Raavan

Here is where the creatures of the dark dwell; where fear creeps through the shadows of the foliage, the sounds of life buzz through the night and cascading waterfalls provide the spectacular backdrop for the damsel in distress..... the one who is taken hostage by the merciless evil who will stop at nothing to unleash terror. Then, there is the hero who will stop at nothing to release his love from the clutches of evil. The duel is engaging, exciting, thrilling and gruesome and if that is what you're looking for, then watch RamGopal Verma's 'JUNGLE' .... not 'Raavan'.

When Mani Ratnam decides to create a world of a demon God in a movie, the expectations are obviously high. One: because he is Mani Ratnam, two: because some of the actors claimed it to be their best work and three: it was supposed to draw inspirations from the epic Ramayana. We saw the Mahabharata unfold in today's political backdrop in Raajneeti with some remarkable execution but such is not the case with 'Raavan'. Let alone the Ramayana, the film is not even a worthy copy of Jungle! All elements of thrill, intensity, evil, shock, suspense and terror are completely missing in 'Raavan'. The formidable Raakshas was a powerful character who excelled in what he did and the terror he unleashed was unfathomable but Beera's character is more like a maniac who has followers for some inexplicable reason. Neither is he terrifying in appearance nor are his tactics menacing and moreover, he is out to seek revenge for what his sister went through. The biggest problem with Beera's character is that he is driven by this vengeance. That is clearly not the purest form of evil unlike the real Raavan, Durga (Jungle) or Raaghvan (Aks). The sister's incident warrants our sympathy for this villain and to an extent, our support in his endeavour. How can one feel terrorized in that case? Mani Ratnam's entire premise of evil thus tends to be fallacious. If that wasn't enough, we have to evaluate how genuine Ram's (Dev) character is since he cares less about his Sita (Ragini) and more about capturing Beera. Sheer lack of consistency in plot results in the actors being confused about their unwritten roles, song sequences acting as fillers in screenplay, predictability of sequences and the boredom of audience.

Santosh Sivan is perhaps the only reason one can withstand Raavan. His cinematography of the spell-binding locations, is exemplary! So are the sequences where every character is captured in brilliant light, shadow and close ups. AR Rahman's music, though not his best, captures attention with the upbeat Beera included in the titles and Behne De - the current epitome of Gulzar, Rahman and Santosh Sivan's work combined. Whereas, Thok di khilli will be remembered more for Abhishek's inability to dance, Kata Kata bakra as the unnecessary filler in a digressed story and Ranjha Ranjha and Khili Re wandering in the background as the story sets into flashback mode at different points. Thus, the numerous songs become a misfit in a demonic thriller and in the absence of merciless editing, they only tend to prolong the unease while watching.

Vikram could've had a juicier role and that perhaps was the let down with his character. His performance too, lacked variety in expression. Govinda was a delight to watch in the role of Hanuman but his character was nothing like the Ape God. Although he provides comic relief and whatever sanity there was, he has a screen presence of less than 9 minutes which is simply not enough. Ravi Kishan as Beera's brother was very convincing in his role and was very expressive in almost every given scenario. Aishwarya Rai was just disappointing. All the yelling, shrieking, artificial tears (red eyed), irrational behavior and the profound obtuseness of her character downplayed all that she was otherwise capable of. Abhishek Bachchan has done much better in his previous ventures with Mani Ratnam and here, he is nothing more than an actor left by himself to do whatever he can with some ugly make up and the jungle around him. Where is the 'Raakshas' in his portrayal of Raavan? Why the eccentric behavior and straight face in seriousness? And why the sheer inability to perform a simple dance? Although the character was vague and incomplete, Abhishek, this time was a total disappointment with whatever he had. He seemed too casual in his approach in critical scenes. What is it that they say...... he just couldn't get 'into the character'.

When the age has come for innovation, change, and novelty, Mani Ratnam fails to live up to expectations. The script, screenplay, characterization, plot, performances and direction were all flawed and these factors could've been taken with a pinch of salt from another film maker but not The Mani Ratnam. Watch 'Raavan' only if it airs on Television..... you will need the breaks.

