Raavan

Mani Ratnam's direction, like the story and his screenplay, has sectional appeal. While his narration will be loved by the class audience, it will be found far less appealing by the masses. Also, his twist in the climax is a red mark on the film's report card. A.R. Rahman's music score is very good. 'Beera Beera' is a hit number. 'Behene de', 'Kata kata' and 'Thok de killi' are also appealing songs. 'Khilli re khilli' stands out for Aishwarya's dance. Song picturisations, mostly on heavenly and unusual locations further enhance the appeal of the songs. Even otherwise, choreography (Ganesh Acharya, Brinda, Shobhana and Astad Deboo) is marvellous. Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan's cinematography befits the extraordinary locations on which the film has been shot, making the visual impact simply astounding. Action scenes (Peter Hein and Sham Kaushal) are very exciting. Sreekar Prasad's editing is crisp.

On the whole, Raavan will remain a film for the classes mainly. It will do well in select multiplexes of big cities but not at many other places and in single-screen cinemas. Its weird climax is its biggest minus point and that will spell doom for the film. Considering its cost, it will entail huge losses to its worldwide distributor (Reliance Big Pictures).

I will rate ***/**********.(3/10)

From the trailer and the general talk, you might have guessed the basic premise. Raavan (Abhishek Bacchhan) kidnaps Sita (Aish). Ram (Vikram), with the help of Hanuman (Govinda) tries to get Sita back and kill Raavan. Of course, the motivation for Raavan's abduction of Sita is the insult of Surpanaka (Priyamani). What if this basic premise constitutes the entire movie with nothing else? The movie is going to suck & that is what Raavan is. What makes the original Ramayan interesting is the many many interesting characters and subplots without which even it would be uninteresting. This is where Raavan fails.

The plot is as thin as a razor blade. Screenplay is one jumbled mess especially in the 1st half. Mani Ratnam is my most favourite Indian director & it is really really hard for me to digest that he had directed this mess.

Abhishek Bacchhan was absolutely irritating as Beera. Since his only good performances were in Yuva & Guru which were directed by Mani, I thought he will be good as Beera. But what an irritating interpretation of the role! Aish's only duty in the movie was to look beautiful and scream at regular intervals which she does greatly. Vikram has nothing much to do. His character was badly written. Priyamani is good in her brief appearance. Govinda and Ravi Kishan are the two bright spots as far as acting department is considered.

The locations and cinematography are breathtaking to say the least. Raavan is a heavy contender in the next award season as far as cinematography is considered. The same goes for music. Rahman gave a great music and background score. But since general public wouldn't be interested in only photography and music, I can see empty theaters and a doomed future for the movie. I will be happy if I'm wrong. I really can't believe Mani Ratnam has directed this entirely from his heart.

I've seen each one of Mani's movies of the last 25 years & without doubt Raavan is Mani Ratnam's most uninteresting movie. The first half is as dumb as you can get. The entire 1st half is like one long personal holiday photo-shoot of AbhiAsh with some exotic background views. The 2nd half is slightly better but on the whole, Raavan is a 140 minute advertisement for the beauty of Aish & India's forests.

I also wanted to see Villain (Raavan in Telugu) because of Vikram who plays Raavan in this version. But after this experience, I neither have the patience nor energy to do it. May be some time after the DVD comes out.

In fact, the making of this film is intriguing enough to compel me to want to watch both its Hindi version which I have done, and to compare it with the Tamil version Raavanan (with an almost similar casting) that is also simultaneously showing here (unfortunately without English subtitles). This Tamil version also got dubbed into Telugu and other regional languages for the Indian subcontinental market. With both versions being shot at the same time, what made it interesting in Ghajini-equivalent terms, is that the lead actress takes on the same role in both versions - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays Ragini in both, while Vikram takes on the superintendent of police Dev in the Hindi film, then reverses his alignment to take on the villain in the Tamil version.

