Raavan - A Review

Director: Mani Ratnam
Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram
Music: AR Rahman
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan

A movie that boasted an epic as its foundation, a movie directed by one of the best directors in India, a movie that managed to get the junior Bachchan couple on-screen together again, a movie that had expectations soaring high in the weeks running to its release; and finally, when it does release... oh boy, what a sheer disappointment!

Rating: 1.5/5

Mani Ratnam brings one of the cornerstone epics of the Hindu mythology "Ramayan" to the silver screen in a contemporary and visually stunning, yet mindless rubbish format. More so, since the audience doesn't expect Mani Ratnam to make any mistakes...period! A Mani Ratnam film is not just cinema...its a phenomena! Every character was carefully scripted to fit the screenplay of Ramayan - Vikram [Dev] is the righteous Lord Ram, Aishwarya [Ragini] as his loving wife Sita, Nikhil [Hemant] as his confidante Lakshman, Govinda [Sanjeevani] jumping on trees as Hanuman, Priyamani [Serena] who triggers the war as Surpanakha and of course, the antagonist Abhishek [Beera] as Raavan!

The moviegoer does find the mood strikingly similar to RGV's Jungle but this one takes it to an altogether new level. Mani Ratnam continues to deliver breathtaking stills in all his films, courtesy Sivan who delivers a masterpiece in terms of locales and picturization. But the movie disappoints incredibly on the narrative portion...the sequence of events is predictable and remains too safe to provide any surprises. From a story perspective, the only thing that I can term as a "brave" deviation from the original plot, is Ragini's change-of-heart towards Beera...she begins to melt once she hears his story and provocation for revenge and it does complete full-circle in the climax, when she inexplicably displays emotions of appreciation-cum-sympathy-cum-fascination at Beera's rendition of his conversation with Dev on the bridge! Ratnam does remain sensitive to the perpetually unaccommodating Indian audience and does not turn it into a Stockholm syndrome, which might have created a far different outcome with the masses, even if it made past the cutting board. Further, Ratnam even includes the "agni-pareeksha" in the form of a polygraph test to decide whether Ragini was lying or not!!!! Overall, from a film-maker who has to his credit some of the finest pieces of cinema in India such as Nayagan, Anjali, Roja, Bombay, Dil Se, Yuva, Guru...Raavan falls well short of the finish line.

The story line begins with Beera kidnapping Ragini (aka Raavan kidnapping Sita) and Dev launching a massive search mission to hunt down Beera and rescue his wife. Ordinary screenplay....at best! The paper-thin first half plot gets everyone restless...Why does Beera kidnap Ragini when he knows Dev was not a party to the assault on Serena? Why does Beera rename Ragini as Mahua?...all questions that are left for the viewer to imagine and conclude. Abhishek's persistent hamming was nowhere a symbol of the menace that Raavan was - with Beera coming across as borderline psycho! His character seems to be a carelessly woven mix of Raavan (the antagonist), Robin hood (helping the poor), Veerappan (forest king), a Naxalite (lower caste with strong base of followers) or even Tarzan (reminding us of our animal roots!!!). All that he does is bak bak bak bak bak bak. Sivan's landscapes were a visual treat, but even then for a large part of the first half, the camera moves around with so much ambiguity that you're left wondering why you came to watch the movie! The second half does shine over the first in terms of bringing about a coherent story. AR Rahman's music is average...from the master, this too comes as a disappointment. With the exception of the Beera number, which is already over with the opening credits before you're plunged into this darkness, the other numbers don't quite catch your attention. Whether it is Beera jumping with a not-so-flexible body in Thok De Killi or the horribly picturized Ranjha Ranjha, the music fails to deliver the punch. Action is good - the sequence at the climax is A class.

As far as the actors are concerned, Aishwarya looks lovely with no make up and as the wife who is torn between her feelings for someone else, and her duties towards her husband, she delivers a decent performance, although her own Nandini in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Konkona's Meenakshi in Mr & Mrs Iyer were far more superlative portrayals of this genre! Vikram is pot-bellied and one only wonders why was he even chosen for this role. Govinda fails to create any impact, Ravi Kishen is average and Priyamani has a few good scenes. For Abhishek, he cannot be proud of this after what he's given us in Yuva and Guru... perhaps he was too engrossed with applying multani mitti and haldi on his face and all those out there who are even trying to draw similarities between Beera and The Joker [Heath Ledger], just don't...you'll be doing nothing but making a fool out of yourselves.

Final word: Watch it just to appreciate that even geniuses make mistakes...albeit I admit, only sometimes!

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Next post: In ourselves, are triumph and defeat on June 27, 2010