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The Hindi film industry has a penchant for typecasting actors. At times, this trait even extends to entire groups of people, religion, ethnicity or language. Thus, there are umpteen films based on the life and times of nomadic tribes, gypsies, or put succinctly in Hindi, as a 'kabeela'.
Kabeela , directed by Bolu Khosla (this was to be his only directorial venture, unlike his more illustrious sibling Raj Khosla), and released in 1976, remains confined within the space defined for such genres in the wider ambit of Bollywood. Khosla had the opportunity to add a distinctive flavour to his film, at least in one department -- costumes. With Bhanu Athaiya at the helm, over-the-top attire for most actors could have been toned down substantially to give them a touch of subtlety. Equally tacky is the work of art director Ram Yedekar and Agnes Fernandes (set décor). Surely, by mid seventies, substantial strides had been made in this field, as was...