Mani’s ratna hits the silver screen again Coming straight to the point- If you are calling director Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavana’ as the modern Ramayana then you may give it a second thought because when it comes to the character then you cannot correlate it with those in the Hindu epic. In Ramayana, Sita never fell for Ravana, nor did Rama ever use his wife’s elf respect for his ego. So, calling it ‘modern Ramayana’ goes for a toss then and there. But it won’t be wrong to say that it is inspired from the Hindu epic and resembles to it to a certain extent. The movie is simultaneously being released in Tamil as Raavanan with a slightly different star cast and will also be dubbed in Telugu.
The story revolves around Raghini ( Aishwarya) , Dev ( Vikram), and Beera ( Abhishek Bachchan). Raghini is a classical dancer who falls for Dev- a rightoues cop. They get married and move to Laal Maati, a rural town north India. The tribals in town have declared the bitterness for the cops in response to the ill treatment that they receive. Here the story appears to be based on the Maoism in India. You have no clue in the beginning about the roots of the tussle. Beera, who leads the tribals has its own way to justice and for which he kidnaps Raghini. This triggers the obvious search of Dev for his wife that goes through the sequence of twists and turns. There on the other side Beera shows his soft side and gets attracted towards Raghini. You find Beera playing more like Robin Hood and certainly not like Ravana. At the end Raghini who thought that Beera is a brutal beast, sees his soft and kind heart and discovers that his own husband whom she had imagined next to God is not really what he seemed to be.
In the movie there are certain interesting things that comes to your surprise like Raghini – a simple Indian housewife, singing and dancing around and for his husband , calling him out of her love. This is something that was seen earlier in movie Anamika, in its song ‘ baahon mein chale aao’ filmed on Sanjeev and Jaya Bachchan. The old lost expressions were overwhelming to be watched again. In this movie one can appreciate the way it portrays every inside of a woman. All the roles, sides, expressions and characters that a woman is believed to have, have been designed with precision by Mani Ratnam and justified by the Aishwaya. You see the same woman as a soft hearted, loving, tenuous wife and as a rough, revolting, hardcore lady who stands for her self respect. At the end you cannot decide, who did right and who is to be blamed. Quite similar to what you may see in Akira Kurusova’s Rashomon. Thus, the movie has an open end that leaves a question on your mind to boggle on. Abhishek Bachchan is playing a rougher role to what he has been playing so far. Every actor does it well and different in its own way. Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Govinda, Ravi Kishan, Tejaswani Kolhapure and Ajay Gehi brought the screen shine out and performed impeccably. Abhishek Bachchan’s expression in the end, revealing strength, love, sorrow and courage all together is commendable.
Talking technical; hats off to the combined efforts of Santosh Sivan and Manikandan for their fatabulous camera work that brought out the serenity even under the natural light. You feel like holding your breath in every shot. Close ups and mid shots endorse every expression between Abhishek and Aishwarya . Amazing frame composition talk a lot about the way the beautiful sites and locations have been exploited to bring out the best. The fight between Abhishek and Vikram on the bridge with perfect top angle shots and smooth camera movements call for an applause. Indeed! It surely is technically one of the best movies so far in Indian cinema where you see every hair prominent and lightened precisely . Aishwarya swayed well under Padmshree Shobhana’s choreography and smooth and slender body movements in Bharatnatyam left eye bulge out. You just cannot take off your eye for even a second . A.R. Rehman’s music is mesmerizing as always and accounts a lot to what the movie has achieved as whole. Besides, in the movie you get continuously two songs within a time slot of ten minutes. Cannot say, whether to praise it or criticize?
Although, it appears to be fast in beginning 5 minutes but as a whole it is surely a slow and weak movie. It cannot hold your attention with a smooth pace. In the first half the story does not move at all. Yes, but second half has it. Climax is the best when you can say that this was the twist and it leaves something that you can move with. Water appears to be much integral as the high waterfall turns out to be centre of most of the conversations and if not then rain does it. Even confession of love made by Beera to Raghini is showed in the water only. Never mind! At least it is adds one more point to talk about. You may not call it the best of Mani Ratnam because he missed it on the story line, but still it has something which makes a hall mark.
As a whole the movie is admirable and counts under the must watch category.