Raja Sen .... This guy cracks me up, everytime !! :) :) .. Some useless reviews he provides.
Go watch the movie(s) guys .. It's brilliant ! On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Karthik Subramaniam < [email protected]> wrote: > > > *Raavan* is unforgivably boring > June 18, 2010 11:02 IST > *Tags: > *Raavan<http://search.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=Raavan&search=site>, > Ratnam<http://search.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=Ratnam&search=site>, > Ram Gopal > Varma<http://search.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=Ram+Gopal+Varma&search=site>, > Bachchan<http://search.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=Bachchan&search=site>, > Ragini<http://search.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=Ragini&search=site> > Share > this > Ask > Users > > <http://mypage.rediff.com/qna?article_url=http%3A%2F%2Fmovies.rediff.com%2Freport%2F2010%2Fjun%2F18%2Fraja-sen-reviews-raavan.htm&article_title=Raja%20Sen%3A%20Raavan%20is%20unforgivably%20boring> > Write a > Comment > > <http://movies.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/18/raja-sen-reviews-raavan.htm#write> > *Raja Sen reviews Raavan*. > > It's eerie how two very different directors with very distinct styles can > gradually start mirroring each other's work. > > Mani Ratnam makes a film every few years, with the slow deliberation of one > obsessed with every detail. > > The alarmingly prolific Ram Gopal Varma [ > Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=ram+gopal+varma>] > meanwhile seems to follow impulse ahead of scheme. Their diametrically > opposed creative paths crossed in the early 1990s as the two got together > and each is credited for writing the other's 1993 film -- RGV's *Gaayam*and > Mani's > *Thiruda Thiruda* -- even though Ramu assures that screen-credit > notwithstanding, each man made very much his own film. > > And yet, today one seems very much in on-screen pursuit of the other, even > if not blatantly so. Ratnam's last film > *Guru*<http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/jan/12guru.htm>ends up in a way > rather like Varma's > *Sarkar* <http://www.rediff.com/movies/2005/jun/30sarkar.htm>, both > barely-veiled biopics of popular, powerful Indian icons, films that chose > safety over provocation and ended up tame hagiographies. Massively > successful films, naturally. > > This time, Ratnam's latest takes a big chunk of larger-than-life Indian > mythology, sloppily swaps antagonist with protagonist, and ends up giving an > earnest Bachchan far too much scenery to chew in far too much spotlight. Oh > yeah, this new *Raavan* is clearly *Mani Ratnam Ki > Aag<http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/aug/31aag.htm> > *. > > Not that *Raavan*, starring ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan, is bad to > look at. Not at all, and there are some frames that positively glisten. It's > just ill-conceived, amateurishly adapted, and often too lamentably literal > in its desperate attempts to reference the epic, trying recklessly but > daftly to be contrary for the heck of it. > > It's one thing to mask familiar characters with grimy grey, evoking empathy > for the villain and giving the hero some flawed ambiguity, but here Ratnam > falls prey to sensationalism and turns *Raavan* into a schizophrenic *Robin > Hood*, and Ram into a bloodthirsty, consistently amoral cop. > > The result is painfully one-dimensional, a revenge story devoid of meat, > conflict or, really, surprise: I doubt giving away plot details from the > Ramayana [ Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=ramayana>] > counts as a spoiler. If you think it does, turn away now. > > Tough cop Dev (Vikram) discovers that his wife Ragini (Aishwarya Rai [ > Images <http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=aishwarya+rai> ]) > has been abducted by feared outlaw Beera (Abhishek Bachchan [ > Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=abhishek+bachchan>]). > He sets out to get her back, cutting a bloody trail through the jungle > even as the violent, loony Beera refrains from besmirching Ragini's honour. > > It is a concept with fascinating adaptive possibilities, its potential > showing through in stray bursts, like Raavan's sister's wedding brutalised > by the cops to give the film's anti-hero his motive for the kidnap. > > That very potential, however, is squandered in the next scene when a young > cop inexplicably grabs the almost-bride by her nose, to underline how > obviously the poor girl is Surpanakha. > > In another unimaginable moment nearing the end of the film, the cop asks > his rescued bride if Raavan 'did anything' to her. It's a scene dripping > with awkwardness and hesitation and misunderstanding, and could have been > impactful in a million ways, except the way this film plays it: With the cop > asking his wife to take a polygraph test. I'm not making that up, so > laughably textbook are the script's attempts at metamorphosis. > > The dialogue doesn't help things, the film's characters speaking in the > oddly theatrical, surreally simplistic Hindi that can only these days be > described as Priyadarshanese. > > A few characters get a chance to break away, like Ravi Kissen [ > Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=ravi+kissen>] and > Govinda [ > Images <http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=govinda> ], who > grab it with both hands and emerge as the best things in the film, by far, > while Abhishek Bachchan speaks any which way he chooses, especially when > slapping himself. There is one scene when Bachchan, speaking of burning with > envy, transcends this poor picture and shines on his own, but outside of > that this is a squandered vanity project for the actor. > > Aishwarya Rai -- her alabaster skin muddied and bruised, her eye makeup > crucially immaculate -- screeches her way through the proceedings, > contorting her face as if to convince us it has something to do with > histrionics. > > Unfortunately, both that and the aforementioned squealing have more to do > with tortured balloon animals, and there are several ear-splitting occasions > when one wishes Mani'd dispense with the school-level allegory and let that > pretty balloon abruptly pop. > > As for Vikram, the National Award-winning actor we all expected great > things from, he gets the rawest deal of the lot, a cardboard cop who scowls, > runs in slow-mo, and models Aviator sunglasses. > > The film's first half is choppy and bewildering but tight, while the second > sprawls all over the place, overlong and exhausting. Sivan's frames are > indeed grand, but there isn't *one* great shot to take away from the film. > Even the world-conquering A R Rahman [ > Images<http://search.rediff.com/imgsrch/default.php?MT=a+r+rahman>] can't > save the day, and it's heartbreaking to see the legendary > cinematographer-director-composer trio give us such forgettable song > sequences. > > *Raavan*'s deadliest sin, however, isn't in the clumsy dialogue, hammy > acting or lame, oversimplified adaptation. All of that can be forgiven if > the tale engages us, and we never watched Ramanand Sagar's endless > television show for its subtlety. Where *Raavan* truly and tragically > fails us is in taking one of our greatest epics, and making it unforgivably > boring. > > It's profoundly sad to see a filmmaker of Ratnam's calibre reduced to this. > Yet hope beats immortal. Perhaps we should just wait till he takes on Shiva. > > *Also Read: New Yorker Aseem Chhabra's very different > review*<http://movies.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/18/aseem-chhabra-reviews-raavan.htm> > > Rediff Rating: > > > -- Have Fun, Vinod http://the-other-side-of-mirror.blogspot.com http://myworldofmnm.wordpress.com