• 6.56 on a scale of 1-10.

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.

Mani Ratnam's much anticipated multi lingual Raavan (a.k.a Raavanan in Tamil) is a commendable and bold cinematic effort to recreate the timeless epic of Ramayana which embodies universally appealing values of heroism, jealousy , mistrust , revenge and evil. Though evil here is more about revealing the antihero in Raavan and seeing those same traits ironically reversed in Ram at another point in time. Ram here is Dev (played by Vikram)a duty bound cop with a single mission to bring down his nemesis Beera (played by Abhishek) who is the protector of the downtrodden but one who does not let morals come in his way. A much wanted criminal in the eyes of the law. His philosophy is almost a Mahabharata borrowed one of "ends justify the means". What drives him to do that one thing that bring hims onto a vengeful collision path with Dev is unveiled slowly during the movie . It all starts off with the abduction by Beera of the character based on Sita , represented as Ragini (played by Aishwarya). Ragini is the wife of Dev and this begins the odyssey set against some of the most spectacular landscapes shot most brilliantly and expectedly by Santosh Sivan.

Set against lush forests, deep gorges, inundated streams and constant cleansing of the earth by the abundant rain, Ragini tied and gagged is dragged along by Beera, with Dev and his band of other cops in pursuit. Beera is an unusual specimen, intense , unpredictable, maniacal yet a character with whom one does start forming a bond of affection and empathy as we realise a certain lovable and humane side of his character. Abhishesh plays Beera industriously , trying to get under the skin of the character even though there are mannerisms which could have been handled more subtly but then that is the directors outlook. In all a performance worth acknowledging set against the often churned out mediocrity of Bollywood. One can't ever relegate Aishwarya to the background and not the least here because she is the focal point of the movie, the one who is subjected to a cruel fate. She does portray her character with intensity but what annoys is her voice and associated intonation and that creates a certain hamming like effect. No doubt sensing the potential of such a role, she does seem to have put in that little extra effort. Her beauty, with time has not waned and she is graceful and classic at most times. Dev played by Vikram is powerful for the action sequences and when he is angry but surely Mani Ratnam should not be compromising on the power of speech expecting delivery in Hindi from a chap who is not a natural Hindi speaker. Govinda plays the character based on Hanuman and is at best a very marginal role. Others including brothers of Beera and the aggrieved step sister of Beera player by Priyamani are all just about OK. Now the reason that I believe this is not a memorable movie is on account of the fact that Mani Ratnam has excessively depended on visuals and even facial expressions to attempt to create a unique experience but this comes at the expense of dialogues which lack the punch and often is mistimed. The narrative does not really dig deep into the characters and reveal their flaws and strengths. Abhishek has done what he could as his best but was he the best choice? Finally the climax and the last 30 mins of the movie is a lot more engaging and does eventually make you leave the movie hall with a fair amount of satisfaction but with a lingering doubt as to if this is indeed the best we can now expect from Mani Ratnam ? Once you have finished watching the movie in a movie hall (not on DVD), think of the opening sequence.

I was waiting for these three movies for more than one year. Kites was outside the boundary of discussion. For Rajneeti, so many scope was available for improvement, even in my perception there was no innovation or creativity in Rajneeti. After double disappointment my hope was very high with Raavan, which is bad, even in case of above average movie you'd feel that movie was not good or bad. But Raavan fulfill all of my hopes and I'm writing this review with a positive mood. Everything in movie is great i.e. acting, music, background score, cinematography everything but the best part of the movie is creativity and deep thinking in story. In the first part you'll enjoy the beautiful jungle scenes and rain but thinking and creativity comes in the second half of the movie, even in the end. If you have some deep knowledge of Ramayana then you'll enjoy this movie at its best. My recommendation is, just go to the movie. This is kind of movie which you can't miss. And don't forget to discuss the concept of movie with your friends. Rating 9/10