The basis of the story follows the three lead characters in a battle between good and evil as represented by Lord Ram and Ravana respectively, where the latter kidnaps the former's wife Sita, and woos her while she awaits her husband's rescue. To say more will be to give away the pivotal surprise at the end of this film, which in my opinion, stuck mostly with the spirit of the tale, and how it panned out with a surprise. In Mani Ratnam's film, the lines of good and evil are blurred into shades of grey, as he boldly suggested that not all good are virtuous, and sometimes evil gets committed if violence, threats and killings are somehow justified, albeit in personal terms.

We're plunged straightaway into the cat-and-mouse chase in the opening scene of the film, where we see Beera (Abhishek Bachchan as the Ravana equivalent) and his gang of merry men inflicting maximum carnage on police officers, where on one hand he's being hunted by the law, and on the other, celebrated by the rural poor villages as a hero. He's basically your anti- establishment Robin Hood kinda guy, fighting the corrupt powers that be and ensuring that the needs of the lower caste get taken care of. He seems to be walking wounded, and it'll take up until the opening of the second half of the film to understand his violent motivations.

Meanwhile, we follow Vikram's Dev (as the Lord Ram equivalent) and his troops as they arm themselves to the teeth and cuts through the forested region in which Beera's gang is hiding. We see from flashbacks that he's quite the devoted husband, and having his wife kidnapped by his mortal foe just seethes enough rage in him to use all means necessary to reclaim his wife. That, or perhaps it's his ego under siege? It's this singular obsession that gets unfolded over time, that we also learn his true motivations, and the kind of officer of the law he is.

Then there's Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Ragini as the Sita equivalent, but no she doesn't sing, but is a classical dancer, to allow for some picturization over the brilliant A.R. Rahman's songs. Ragini isn't as strong as she thought she was, but in her fearlessness comes unseen courage to stand up to Beera when held as a captive, and treading really close to exhibiting the Stockholm Syndrome. The best parts that Aish has in the film is when she's allowed to emote her feelings alone along beautiful landscapes, opening up her inner desires and hopes of escape from the clutches of evil.

It's been some time since the husband and wife team starred in the same film (the last being Sarkar Raj) so Raavana comes as a treat to fans as they go up against one another as foes, friends and with that tinge of a romantic possibility as well, alongside a backdrop of water, water everywhere, from rain to wild rivers, and under strong waterfalls. While Aishwarya's performance is very restrained as the regal Ragini, her best moments were in the rare dance sequences that provided an additional dimension to A.R. Rahman's score, which was yet another crowning glory for the film, and provided a lift when the narrative dips at times. Abhishek proved that he can play crazy, and does so with aplomb as the unpredictable, schizophrenic even, Beera.

You'll be asked to have patience during the first half of the film as you can teased with flashbacks while having to endure the setting of the stage with the establishing of key characters. The film (kept just slightly over 2 hours) springs to life immediate post- intermission as the basis for the feud gets explained, and here you're likely to feel swung over to Beera's side, and offer sympathies to just what he's doing for the community, and for himself and family. Vikram brings about that macho flair as the super-cop hell bent on eradicating his arch-enemy, and his moment of truth lies in the superbly executed scene opposite Aishwarya when he begins his interrogation. It's a short scene, but a dramatic breather after an all-out fight choreography on a suspension bridge reminiscence from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, though here with plenty of obvious wirework.

I don't understand how this film could have garnered broadly negative reviews. As a Bollywood film it's beautifully shot, with big name stars bringing to life characters that are remotely familiar to an epic, a director with a vision bold enough to challenge convention and ruffle a few feathers with his spin on an epic. At times it's poetic in nature thanks to its music, and engages you to throw moral judgement on the leading characters as they evolve. If I have time, I'll probably be sitting in the Tamil version just to see how Vikram does his Ravana.

Few months ago I read an interview of Naseerudin Shah in a daily. The interviewer asked him a question about today's state of Indian films. Naseer responded back quite disappointedly that with advancing technology and prolific role played by media, the producers-directors easily garnered the publicity hype and sell the well packaged material to the audience earning expected profit. Creativity only lies in making frames glamorous, stuffed it well with audience friendly emotional drama and promotes it well globally; yes we are good in wrapping but not in content.

