Who is bothered about Arm chair critic Masand's, one sided, biased review and
rating? The movie is creating waves in the entire India. He is capable of
reviewing only Masala Movies and not the movies of Mani and Benagal standard.
Let him understand the difference of commercial and art films before commenting
on fabulous movie like RAVAN or RAVANAN.
shaik mahaboob
--- On Fri, 18/6/10, Gopal Srinivasan <catchg...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Gopal Srinivasan <catchg...@gmail.com>
Subject: [arr] Rajeev Masand: 'Raavan' is a bore of a film
To: "arrahmanfans" <arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, 18 June, 2010, 10:12 PM
Masand: 'Raavan' is a bore of a film
Rajeev Masand , CNN-IBN
Posted on Jun 18, 2010 at 21:29 | Updated Jun 19, 2010 at 00:23
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Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai
Director: Mani Ratnam
Sitting in your seat watching Mani Ratnam's "Raavan" unfold before you, is like
craning your neck out of your car to catch a glimpse of the wreckage in a road
accident on the other side. Filled with a perverse sense of curiosity, you
can't take your eyes off the damage.
Alas, "Raavan" - despite a relatively modest running time of 2 hours and 10
minutes - is a crushing bore of a film, a disappointment on virtually every
count.
In this rather literal adaptation of a slice of Hindu mythology, Ratnam casts
Abhishek Bachchan as feared outlaw Beera who kidnaps the local police chief's
feisty wife Ragini (played by Aishwarya Rai) in retaliation for a crime against
a loved one. The tough cop Dev (played by Tamil star Vikram) sets out to get
his wife back, making a journey into the dense forest, even as Beera finds his
heart melting for Ragini.
Never one to paint his characters black or white, Ratnam gives both Dev and
Beera ambiguous character traits that make it hard to pigeonhole them as
entirely good or bad. So Raavan-figure Beera has a conscience that stops him
from having his way with Ragini although he desires her, and Ram-inspired Dev
is so hell-bent on achieving his goal that he will resort to deceit and
betrayal in order to get there.
But what might have truly turned this film into a brave, daring effort is a
less 'darpok' handling of Ragini's change-of-heart towards Beera. While she
does soften considerably when she understands his provocation for revenge,
Ratnam never quite turns it into a Stockholm-syndrome situation that might have
made for a far stronger central conflict. As it currently stands, "Raavan" is a
predictable revenge drama that stays too safe to ever surprise you.
Despite some eye-watering camerawork and a stunning action piece in the film's
climax, the film -- especially its first half -- is a carelessly edited mess of
long scenes that make little sense when strung together. Abhishek plays Beera
as an eccentric, unpredictable fellow prone to sudden outbursts; he channels
Heath Ledger's Joker from "The Dark Knight", but comes nowhere close to
replicating a similar sinister charm. Aishwarya, despite being the film's
leading lady and the very cause of the film's conflict, has nothing much to do.
She's left to scream and shriek and hiss and spit out her dialogue while
looking lovely in every frame.
Surprisingly, AR Rahman delivers his most uninspired score in years, which
probably explains why Ratnam wasn't inspired enough to shoot his songs as
innovatively as he usually does.
The director sticks so faithfully to the "Ramayana" that we get embarrassing
scenes like the one in which the suspicious husband asks his wife to take a
polygraph test to prove her purity. Other portions, adapted literally, include
the humiliation of the Surpanakha character, which is only marginally better
handled.
Of the cast, it's Ravi Kissen and Govinda, who play Beera and Dev's right-hand
men respectively, who stand out with the film's most engaging performances.
Both men, particularly Ravi Kissen, make flesh-and-blood characters out of
their parts, investing them with sincerity and dodging stereotypes at every
turn. Vikram, meanwhile, oozes screen presence but is shortchanged with
cardboard characterization, and pretty much spends the entire film chasing
after Beera in slo-mo, sporting trendy Ray Bans.
Burdened with pedestrian dialogue and too conventional a screenplay, "Raavan"
is painfully dull and fails to engage at any level. I'm going with
one-and-a-half out of five for Mani Ratnam's "Raavan". It's too simplistic
a film from a director whose biggest strength used to be his multilayered
relationships.
