User reviews

What worked:

• screenplay; personally, I found the movie different than expected. It's a person's spiritual journey and awakening. The movie has its moments, strong message and overall an inspiring watch. What caught my attention was the movie's narrative as a spiritual journey rather than a religious one. We can not deny that the beautiful landscapes, Narmada river, ashram and the lifestyle made us want to take the journey at least virtually through the movie.

What did not work:

• lead actor; I am with the notion that the movie would have gathered more praise and accolades if we saw the lead actor's depth. I am not denying he isn't a good actor, I could not relate him in the spiritual journey. Maybe the depth of his character or his personal perspective, I will definitely expect more.
• runtime; I would be glad if the runtime was cut down. There were room for editing and improvements. I am sure we could have enjoyed his journey even by reducing the screen time.

Final verdict: Recommended

Based on Novel..Stort of River & Believe... Something different topic for movie in Gujarati. Good Acting, Direction & tema work

Reva is another name for the Narmada river in India. It is one of the important rivers, stretching more than 1300 kilometers and emptying into the Arabian Sea on the west coast. In India, important rivers, like the Ganges, Godavari, Yamuna etc are revered and worshiped as goddesses since ancient times.

The protagonist, Chetan Dhanani (as Karan), lives in the United States, accustomed to the high life and with no exposure, understanding and tolerance for the time-honored and deep beliefs, blind faith and the ritualistic lives in India. He is compelled to visit an ashram in India, located deep inside the forest on the banks of the Narmada (Reva) river. He is exposed to strong doses of belief, faith and rituals while there. His reason to visit is money and property. Once he is there, he also acquires an unstated love interest for one of the girls running the ashram. He goes through various experiences (mystical and ethereal even) and those turn his derision into skepticism, and finally, into belief, on par with what Indians living on the Narmada hold. His spiritual awakening leads to a serious rethink about his initial money and property agenda.

The original story by Sahitya Akademi award winner, Dhruv Bhatt, is undoubtedly powerful, especially if you are a believer or even a skeptic of matters spiritual. The movie makes no attempt to have a healthy debate between unquestioned faith and the rationalistic view of things in life.

In rendering this excellent story into a movie, there are several put-downs due to its amateurish narration, poorly done and unconvincing scenes and poor acting. The unit took great pains in choosing beautiful, genuine locations for the shoot, but not in narrating this very beautiful story.

Most of the film is outdoors. Here the movie deserves praise. Most of the scenes of the outdoors, the jungle environment, the rural environment, forgotten temples deep inside forests, places of worship in caves and the local populace are beautiful and genuine. Apparently, even the ashram is an existing one, and not a cinema set. The sojourn (parikrama) of the protagonist takes him to various beautiful places along the river bank. These are absolutely beautiful to behold. The huge legwork involved would usually be justified only for a detailed documentary. The movie gets a high rating only for these locales and the original story.

Unfortunately, the film's titles/ credits do not tell us names of the locations where the film was shot. That information, usually given, would have been interesting.

All the actors were average or less than that. They were often abrupt and jerky.

Chetan Dhanani tried his hand at being the protagonist, the film story writer and the lyricist for several of the songs, with nothing exceptional to show for at least two of those three activities.

There are six screens in the beginning of the movie, giving 'Special Thanks' to various people and organizations. And, there is another screen at the end saying 'Thank you' to someone. This was boringly overdone. We do not see so many acknowledgments usually, even though each movie will have plenty of people to thank for. A LONG list of acknowledgments are usually to be seen at the END of interesting documentaries.

REVA giving us feel of spirituality even after many days gone. I appreciate team for their try to give accelarate the Gujarati film industry. I request for giving facility of download the movie so that every person can watch movie. Waiting for watching twice.

One of the best iconic Gujarati Film. Beautiful story with no nonsense dialogue. True meaning of spiritual process.

Must watch ........... Wonderful ...........................

So it's been more than 12 hrs since I have watched this movie and I can still feel my dopamine neural activity at its peak .. these guys have invented this #visualdrug which they started feeding from the 1st minute and takes almost 2 hrs to take its effect .. the last 30 mins will take u to the whole new level of ecstasy which will stay in ur system for a long time ..I urge you to go watch and experience it before it gets banned ..

