Nice to read good reviews. Shows that this film is not panned left, right and center...there are lots who like it. BO Flop? Predicted, yes, but verified, not yet.
--- In [email protected], "jeevinth" <johnjeevin...@...> wrote: > > Well when most of the Indian film critics are throwing everything they > have got @ Raavan the western world has a different take on it.... > > The Newyork Times has called Raavan as "An Indian Epic With Bollywood > Glamour" and has gone ahead and labeled it as "Critics' Pick" now dats > great after reading our sleepy critics give it 1-1/2 stars > Extracts from NewYork Times > > > MOVIE REVIEW | 'RAAVAN'An Indian Epic With Bollywood Glamour > This film has been designated as a Critics' Pick. > The low-caste Beera rules the forest in "Raavan," Mani > Ratnam's richly atmospheric adaptation of the Indian epic "The > Ramayana." Though the film takes place in the present, Mr. > Ratnam's forest remains an appropriately primeval place for mythic > doings, full of fog and mists and rain and Beera's mud-painted > followers (shades of "Apocalypse Now"). > Raavan (Ravana in Sanskrit), as every Indian knows, is the demon in > "The Ramayana" who kidnaps Sita, the wife of Rama: king, deity > and model husband (as Sita is the model wife). Early on in Mr. > Ratnam's film the question is asked: Is Beera (a gleefully hammy > Abhishek Bachchan) Robin Hood or Raavan? He's both and more a > hero in this telling, set on his turf, than is the Rama character, a cop > called Dev (Vikram), who matches Beera in brutality and cunning, but not > in heart. > "Raavan" has Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if > occasionally dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Mr. > Bachchan's wife, playing the Sita stand-in. The real star, though, > is Mr. Ratnam, a talented visual storyteller who directs action crisply > and fills the screen with striking images. (One, of Ms. Bachchan's > falling body landing gracefully on a tree branch, is so good he uses it > three times.) > Artful but not arty, Mr. Ratnam, whose films include "Dil Se" > and "Guru," delivers the goods: There are songs and dances (A. > R. Rahman of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame did the excellent > score), and an eye-popping climactic battle, between the bad-good Beera > and the good-bad Dev, on a teetering suspension bridge. And that, folks, > is entertainment. > RAAVAN > Opens on Friday nationwide. > Written and directed by Mani Ratnam; directors of photography, Santosh > Sivan and V Manikandan; edited by Sreekar Prasad; music by A. R. Rahman; > costumes by Sabyas Achi; produced by Mr. Ratnam and Sharada Trilok; > released by Reliance Big Pictures. In Hindi, with English subtitles. > Running time: 2 hours 18 minutes. This film is not rated. > WITH: Abhishek Bachchan (Beera Munda), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Ragini > Sharma), Vikram (Dev Pratap Sharma) and Govinda (Sanjeevani).RaaBy > RACHEL SALTZPublished: June 18, > 2010Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/movies/18raavan.html > <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/movies/18raavan.html> > And some more Positive reports from losAngels times... > Bollywood superstar Abishek Bachchan has the title role of the romantic > adventure epic "Raavan," but the movie belongs to his exquisite > real-life wife Aishwarya Rai. A blue-eyed beauty who resembles Myrna > Loy, Rai's Ragini is the wife of Dev (Chiyaan Vikram), a virile police > inspector assigned to bring down the wild-eyed Raavan, a bandit holed up > with his men in a jungle fortress. Before Dev can plan his maneuvers, > Raavan kidnaps Ragini. It takes a couple of hours to learn whether > Beauty can tame Beast. > > Director Mani Ratnam and his colleagues give Bollywood fans full value. > Ratnam's pace is steadfastly brisk, and his film is replete with > dizzying camerawork, myriad complications, violent mayhem, broad humor, > usual musical interludes, a cliffhanging climactic confrontation and a > finish that strikes a note of poignancy. There's even a feminist > undercurrent: Ragini, played with poise and fortitude by Rai, draws > sympathy while Dev emerges as flawed as Raavan is crazed. "Raavan" is > overlong and drawn out by Hollywood standards, but is of typical running > time for Bollywood. In any event, its cast and crew are to be > congratulated for their unflagging stamina and energy. > Source : > http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-capsules-20100618,0,1210\ > 817.story > <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-capsules-20100618,0,121\ > 0817.story> >
