surely is, as it stands against the stereotypical ideas about widows and the untouchables. Breaking all the shackles, the two lead characters stand against the idea of caste discrimination. The film is about friendship at its core which knows no limits and lights the importance of promises. I wish the film had been that stronger just like what it wants to convey. Sadly it doesn't leave a lasting impression and is easily forgettable.
Rating:- 2/5
Now on Amazon Prime Video.
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