Another epic.Another adaptation.This time with a twist.Mani Ratnam's tryst with epics
lands him, this time (earlier being Karna's story from Mahabharata for Dalapati), in the world of Ravana, the antogonist of Ramayana. The fun part of the movie is that the story is from Ravan's perspective which in theory is definitely exciting and enticing.
Before writing any further on the movie, let me be clear that the post mortem report of the movie is hightly negative to say the least. This is actually a good sign as it eases the burden of expectations on the audience and can,therefore, enjoy the movie. And Enjoy i sure did!.
The film opens with the burning of the police van, police men and the most heinous being the abduction of Ragini, local SP Dev Pratap Sharma's Bharatnatyam dancer-cum-beautiful wife. Dev, with the help of Sanjeevini Kumar, the forest guard who also happens to be a softy for Beera's ideals, begins the search.
Clearly from the first reel, one thing we notice is that Raavan is not a leave-your-brains-behind movie. Though the epic is fairly linear in narration, the adaptation is entirely non-linear. Most of the actions carried out in the first half are justified post interval. One such example being the wound on Abhi's neck. So, it takes a bit of time to understand the events.
The best part of this whole enterprise is that Mani has followed two types of story telling. The first half is mainly visual and second half is mostly verbose although the cinematography of whole movie is just pure magic.
Symbolic references to Ramayana are spread across the movie; many are easy to notice and some requires a hard look like the tattoo of Lord Shiva's trishul on Beera's left hand (referring his devotion to the Lord). Honestly teasers like these make the viewing interesting where it is left to the viewer to join the bit and pieces of the puzzle and see the whole picture in a new perspective.
Again i must add that the movie is undoubtedly an epic painting by Santosh Sivan and Manikandan. A R Rahman's pulsating background score accentuates the scenes further. Samir Chanda lites up the set pieces brilliantly according to the film's mood. But the movie has insipid and dull dialogues throughout which lacks a punch. Technically the overall movie is simply terrific
The film boasts of great star cast but the ones with impact are as below.
Govinda as Hanuman is really good.
Ravi Kishan as Kumbakarna performs well.
Nikhil Dwivedi as Laxman is okay.
Priyamani as Soorpanakha, get to reprise her 'Paruthi Veeran' role in a different language.
Vikram as Ram is effective though his Ray-Ban gets more scope and focus.
Aishwarya, the damsel-in-distress, is Sita-personified. She has never looked this beautiful earlier, ever!.
Abhishek's Beera, in an attempt to portray Raavan's ten heads and their thinking,all at the same time, is most of the times confusing and ineffective. And there in lies Raavan's biggest flaw.
Ultimately, it is Mani Ratnam's vision and interpretation of the epic which makes the movie watchable. Unlike history, which is always the triumphant's version, it is dauntingly challenging re-tell the age old story from the loser's perspective. And that's where, Ratnam and Raavan score.
Watchable? Go...Now!!.
Rating : 4.5 stars
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