Where would you get such a cast? Mr. and Mrs. AB (of course they comes on package either as Mr. and Mrs. or Senior and Junior), a versatile Vikram, Seasoned veterans like Govinda, Karthik, Prabhu. Only Mani Ratnam can bring them all out in one roof, make them struggle in the rainy forests of UP, Kerala, and drench them in all sorts of water from rain, to lake to stream to water falls to mud. All of them dutifully obey what the director wanted them to do. But the end product is far less convincing.
True to the rumour mills it is largely based on the Ravan-seetha-rama- lanka episode but as a story teller Mani ratnam is known for his details. Whether it is MGR-KARUNANIDHI in Iruvar, Ambani in Guru, Tamil Eelam in Kannathil Muthamittal he never shied away from facts. Here he takes cover may be to avoid wrath of the traditional audiences who will not digest a Sita falling for Raavan while Ramas’ merciless act against Raavan who strangely saved him.
As the opening credits roll out we are getting ready for a visual delight. We are not disappointed. Both Santhosh Sivan and V Manikandan, Cinematographers presented a magnificent canvas laced with water, fog, greenery and mist. From the first frame to the last fall, they have captured the beauty with a beastly smile in their eyes. The naked forests, jungle and sets are a treat to watch.
The film opens with Raavanan (Vikram) kidnapping Ragini ( Ishwarya rai bachchcan), and Dev ( raginis’ Husband - Pritviraj ) on their trail. Raavanan alias Veera is a sort of head of a Tribal community (or villagers) live in god knows where in Vikramasingapuram in Tirunelveli District. The reason for the kidnap of the wife of the police commissioner and their 14 days of existence formed the story in full.
The way Veera falls in love with ragini (by the way, who will not, when the person concerned is Ishwarya with her alabaster skin, raunchy looks and the glittering eyes ), ragini’s change of heart as she come to know the reasons behind the kidnap, a wolfish husband looking to increase his count on encounters to maximum, the police force’s futile attempt to tame a team of villagers with all their ammos intact, and the well known ending, gives us a feeling of discontentment at the end of 120 minutes and we wanted more as we expected more of a Mani Ratnam Movie.
Comparisons are inevitable with the epic as the story happens in forest (asoka vanam originally the movie titled as such, that would have been more apt than Raavanan at least in Tamil), the villains name, and a hanuman like character (nice cameo by karthik, but to indicate his character he was made to jump from tree to tree to tower, so unlikely for the caliber of both the actor and director), a lie detector test instead of Agni pravesham and so on.
Performance wise Vikram leads the pack because he has to do his double act in this bilingual movie (Raavanan in one and Ram in other) truly an achievement no wonder Abishek declined to do a bilingual. His body language, fiery eyes, chirpy movements enamours the audience. But the bak bak sound reminds of his earlier movie Kandasamy and dialogue delivery in some places are too fast not decipherable a trade mark of Mani’s Movies (Dialogues by Suhasini Maniratnam). Ishwarya rai who matched Vikram in the double act (she has to do twice the routine) followed by Pritviraj. Others who also made their act felt are Prabhu, Vaiyapuri and Priyamani. What is Ranjitha doing there in a no dialogue two scene character? Very Pathetic.
A.R. Rehman’s songs are truly captivating but only in Hindi version. In Tamil it looks very odd as song picturisation in Maniratnam movies are truly imaginative, and a movie goers delight. It was sorely missed here as the songs flow along with the movie and on montages. It is surely a disappointment. Dhok de gilli and Usire Poguthu songs may be an exception.
But, for 3745 feet and 15 reels the movies’ running time looks very short and I really wonder whether the movie was pruned to make way for international audience. Some cuts are abrupt through out the movie. Because bollywood movies run a minimum of 3 hours plus and Kollywood movies 150 minutes on an average.
Of course when a wafer thin story line it cant be overstretched too. Who will want to watch, all the characters including the lead pair were given an ugly look the whole movie, characters meandering around forests and waterfalls speak in a language they can’t fully involve with, for more than two hours.
Only for die hard mani ratnam fans. Vikram has something to cheer about after the dud Kandasamy. But t is only something.
For ordinary and regular movie goers who are looking for 100 % entertainment and their value for money, wait till august. Enthiran will be over and ready to enthrall you all.
Mathu.
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