the film has produced some power full performances from all the characters .. Monal as Supriya totally nails it right-as a simple girl who is well-educated and wants to work for the betterment of the locals, she fits the character perfectly. Abhinay Banker and Atul Mahale as Bittu-Banga make you love them! Their coordinated clothing, innocence and their engineer-minds leave you awestruck, and you want to see more of them on the screen. Daya Shankar Pandey and Yatin Karyekar have added a touch of grace, that is of another level, to this movie with their performances. Most important of all , Chetan dhanani as Karan has made a strong debut in the film industry.. the film is shown from his point of view ,this is when you realise watching it from your point of you too .. had this film a chapter from "the song of ice and fire" , It would be titled "Karan". This is where the film doesn't merely stays a film but an experience of the individual watching it as a whole .. The cinematography by @suraj kurude is awesome .. you will fall in love with the soulful music and background score by Amar Khandha.. finally the director/writer duo rahul and vinit has nailed it with a bang .. they had each and every frame locked in their mind while writing the movie .. I realised how important this is to make this film not just a film but an experience.. they keep you engaged for the first 2 hrs as foreplay and after watching the final 30 mins of the film u will realise how each and every element of that foreplay was so important to make you reach to such an orgasmic experience .. this is one of those films which makes u watch it multiple times and every time u watch it , u will observe a new minute detail which was purposely put there for you to notice but u didn't noticed it first time and that too with an apt logic behind it .. a thoroughly studied subject and micro-details put for u to discover it every time u rewatch it ..no wonder, you guys have already become #christophernolan s of Gujarati cinema. And the fact that your closest friends make such a film makes this experience a couple of notches higher from the rest of the viewers. #wahreva

Goosebumps literally! I can feel this movie. A must watch film in 2018. Narmade Har!

This is the best Gujarati movie I've ever seen in my life, I feel deep calmness through this film, this film is really interesting & at last I only say that must watch this movie , I must suggest this movie for OSCAR in " Best foreign language films " category

Reva helped me understand the key to happiness in life. How one should live life to get the most out of it. Such a powerful calming influence it has on me. It's not just a movie it's an ethereal experience. The music gives you goosebumps, the locations are serenely beautiful and the characters wonderfully carved out. This movie is the pride of Gujarati cinema.

The storyline and concept is good. Inspiring.

But, alas, I found the execution lacking in almost all departments - Acting, Direction, Editing, Continuity, Make-up, Production Design, etc.

E.g. - Kalewali Maa who stays in the remotest jungle with no access to modern amenities has so much of make-up.

For that matter most of the characters are wearing crisply ironed clothes.

Despite being with these people for many days, the hero still continues to talk to them in English. A guy cannot be so stupid & dumb lacking basic understanding despite being a spoilt brat.

Mr Yateen Karyekar is the only saviour with his sensible and controlled acting. Rest all of them might have to undergo a refreshers course.

Locations are interesting. And so is the cinematography (most of the times)

Well, overall avoidable.

Must watch movie especially for Gujaratis. Well planned and thoughtfully made movie. I am sure it will every viewer greatly, It is once in decade kind of movie. Go for it. you can watch it on Amazon Prime or MX Player. It has really great message to tell.

A story with Motivation, Inspiration, Emotions, Twists, Spiritual relationship and lot more. Reva.. A lovely name of mother river NARMADA, story of a young man man's journey and his expectation..

I will not speak more about movie, because it's more fun to enjoy REVA. I believe each and every movie lover must watch it.

Good Job team REVA.

This is an excellent movie. Kudos to the makers. To explain our religious beliefs and faith to younger generations is so difficult but this movie does it so easily. Narmade har!

The river is also our mother. The film gives a message of how much the people of India love a river. The land of India is great. Every moment of this movie is good

Must watch..and good news is that it nominated for OSCAR award...and wish that i should WON

This movie is truly cinematic. The locations and atmosphere are captured with utmost detailing. The characterisation of the lead actor is shown in a unique way throughout his transformation in the whole movie. Each and every song is so much attached with the folk genre.

This is something which is beyond imagination. A movie all focused on a rich brat who looks for his inherited property lands to a village which is living totally a different life. The attempt of him to get his property leads to a all different prospect of life and his past and how he gets enlightenment with the holystic river Narmada. This movie shoes you different chapters of life like being selfish, aesthetic, theist, believer and many more. It's just one beautiful movie you can't avoid.

I will not surprise if this movie will get national award. Its one of the best kind of movie which Gujarati Film Industry has. Don't miss the movie.

Bahuj Superb Movie.......Fine Atyar Sudhi Nu Best....

For the first time i have watched a gujrati movie and became fan of it. What a beautiful presentation of the story in a very realistic and simple way. This kind of movie undoubetedly deserves National Award. Hats off to the director dua and the entire team for giving us such a magical cinmematic experience. May Mother Narmada bless us all

Really strong and moving scenes, beautiful landscapes and some great shots of nature and music is also very powerful. Great movie.

I am surprised that our Gujarati movies can also be thoughtful. I cried couple of times, I never did that before in any of the Gujarati movies. I seriously, suggest that please make more such movies. It will be a great pleasure to watch it. :)

Note that it's a Gujarati film but if you know Hindi, you don't even need subtitles.

An emotionally appealing transformation of a selfish, upstart man to a person seeking self-consciousness. While there are several predictable and unconvincing events in the screenplay, at the core, the movie is strong( I couldn't help recalling 'Kung Fu Panda' storylines when watching this movie). The actors have lived the characters on the screen. The music is pleasant. The lion's share of the credit goes to the ones who have created the sets/chosen the locations and the cinematographers - they have ensured that the story is carried enticingly. Highly recommended.

This is best movie I ever seen... So so emotional... Watched 2 times back to back....