http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/57977.html
Raavan earns highest distinction from the U.S. Media
IndiaGlitz [Monday, June 21, 2010]
Well,the goras are loving it and so are the thinking audience in India. But the
west media is totally swept by the striking images and the quality of
filmmaking by our genius from Chennai Mr. Mani Ratnam.
The movie has got the rare distinction to be called as a ‘Critics Pick’ a
distinction rarely if ever earned by an Indian film.
Leading American daily ‘The New York Times’ hailed it as a ‘Critics’ Pick’.
The world top entertainment trade publication ‘Variety’ and ‘Hollywood
Reporter’ too have praised the film that opened Friday on over 2200 screens
around the world in 35 countries including US and Canada.
‘Raavan’ has “Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if occasionally
dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Bachchan’s wife, playing the
Sita stand-in,” said the New York Times. “The real star, though, is Ratnam, a
talented visual storyteller who directs action crisply and fills the screen
with striking images.”
The reviewers in west are very much impressed by A.R. Rahman’s ‘excellent
score’ and Mani’s way of strory telling.
Praising cinematographers Manikandan and Santosh Sivan, production designer
Samir Chanda and editor A. Sreekar Prasad for serving “Ratnam superbly with
images, settings and vitality that take one’s breath away,” the publication
thinks “success is inevitable throughout India and with expat audiences.”
“And that, folks, is entertainment,” was the Times’ verdict.
Well the home land may not given such overwhelming support to Mani but its sure
as mentioned in our Hindi review of the ‘Raavan’ that the movie is for the
connoisseurs of ‘quality’ cinema and the team should be happy that a film based
on the most popular Indian epic ‘Ramayana’ is getting immense praise from the
west. A rare achievement which underlines the fact that you don’t have to visit
Korea or Iran or America to churn a quality cinema.
The Hollywood reporter has termed it as a ‘Pan-Indian saga with epic sweep,
intense emotion and gorgeous images.’
East or west Mani Ratnam is the Best, we are proud of you Mani Sir.
