Dilemma of Seetha – in short, that is what Mani Ratnam tries to sell in Raavan. It is the season of remakes of epics in bollywood. Within days of we have witnessed a ‘Mahabharata’, we are provided with a version of ‘Ramayana’.
The story of Seetha always touches one’s heart where she was asked to pass the ‘agnipareekhah’. Mani Ratnam in his latest bollywood adventure attempt to visualize this situation to a modern day Raavan (Read Veerappan) and a dedicated angry police officer (Read Rama). In Mani Ratnam’s Ramayana, Rama is not the hero but the villain.
Character creation of Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) and Dev (Vikram) was not complete where the one of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) took almost a half of the film. The sad part is that the entire character created for the modern day Seetha was diluted in the second half. The story also fails to give sufficient background of Raavan, how he became so. The only incident shown in the film is only an aftermath, not a beginning itself.
The modern day shoorpanaka episode was the only moments the film attempted to touch the heart of the audience still, it could have been better. The writer/director failed to en cash on sympathy to the lead hero. Once the audience knew that what the director is trying to say, it was a bit predictable and no such effort was done to engross the attention of the audience. The story refused to move an inch from where it starts for the entire first half. Thankfully the second half pick up the pace and it was a bit late to start.
Abhishekh Bachchan did his best to enact Raavan aka Beera. Then, he is yet to get training to do a Roudra which I believe is the projected character of Raavan. Aiswarya Rai did her best of her career performance in this. Aishwarya’s performance definitely is one of the highlights of the film. Vikram did excellent job but not sure how far the editor has eaten his performance. Priyamani did her small role brilliantly. Govinda and Ravi Kishan tried to bring some smile but their roles were limited to the minimum.
Cinematography of the film is of world class and excellent. Both the cinematographers (Manikandan and Santhosh Shivan) whose works need no introduction made best use of the occasion to give some extra brilliant moments to audience. Beauty of Athirappilly waterfall and moments which had to capture emotions from faces, their camera never failed. We can only see many scenes in the film by holding our breath. If one dare to take out the heart and move with the camera that definitely calls for a firework. Extra brilliant!!!
Songs of the film is a mixed bag. The romantic song failed. However other songs were very good and with time it has the potential to be hits. Choreography could have been a bit more colourful and creative. When the composer in AR Rahman didn’t reach to the expectation when one compare the history of ARR’s R titled films this one disappoints. The background score however was very interesting and excellent.
One definitely should ‘pranam’ the editor for bringing the scenes which shot over 2 years to 2 hr 30 minutes, though at some scenes he was not in control. Overall, a nice job.
Dubbing and sound engineering could have been better managed.
The movie definitely could have been better made with a better script in hand. The fault of ‘kite’ is been repeated. Remember the story given by Paulo Coelho in the Alchemist, from the palace of King Salamon. While we watch the beautiful scenearies around, we should not miss out the oil we hold. While going for vast frames, the script should not be left behind.
The film is a a good watch in many accounts and a must watch for Aishwarya’s performance & brilliance of Cinematography. It is wise to go to the movie with less expectation where people who go with an excellence show may return disappointed.
My rating: 3.25 stars