Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela

Ram-leela (Review) – The latest offering by Sanjay Leela Bhansali comes from his own factory. The caption of the movie 'Goliyon ki Raasleela' is very apt to the story. Ram-leela as claimed by the filmmaker is inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The screen adaptation of the same has 2 families the Saneda's and the Rajaadi's in the town of Ranjar in Gujarat. These two familes rule the place. The 2 families have a 500 year old feud and hatred between them. Ranjar is a town where every individual moves around with rifles and knives and firing bullets at the snap of the fingers and there is nothing that the law keepers can do about it.

The two protagonists Ram and Leela played by Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are members of either families. Ram, a member of the Rajaadi's is now back with the family after a long hiatus in Ahmedabad and runs a video parlour. He however differs from the attitude of his family and does not believe in violence. He along with his friends visit the Saneda's on the occasaion of Holi in an attempt to make friendship with the women of the community assuming that no one would recognize them amongst all the colours. As expected, Ram sees Leela and they instantly get along like a house on fire. They fall in love with each other. Ram starts visiting Leela secretly and vice versa. They both have an intention of breaking the rivalry between the two families. When turn of events add fuel to the burning rivalry between the families, Ram and Leela elope and get married only to be tracked down overnight and brought back. This forms an entertaining, engaging and an elongated first half. What happens later? Will the families break the ice and unite? Will Ram and Leela be able to play foil in bringing the families together? The answers to these form the engaging second half and climax.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is known for making movies with serious drama promised another movie in the same genre with the trailers and teasers of Ram-leela. He has also managed to pull it off as the screenplay of 2hrs and 35 mins which seems more than its duration never makes you feel restless and also keeps you engaged. The setting, the costumes and the look of the movie are sure to take you into another world. They all look picture perfect. The performances by all the artists are worth appreciating. Supriya Pathak who plays the head of the Saneda family pulls off her character with elan. Ranveer Singh in a particular scene where he interacts with Supriya Pathak is brilliant. Deepika Padukone not just looks beautiful, but also portrays her character to perfection. Music by Sanjay Leela Bhansali fits in brilliantly to the movie. The first half may have the songs frequenting but you can forgive Sanjay Leela Bhansali for that. 'Mor Bani Thangat Kare' and 'Laal Ishq' come with the start and end credits respectively. 'Tattad Tattad' is for the front benchers. 'Ang laga de' has been picturised beautifully. The most popular track 'Nagada Sang Dhol' is a treat to watch on the big screen not just for the song but also for its brilliant choreography and mannerisms by the actors.

There are few filmmakers like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Tigmanshu Dhulia who can give you dramas like this which satisfy the appetite of both the class and mass. Watch Ram-leela for it will give you a satisfaction of having witnessed two and a half hours of good story telling. My verdict - 7/10

Apparently, this was one of the most awaited and anticipated movies of the year and the controversy just before the movie release ensured that the shows were sold out! I too was eagerly awaiting for this one and had really high expectations considering the SLB tag.

Let's talk the good stuff first. Brilliant performances by all, stunning and spectacular sets, fabulous music and a whole lot of color. Up till now I had some doubts about Deepika's acting talent, but boy can she act. She was superb and fantabulous in the movie, and I am not talking about her beauty. Supriya Pathak was incredible as Ba. Ranveer again displayed what a brilliant actor he is.

So with all this amazing stuff about the movie, why doesn't it still work. Poor story or should I say, no story whatsoever! The movie just keeps rolling and you end up thinking how is this scene different from the previous one. The story is so bad (and believe me I am not exaggerating even one bit) that nothing else works for the movie. All the viewers with me in the theater were yawning and loudly calling out for the movie to finish.

God knows why the critics are going gaga for this one. I had always believed in Rediff's review and I just wish I had done the same this time as well. Rediff gave it just 1 star.

Do yourself some favour, don't watch it at all.

i don't get it why people are criticizing so much about this movie.... okay if its about the sultry dialogues i agree they were somewhat vulgar. but to be honest the movie had the elements of romance, chemistry and emotions. the cinematography was great and i loved the colors in the movie.... deepika padukone has become a fine actress and every film of hers depict her smooth acting abilities. ranveer singh is the coolest actor I've ever seen on the screen. the songs are nice and the choreography is outstanding. i couldn't take my eyes off deepika during the song "nagada sang dhol". it's a good movie to watch but surely is not a family movie.

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns with a bang with this highly commercial venture based adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic classic "Romeo and Juliet", showcasing excellence with great technical and lead work. The director brings the Desi adaptation on screen with high gloss and great moments 25 years after what the 1988 Hindi classic "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" (Dir: Mansoor Khan) had brought. This film lies among his best works "Khamoshi" (1996), "Black" (2005) and "Guzaarish" (2010) with some nice twists and moments. The flaws in the film lies with the over melodrama and even over romantic factor in the film as well as its length which could have been cut down by editor Rajesh Pandey who also succeeds in bringing some great moments in a slick yet stronger form. The film's cinematography by Ravi Varman is excellent where every frame is painted well with sheer excellence and the execution of the shots by Ken Metzker in his DI work has been put up well. Production Design by Wasiq Khan, reminds of the brilliance of Bhansali's previous genius Nitin Desai in the director's previous works. The choreography is brilliant too and the music score by Bhansali and Monty Sharma is colourful, foot tapping and beautiful. The dialogues (Siddharth and Garima) are good and are also loaded with some nice punchlines worth of Taalis and Seetis. The screenplay by Bhansali and his team is good with its nice structure. In performances, Shruti Mahajan: Take A Bow for her selecting a brilliant supporting cast with Sharad Kelkar, Richa Chaddha, Abhimanyu Singh, Jameel Khan and Barkha Bisht who fit well in their respective roles. Supriya Pathak Kapur is excellent and is worth to look out for. In the lead, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone come up with a sizzling chemistry as well as great performances, with the latter showcasing more excellence. Overall, this film is worth your ticket. Just sit back and enjoy the celluloid based vibrant splendor.

I watched this film with mixed expectations. On one hand, I had seen the Nagada Sang Dhol and Lahu Muhn Lag Gaya clips on you-tube - exactly what caught my eye and made me want to watch it. On the other hand, a- not-so-good rating and most reviewers claiming it was very bad were lowering my expectations. I did, however, watch it, and I loved it.

The film is intense, wonderfully directed and benefits from great acting. I am not familiar with any of the actors; nor with Bollywood films in general, which I do not find appealing because of their over- dramatisation of... pretty much everything. And mostly, poor acting. This is where Ram-Leela stands out. Apart for a few scenes, the director made use of the actor's skills, and pushed them to the point they save the sometimes-poor script. There's great chemistry in there, as well as some more than convincing acting, all in wonderful colours and costumes.

I had a hard time understanding why it's got such harsh reviews, given how good it is, but reading them I realized what the problem is (and probably why I liked it): Ram-Leela is not a film for puritans. While it seemed quite tame to me, certain watchers found it "vulgar", or too sexual. From my point of view, it's aligned with European films. What it lacks in plot-line (although decent), makes up with daring performances and honest acting. As for those claiming it's not a love story, I agree: it's a battle of egos, and most important, a battle with the self for each of the characters. This could have been emphasized more, but you can't have everything.