Raavan [Hindi] Movie Review
(3/5) Raavan – A Film by Santosh Sivan!!!
And those are tough words to say, considering the fact that the director of the film is Maniratnam, one of the finest filmmakers India has ever produced, if not the finest. But honestly, after watching Raavan, you would believe that the film would look good on cinematographer Santosh Sivan’s profile rather than Maniratnam’s.
If you dig deeper beneath those stunning visuals and some breathtaking stunts that adorn the film throughout its running time, you will see that Maniratnam has chosen an escapist way of storytelling for Raavan. As most of you know, Raavan is the director’s version of Ramayana; but sadly, it’s neither an intelligent interpretation of the great epic nor does it faithfully reproduces the original in its entirety. So, in Maniratnam’s film, Raavan becomes a messiah of the downtrodden, a kind hearted poet who doesn’t ill treat womenfolk. Laxman becomes a rapist police officer who is involved in Shurpanakha’s gang rape. Seeta actually falls in love with Raavan and Raam becomes a scheming super cop who doesn’t mind using his own wife as bait to catch Raavan, who has saved his life.
Of course, nobody can question the creative freedom of Maniratnam to present Ramayana in whichever way he pleases; but frankly, we expected a more thoughtful interpretation of Ramayana from a story teller of Maniratnam’s caliber. But this is not an interpretation, this is just twisting the story to suit your needs.
And that’s not very impressive.
If the story teller in Maniratnam has these fallacies, the director in him seems to be lured by his own superlative ways of framing a shot. You will not know at what point the style overtakes the content as Santosh Sivan and Manikandan (another cinematographer for the film) cast their magical spells on the film. You just ogle at the virgin forests, spectacular waterfalls and an angel called Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, all captured by these two magicians with equal élan. Each frame of the film is worth to be your desktop calendar and if the frame has one Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in them, it’s surely a collector’s item!
But the narration lacks those deft touches of Maniratnam that made his earlier films what they are. Maybe in his earlier films, it was easy for the audience to identify with the protagonists as they looked believable. But in Raavan, the characters either look mythical (pun intended) or simply too filmy. And you spend watching the entire film just gaping at those stunning visuals, presented thankfully in slow motions, without displaying any other emotions.
Abhisheks’ character looks a lot similar to his role in Yuva, only with a streak of madness and incomprehensible poetry to separate the two. He tries, but is weighed down by a weakly written role. Vikram’s character doesn’t even have the luxury of being mad, and if it was not for Vikram’s unmistakable virility, would almost looked sissy. Govinda is given shabby role as well, but the man brings in his experience of decades of mindless comedies to hold the character together and comes up with a commendable performance. Actually, the best of the lot in men is surprisingly, Ravi Kishen, who gets a role of his lifetime and doesn’t let a single frame go by without you noticing him. Priyamani has a guest role and plays the modern Shurpanakha. But she is mighty impressive in whatever opportunities she’s got.
And then, there is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She is in almost every frame of the film and still you miss her when she is not there in a couple of them! And damn the moralities, who wouldn’t risk their lives to win such a catch prize! Her beauty transcends the majesty of the hills and the rivers around her, and that’s saying something!
If you are one of those people who like the glorification of the anti-hero and some dazzling visuals to go along with them as a bonus, Raavan may be your cup of tea.
But chances are, die-hard Maniratnam fans will be a disappointed lot!
-Movie Review By Raju Shanbhag
Mister…I doubt if u have seen any Nolan’s movies…..don’t act like an intellect…..if u can’t understand his movies….watch it again or just shut ur trap…..he is a genius and his works are masterpieces already…..asylum it seems….bloody crap-loving fool
If Mani’s Raavan drove some people to the doctors to correct themselves, then Nolan’s Inception will drive them to the asylum… Beware!!
Sick movie… i had to go to doctors to correct myself…
Yeah, Raju….This was a very bad review indeed…And what did Raavan have to get 3/5 rating! Firstly it was not shot on any deja vu locations of swiss and alps, it did not have a yana gupta or mallika sherawat item number, no mukesh rishi, sayaji shinde or rahul dev as villains, no sumos and scorpios destroyed, no expensive or lavish sets, not even a long or machchu! How dare he change our staple fare! We are very happy eating bhel puri with ingredients from other states…. To be fair, the only good thing he has done is casting Abhishek Bachchan in the lead role!
Raju Shanbhag, Did Reliance pictures showed you a different movie other than the movie running in theaters nor they have bribed you. A total scrap movie which does not deserve a single star.While reviewing see that your view should not satisfy you alone. It should also match the review of common audiance.
Movie is sick.. with such a big star cast n each one praising the film n telling tat director is d ultimate makes one feel whether they see d movie after its complete.. d director is been a very good director seeing d films from “pallavi anu pallavi” and “mouna ragam” till “guru”.. but this movie is horrible.. if d telugu and tamil versions r exact replica then Vikram is sinking..
rating is as bad as movie, review says its bad but rating says its good.. if 3 is given only for cinematography then it shud be 3/10 not 3/5..
maniratnam sir, ppl come to ur movie bcos of u n ur cinematography not cos of star cast.. pls think abt ur fans for ur next movie n not aish n abhishek again..
3/5 for this horrible filck.. man..u need some rest..
Ha Ha…this movie doesn’t deserve a 1.5 stars…total Crap..the rating is like “everything!!!!!! tastes good; ass long as it comes from Horses mouth”.
I totally agree with your comments;
“its a cinematographer movie” ,
“it’s neither an intelligent interpretation of the great epic nor does it faithfully reproduces the original in its entirety”
“But the narration lacks those deft touches of Maniratnam that made his earlier films what they are.”
With all this and more…you rate it 3…”TAKE A BREAK, YOU NEED REST”….
Hahaha Ok then tamassu must get 4??? wake up guys. how blind
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1 star is more than enough for thamassu…:P
Oh god….shocked by dis review…n he gave 3 stars for dis utter worst movie….huh i don’t no who is dis bloody review writer…thamassu is sch a gud movie n he gave 2.5 stars to dat movie….ravan is really too boring….xcept 2 songs dr is Nthn gud in movie…really the review sucks…!!!! 1.5 stars…1 for rehman n .5 for aishwarya,vikram n abishek…n balaram he made one dupe scene…dat jumpin..!
Vyaaaak.. this movie is total crap.. Flop film.. better luck next time Mani..
you better stop u r website..whole of India saying it s crap movie but u gave 3 stars..i think u r like some so called intellectuals who always prefers to speak different from others..
Man i thought you were a legit reviewer but now it is proved that you’re just bogus! For Tamassu you give 2.5 (and i didn’t have any objection on that until i saw this review) but for this crappy movie you give 3, WTF? Eye- pleasing visuals, rocking music or crisp editing need not make a movie watchable. You need to have a flawless script, where the characters in the movie are elevated to many layers. That should imply that Raavan is absolute nonsense. It is a pessimistic point of view of an epic.If someone can highlight few less eminent incidents in the epic ‘Ramayana’ like the Soorpanaka chapter or Rama’s inherent doubts, just to make Raavan great, it is blasphemy. Evil blown out of proportion. And please, these views are not less ‘intellectual’. When someone twists facts to fit one’s theories, even Ayn Rand or Nietzche won’t pacify with them. ‘Raavan’ is a poor show all the way! Do yourself a favor, do NOT watch Raavan. Forget that such a movie ever released and carry on.
P.S. Raju Shanbhag, here’s an advice. Please stop being partial towards Kannada movies.