Navrang (1959)

Diwakar is a court poet who adores his wife Jamuna, but in his poetic imagination he transforms her into Mohini, an idealised beauty who inspires his verse. Jamuna is hurt to discover that her husband seems to love the woman in his head more than the one at home, and the gap between dream and reality brings trouble at court and in their marriage. Navrang is one of V. Shantaram's most celebrated musicals, a colourful spectacle of nine moods and colours, as the title says. C. Ramchandra's music and Bharat Vyas's lyrics produced classics such as Aa Dil Se Dil Mila Le, Tu Chhupi Hai Kahan and the Holi dance Are Ja Re Hat Natkhat, in which Sandhya famously dances with an elephant.