It's time for the modern-day version of 'Ramayana' to
unfold this Friday, exactly two weeks after 'Mahabharata'. The very thought of
watching an epic in the present-day milieu only enhances the curiosity for the
film. And if the present-day adaptation of 'Ramayana' is helmed by a master
storyteller [Mani Ratnam], the moviegoer should, and must expect the moon.
Nothing less would suffice. After all, a Mani Ratnam film is not merely an
experience, it's an event!
Mani
Ratnam, who has penned the screenplay of RAAVAN, models his characters on the
lines of 'Ramayana':
An upright cop, the
punisher, the law/Lord Rama [Vikram];
His doting wife/Goddess Sita
[Aishwarya Rai Bachchan];
The lieutenant he befriends in the
forest/Hanuman [Govinda];
His confidante/Lakshmana [Nikhil
Dwivedi];
The antagonist's sister, who
triggers off the war/Surpanakha [Priyamani]
And, of course, the antagonist,
the Robinhood turned Raavan who kidnaps the top cop's wife and keeps her
in his custody, in his Lanka/Raavan [Abhishek Bachchan].
Mani
Ratnam has also included the part where Goddess Sita was banished from the
kingdom of Ayodhya due to the gossip of kingdom folk. It wasagni pariksha then,
but in the film, the husband [Vikram] asks the wife [Aishwarya] for a polygraph
test to prove her chastity/fidelity. At the same time, RAAVAN brings back
memories of a movie that, coincidentally, had a similar storyline -- JUNGLE
[Ramgopal Varma].
You've
come to expect scintillating visuals in the master film-maker's films and
RAAVAN is no exception. But RAAVAN falters in narrating the story with
dexterity. In fact, this one's a game of see-saw, with a dull and lifeless
first hour, an absorbing second half and a weak, lacklustre climax.
Final word? RAAVAN comes with the baggage of humungous expectations, mainly for
the one name attached to it: Mani Ratnam. Even though comparisons with the
genius film-maker's earlier accomplishments like MOUNA RAAGAM, NAYAGAN, AGNI
NAKSHATRAM, GEETHANJALI, ANJALI, ROJA, BOMBAY and GURU are sacrilegious since
all belong to diverse genres, RAAVAN is nowhere close to those epics. The
benchmarks only get higher and higher every time Mani Ratnam makes a film and
RAAVAN, unfortunately, is a step down. Sorry, several steps down!
Dev [Vikram] falls in love with Ragini [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan], a spunky
classical dancer who is as unconventional as him. They get married and he takes
up his new post in Lal Maati, a small town in northern India. A town where the
world of law is not the police, but Beera [Abhishek Bachchan], a tribal who
has, over the years, shifted the power equation of the place from the ruling to
the have-nots of the area.
Dev knows that the key to bringing order to any place is not to vanquish the
big fish; in this case -- Beera. In one stroke Dev manages to rip open Beera's
world and set in motion a change of event which will claim lives. Beera,
injured but enraged, hits back, starting a battle that draws Dev, Beera and
Ragini into the jungle. The forest becomes the battleground. The battle between
good and evil, between Dev and Beera, between Ram and Raavan.
Mani Ratnam's adaptation of 'Ramayana' begins with the wife getting kidnapped
and her husband launching a massive hunt to track down his wife and nail Raavan
aka Beera. The reason why Beera takes this extreme step is revealed much, much
later, towards the post-interval portions, which means that Mani Ratnam follows
the nonlinear pattern to narrate his story.
Let's talk about the factors that pull this film down. First and foremost, when
you've a title like RAAVAN, the demon king, who couldn't be vanquished by Gods,
demons or spirits, you expect Raavan aka Beera to be equally powerful, who
could send a chill down your spine, who spells terror and fear. But, in RAAVAN,
Beera comes across as a psycho. The streak of madness in his character makes a
mockery of the character itself.
Also, his makeup and also the shabby avtaars of his family/henchmen is not
something that makes them looks menacing. In fact, it makes the entire gang
look repulsive.
Even the finale leaves a lot to be desired. Ideally, the film should've ended
after the fight on the bridge, but the entire track thereafter seems like an
add-on, which is forced into the screenplay. Ash having a change of heart for
Abhishek is equally unpalatable and makes you wonder, how and when did she
develop such strong feelings/emotions for Beera? The writing is flawed, no two
opinions on that!
On the plus side, the track, which starts from Nikhil's kidnap to the entire
flashback portion, is attention grabbing. The factors that prompt Beera to
spell havoc in Dev's life are apt, although Beera's sister's portions, while
narrating the atrocities committed on her, aren't easy to comprehend in
entirety.
What was she trying to say, frankly? Yet, the impact of the flashback portions
is worth noting.
The fight on the bridge -- between Abhishek and Vikram -- is astounding. One
hasn't watched something like this on the Hindi screen yet, I'm sure. In fact,
the execution of each and every stunt [Shyam Kaushal, Peter Hein] is
exceptional. Every Mani Ratnam film is embellished with stunning visuals and
RAAVAN boasts of mind-boggling visuals as well. Shooting the film at tough
locales isn't easy and Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan's vision creates magic
on screen. Every frame is worth admiring and applauding.
A.R. Rahman's music is excellent and the visual appeal only enhances the
impact. I'd like to single out 'Behne De' and 'Thok De Killi', two tracks that
I'd like to hum even after the show has concluded. In fact, the latter is very
energetic in terms of choreography. Vijay Krishna Acharya's dialogue hit you
like a sharp object at times, which is in sync with the mood of the film.
