Raavanan leaves you with a’could have been better’ feeling. You might find people saying like’I liked it’, which means you sense someone else might not like the movie. The movie COULD have easily ended up as yet another Manirathnam classic, but falls short
With the verdict stamped, let us see the reasons why you should not miss Raavanan:
1) It is easily a high-qualitymovie from a high-quality movie maker. Heartening break from the masala movies that plague the industry. Remember we are discussing here, the short-comings of a good movie
2)Cinematography: The visuals haunt. I might want to watch the movie again for just the stunning locations and brilliant cinematography
3)Vikram: He runs the movie on his shoulders. Remember it is studded with stars - Aishwarya rai, Prithviraj, Karthik, Prabhu. But Vikram overshadows and comes up with a brilliant performance
Lets get to the details. Thanks to Mani, I do not have to narrate the story. It is Ramayana. Manirathnam has tried to flip the coin from the other side, but he forgets that its the same coin! The titles could have been something like Prithviraj as Rama, Vikram as Raavana, Aishwarya as Sita, Karthik as Hanuman and so on! When you watch a movie expecting the expected, it takes the thrill away
Raavanan is a preview of how the industry will miss Sujatha, the exceptional script writer. While the screenplay provides ample scope for high voltage sequences, the dialog does not even provide battery back-up! You must be a manirathnam fan, or an ardent movie follower to understand the nuances. One such dialogue is’ungalukkaga dhan velichathula padam pidichirukkom’(we have shot in bright light just for you), which takes a dig at manirathnam mockers for his dark movies(in a literal sense). But they dont stand up to create an impact
’Usure pogudhey’ is the pick of the songs, though it gives a heard-before feeling. BGM blends well with the beautiful locations and adds glamor to the movie(apart from aishwarya rai’s unnecessary cleavage show, that is). Wish ARR is back to his best and comes up with ever-green songs he churned out invariably in his early days. But for Raavanan, he has given adequate.
The climax stunt on the bridge, was breathtaking and worth a mention. Definite credit to Manirathnam for making a 2 1/2 hour movie out of Ramayan, for which I would have spent every Sunday of my childhood! Every character had a significant role to play. Even if I had got 100 bad reviews on Raavanan, I would have still watched it to see myself why it is not good! Such is my trust on Manirathnam. While the movie left me a tad disappointed, I could come out of the theater with the trust unscathed!