What's new, I don't think anyone doubts Raj Kapoor's phenomenal talent in terms of filmmaking. Ram Teri Ganga Maili is overwhelming in its beauty, in how well it captures the extraordinary picturesque views of the Himalayas, the stormy rivers of the waterfalls, and what not. The cinematography is perfect, and the setting is very impressive, creating a rather extravagant film. Raj Kapoor keeps his obsession with the female body and with showing nudity to a most conservative censor board, and does it as aesthetically as he always did, with some highly suggestive transparent clothing, shots of full breastfeeding.
In terms of writing the film has a stronger first half - great romantic portions and all you'd expect, but the execution, the dialogue and the acting by the smaller actors is very bad. It is further ruined by embarrassingly absurd action scenes, which make one lament that someone of the stature of Raj Kapoor succumbed to the cheap dishum dishum of the times. Then also the caricature villains take the credibility of the story down. It is exactly the same kind of problems that Kapoor's previous venture, Prem Rog, faced. A very pretty film to look at but very melodramatic and stereotypical in its portrayal of the suffering heroine.
And coming to the heroine and the film's main protagonist - Mandakini is exactly a reflection of the film itself - she is stunning, and her beauty is captured with great mastery, but performance-wise she falters and wavers between refreshing and charming and then very weak and struggling with too much drama. But who cares, when you have such an unusual beauty, much can be forgiven. The casting of Kapoor's youngest son Rajiv as the male lead is exactly like the casting of Rishi Kapoor in Bobby a decade before, and although he is okay and does okay within the context of the film, it's nothing special.
The film's other highlights include some nice supporting turns, especially by the great Saeed Jaffrey who gets great lines and a nice role. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Sushma Seth are also very good. But the winner of the film after all is another person, a woman whose name is Lata Mangeshkar. This legendary singer's phenomenal voice does wonders to the film and gives it much of the charm that the script doesn't. My favourite number is "Sun Sahiba Sun" which is a pleasure to listen to. I wish the film matched the beauty of the music and the photography. Ram Teri Ganga Maili is Raj Kaoor's final but far from his finest.
