RAAVAN
A gritty different ride to the ‘Ramayana’ lane boasted by powerful acting and mind-blowing cinematography
by Vishal Verma

A Madras Talkies and Reliance Big Pictures Presentation and release (1280 prints in total – 500 across India, 305 overseas for the Hindi version).

Producer: Mani Ratnam. Writer: Rensil D'Silva. Director: Mani Ratnam. Genre: Action/Romance. Target Audience: General.

Starring

Abhishek Bachchan...... Beera Munda
Aishwarya Rai...... Ragini
Chiyaan Vikram...... Dev Pratap Sharma
Govinda……………..Sanjeevni Kumar
Nikhil Dwivedi
Ravi Kissen
Priyamani

Tamil Title: Raavanan (releasing with 220 prints in Tamil Nadu and 125 overseas)

Telugu Title: Villain (releasing with 125 prints in Andhra and 25 overseas)

(Hindi version)

Technical Analysis
Master helmer Mani Ratnam ties hands with Big Cinemas and attempts a ‘Big’ step ahead with three versions of Raavan’, aiming to venture into the entire Indian screen with its Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.

Mani’s ‘Raavan’ takes a gritty modern take on ‘Ramayana’ with a twist and later tries to debate on the villain inside every human being set entirely in jungle somewhere in India.

The movie is a refreshing change for those who wanna taste something different otherwise it’s a weird adaptation that tries to float on expert technicalities and power packed performance by the Bachchan couple.

Less emotional and artier then Mani’s previous outings as ‘Guru’ ‘Roza’ ‘Bombay’ etc.

Connoisseurs of quality cinema may lap this up, south Indian’s different view on the demon god Ravana who is considered as evil in north and Big Cinemas specialized distribution in south territories looks promising in southern territories. Going by the shocked welcome by many critics and mix response from the audience, cine goers will spot not much elements in "Raavan’ that recall Mani’s other pics, especially "Guru’ as it starred the Bachchan couple who announced their engagement after the movie got release.
‘Raavan’ is also not a story about a good guy it’s the story of Beera played by Abhishek Bachchan a lawbreaker with a heart who represents the have-nots. The character is ruled by its madness and Abhishek does well but his antics may annoy some who may find it weird.

The movie starts with Beera taking a dive in the river, policeman getting killed burnt and Beera playing drums and kidnapping Ragini played by Aishwarya and within second’s cinematographer Santosh Sivan gets in to the mode and delivers what Mani ordered.

In the first half Mani wants to show us the madness of this character Beera which may sound weird to some as he laughs, makes faces and smoothly tries in building the negative, hating shades of his character where the southern edge to the picture is clearly evident. In the process Mani forgets to tell us why was Ragini kidnapped and it turns out to be boring as the narrator forgets to tell us a story and is busy with the madness and visual spectacle.

Shooting the film at tough locales was not easy and Santosh Sivan with V. Manikandan had done an exceptional job in ‘Raavan'’. Rehman’s music is more rhythmic then melodious but adds tempo to the proceedings.

The dialogues between Aish and Abhishek especially during the climax speak love and nothing else and are well written.

Abhishek role in ‘Raavan’ is more of madness then the intellect of Guru or the innocence of Lallan Singh in ‘Yuva’ but his performance is powerful as it relies mainly on the madness.

Aishwarya is top class in her role and she delivers it with panache. Vikram as Ram is excellent in whatever scope he gets. Nikhil Dwivedi impresses a lot. Ravi Kishen is superb, Negi adds valuable support and Priyamani is top rate.

The second half manages to create sympathy towards Raavan and that’s Mani and Renzil’s biggest achievement as the writer and the helmer wanted this to be. Post interval portions triggers the debate on good and evil where the women is torn between and that’s where the movie rises from common intellect.

Smartly edited by Sreekar Prasad, the action sequence are awesome choreographed by Shyam Kaushal especially the bridge fight between Abhishek and Vikram. Production values are mind-blowing. So what goes wrong?, Govinda is filthy, the comparison to characters from Ramayana may not be digestible to some as Govinda is shown as an alcoholic and his character is inspired form Hanuman.

The movie may become enemy of its own intelligence in the hindi speaking belt as here Raavan is considered to be evil.

The story moves only in the second half, though a lot is heard about Beera’s unlawful practices but the viewer is hardly made privy to them otherwise the emotional impact would have been much better.
On which island/world is the movie being shot, it moves from south to north.. Wherever.

The Hindi spoken in the film shifts its identity, Sometimes it sounds like Bhojpuri sometimes its something else.

Mani like any other master knows how to create a build up for a particular shot but here Mani ignores such important facts and as a result the movie fails to register the said impact.

All said and done, Raavan’ is for those who wanna different taste of Bollywood, this visual treat may not be at par with Mani’s previous flicks but it certainly has its stamp marked over it in portions.

The movie scores 3 out of 5

One for its visual treat

Its powerful performance

And one for trying to be different

The Story
The take on Ramayana has Dev (Vikram) as Ram an encounter specialist happily married to with Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) as Sita a spunky classical dancer who is as unconventional as him. Vikram gets transferred to Lal Maati, a small town in India (which part a question mark). A town where the world of law is not the police, but Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) as Ravan a tribal who has, over the years, shifted the power equation of the place from the ruling to the have-nots of the area.

Dev knows that the key to bringing order to any place is not to vanquish the big fish; in this case -- Beera. In one stroke Dev manages to rip open Beera's world and set in motion a change of event which will claim lives. Beera, injured but enraged, hits back, starting a battle that draws Dev, Beera and Ragini into the jungle. The forest becomes the battleground. The battle between good and evil, between Dev and Beera, between Ram and Raavan.

Promotion
Excellently promoted, the movie scores full marks in its promotions and the entire team has kept no stoned unturned. Right form its announcement to its grand gala music launch to Abhishek’s promotional tour, the movie is in news everywhere.

The teasers/promos are interestingly done and it shows the true colour of the film.
Media awareness has been handled to perfection by Parull Gossain

Business Analysis
The most awaited Mani Aish and Abhishek starrer is an achievement in cinematography and acting, less connecting then the previous Mani Ratnam flicks, ‘Raavan’ has taken a near full house opening in South where Vikram plays ‘Raavan’, Big Pictures are likely to earn maximum from the south territory whereas the Hindi belt may not welcome ‘Raavan’ as expected.

Other Credits
Executive Producer: Shaad Ali and B Chintu Mohapatra. Cassettes and CD's on T-Series
Lyricist: Gulzar. Music Director: A R Rahman. Cinematography: Santosh Sivan. Action: Shyam Kaushal. Editor: Sreekar Prasad. Costume: Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Media Consultant: Parull Gossain. Reviewed at PVR, Juhu, Mumbai on June 17, 2010. Running time 2hrs 07 minutes.

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