I've admired Abhishek's work in Mani Ratnam's earlier films YUVA and GURU, but
despite putting his best foot forward, for some strange, inexplicable reason,
Abhishek doesn't look convincing for the part. Also, the dialogue delivered by
him aren't coherent at times. Aishwarya is wonderful, looking ethereal and
enacting her part with conviction. Vikram is first-rate, although the role
isn't substantial enough. Govinda fails to create any impact whatsoever.
Amongst the plethora of actors, Nikhil Dwivedi [a revelation; very good], Ravi
Kishan [nice] and Priyamani [perfect] stand out.
On the whole, RAAVAN is a king-sized disappointment, in terms of content. From
the business point of view, a Mani Ratnam film might ensure a healthy opening
[at plexes mainly], but the weak script on one hand and the heavy price tag on
the other will make RAAVAN see red.
--- On Fri, 18/6/10, Gopal Srinivasan <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Gopal Srinivasan <[email protected]>
Subject: [arr] Rediff reviews Raavan
To: [email protected]
Date: Friday, 18 June, 2010, 9:19 AM
Raavan is Mani, Abhi, Ash's best work
Tags : Raavan , Mani Ratnam , Ragini , Beera , Vikram
June 18, 2010
Mani Ratnam's Raavan is an overwhelming film. At times a tad bit overproduced,
the film is an onslaught of brilliant use of technology on the viewer's senses
-- stunning cinematography, the fluidity of the camera, quick edits, loud
soaring music, with the actors thrown into wild nature.
Ratnam working with his regular cinematographer Santosh Sivan and also V
Manikandan, and editor A Sreekar Prasad, gives us a hellish vision -- an
innocent woman Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan [ Images ]), kidnapped by a
Veerappan-like outlaw, Beera (Abhishek Bachchan [ Images ]).
Much of the film is the cat and mouse game -- Beera and his gang, in harmony
with the forests, rain, rivers, cliffs, mountains and a lot of mud, always a
few steps ahead of the police force led by an officer Dev Sharma (Vikram), who
also happens to be Ragini's husband.
Ratnam is one of the most remarkable filmmakers in India [ Images ], taking
unique story ideas -- although some with muddled political messages, working
within the framework of popular cinema, and yet creating memorable films in
Tamil, Hindi and other languages.
>From the days when he used to shoot his films in one language (Roja [ Images
>], Bombay and Dil Se) and then dub them for other markets, he has now moved to
>working simultaneously on two parallel productions.
This time he shot Raavan in Hindi and Raavanan in Tamil -- shooting each scene
back-to-back, with at least one actor interchanging roles. Vikram plays Dev in
Raavan and then Veeraiya (Beera) in Raavanan, while Ash appears as Ragini in
both films. He also has a third version -- Villain dubbed in Telugu.
That is a lot of ambition for a soft-spoken 54-year-old man, who first attended
business school before becoming a filmmaker. There is ambition written all over
Raavan and at most times it succeeds.
But it all happens at such speed that it takes a while to absorb the pace of
Raavan. The film needs to be digested, absorbed and mulled over. The visual
images are often so powerful and strong, each shot packed with so much activity
-- rain, mud, trees, cliffs, and, of course, the actors, that many filmgoers
will miss out on all that they see on the screen.
I tried to get ahead of Ratnam and started counting the number of edit cuts
during the grand dance performance to the song Thok di Killi, but soon I felt I
was on a roller coaster ride, and had to stop to breathe.
Raavan is Ratnam's interpretation of the Ramayana [ Images ] (yes, the rumours
and speculations are true), with Bachchan, Ash and Vikram playing the roles of
Ravana, Sita and Rama, respectively. And in one of the most brilliant strokes
of casting, a delightful Govinda [ Images ] plays Sanjeevani -- a modern day
Hanuman [ Images ], playfully hopping from one spot to another as he joins
Dev's mission to search for his wife.
The film is replete with references to the Ramayana -- from the 14 days it
takes Dev to rescue his wife, to a disturbing take on the Soorpanaka story,
which becomes the justification to the kidnapping of Ragini.
But Ratnam takes Raavan beyond the Ramayana. I am not giving away the ending,
but I wonder what the purists and Hindu fundamentalists will think about the
departures of the film from the religious text.
Ratnam gives us all shades of the three main characters. Beera is not always as
evil as Ravana is often portrayed; Ragini's Sita has a strong inner core, and
while she starts with hating Beera, she is sometimes in awe of his sudden
spouts of gentleness; and Dev turns out to be the not so perfect Rama.
I wish the script and the film in general, had not spent so much time in its
technological grandeur, because the real crucial conversation around the
Ramayana starts to happen near the end of the film. By this time Beera, Ragini
and Dev have stopped being the traditional Ravana, Sita and Rama.
That transition makes Raavan a significant milestone for modern India to move
beyond the Ramayana as just a religious text. And so Raavan is perhaps Ratnam's
most definite political film.
Bachchan's best work to date has been with Ratnam in Yuva [ Images ] and Guru.
But here the actor goes beyond anything he could have imagined he was capable
of doing. Through the film he stands tall, observing his landscape, his face
twitching with myriads of thoughts and his menacing smile unnerving all those
who come in contact with him. Bachchan has never worked this hard in a film and
it shows in his performance.
Like him, his wife Ash also gives one of the strongest performances of her
career. Few directors have succeeded in making us look beyond her beauty and
see the actor in her. Rituparno Ghosh worked wonders with her in the
under-appreciated Raincoat and Ratnam did that in Guru and now here in Raavan.
Vikram, a star in Tamil films, is a real find for the Bollywood industry.
The fate of Raavan and its Tamil and Telugu versions will be judged in the next
few days by audiences across India and abroad. But this much is clear --
Ratnam, the quiet master, is in top form here. It will be a challenge for him
to outdo himself
4/5
Sent via BlackBerry