Maniratnam's much hyped modern take on Ramayana reminds me Naseer's words. As an admirer of Maniratnam I was expecting from this film and he's the director who gave few brilliant films to Indian cinema like 'Nayakan', "Iruvar', 'Roja', 'Yuva'. Its noble intention to revisit our epic in modern context but when makers like him fails terribly with poor screenplay, shallow presentation, poor characterization and shoddy direction the epic becomes caricatured and loud product.

The first half of the film is so irritatingly direction less, monotonous and lifeless in everything (except Santosh Sivan's DOP) that I hate to see the second half in the interval. Mani shifted the gear in the second half and attempted honestly to make it gritty and reasonable one with few ingredients of action, twist and turn and wins the character and audience's sympathy for the antagonist. Looking at the performances both Aishwarya and Vikram seems so flat wearing typified expressions. Aishwarya has done nothing except shouting and frowning and she didn't look appealing too. Where's Mani's touch that directed her in 'Iruvar' and 'Guru'? Hope Vikram has done fairly well Tamil edition as antagonist but here he's less than average. Govinda and Ravikishan have stuffed more footage than entertaining the audience. Priyamani is quite impressive in her few minutes presence. It's only and only Abhishek who worked hard to uplift the film and seems impressive among all cast. Don't expect different expressions but watch his intensity and dedication to retain the character in couple of well acted scenes and I mean it that he's the sole reason to watch this film even though having many shortcomings. He saved the grace of Maniratnam as Maniratnam saved his in 'Yuva'.

Technically the film is rich with Santosh Sivan's camera-work as always filming some great landscape locations and Shyam Kaushal's brilliantly choreographed stunt on the bridge 2000 feet above (one of the best I've ever seen in Hindi cinema!) The opinion is mixed; the film entertains in bits and pieces but disappoints as a whole product.

Ratings-6/10

Raavan starts with a fascinating premise. After all, what can be worthier than watching a modern-day adaptation of the Ramayana made by Mani Ratnam himself? Upon release, the movie failed spectacularly, but I did not really care and still wanted to see it. And well, I was surely disappointed. Mani Ratnam is a very fine filmmaker, and his Dil Se is one of my favourite films. As expected, the film is a true visual treat - the cinematography is plain excellent and at times even manages to make up for many of the film's flaws. Some scenes are just a pleasure to watch, and the camera work is overall spectacular. But on the whole, as a film Raavan just really does not work, and what should and could have been gripping and captivating ends up being messy, uneven, uninteresting, and sadly, at times even boring. The problem is the script, and no matter how hard you try, at the end of the day the defining feature is always the content. Maybe the problem is with me, but I can assure that I tried to enjoy it, but couldn't. A.R. Rahman composes a nice soundtrack for the film, and it often fits the proceedings, but the background score is exaggerated. The many sadistic scenes in the movie fail to hold interest, although the action and the stunts are quite impressive. The final sequences get a bit better, but again, it's not enough.

Where acting goes, the movie is mostly a letdown. Abhishek Bachchan, in the title role, is miscast. He is never convincing enough, and looks rather artificial and unnatural while trying to portray a role that is quite demanding and ambiguous. Similarly, a beautiful Aishwarya Rai is, for the most part, painfully bad. She systematically overacts, screaming and shouting arduously even when it's completely unnecessary, and overall she just fails to portray her character's gradual growth and capture its feisty nature. It's quite saddening particularly in a year when she delivered a marvelous performance as the strong and strict Sofia in Guzaarish. One can easily imagine these two lead roles from Raavan handled with much more success by more capable actors, but in their favour it can be said that their chemistry is very good and it's evident that they feel comfortable working with each other. The ending and the climactic scene are quite a turning point, but they too are not sufficient to make the movie worth-watching. Raavan is certainly not an unwatchable movie experience as many have suggested, but it's just not good enough. The movie is clearly benefited from its cinematographic excellence which makes it quite a good watch at points, but this is not a good movie make, and all-in-all, Raavan is a disappointment.