Raavan (Hindi) / Raavanan (Tamil)

GENRE - DRAMA
DIRECTION / SCREENPLAY - MANI RATNAM
PRODUCTION - MADRAS TALKIES
CAST - HINDI - ABHISHEKH BACHCHAN, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, VIKRAM, GOVINDA, RAVI KISHEN
CAST - TAMIL - VIKRAM, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, KARTHIK, PRABHU
MUSIC - A R RAHMAN

I am increasingly beginning to believe that Abhishekh Bachchan has gone into a shell of fear. A Fear that he will not be able to recreate the magic that he created with Lallan. Lallan for my money's worth was probably no. 2 in the list of all time great villians in Indian cinema. AB Junior was on his 17th movie and had to probably prove a point that there is acting in his blood. The result was an awesome on screen performance that made one's blood boil whenever Lallan came on screen.
To AB Jr - Lallan was your moment of truth to date but the more u pitch yourself against that performance, the more you will fall short. Thats probably what went wrong with your performance in Raavan. Still believe that your best is yet to come. Hang in there.

Raavan starts with the controversial dive from the top of a cliff in one of the most scenic shots ever seen in Indian cinema. Pity that there was a controversy surrounding the same. Dont know who is to blame for the same but i do hope producers in Bollywood give credit where its due. Not happened in the past but i was hoping that things had changed. Guess they haven't. Would be glad if proven wrong.

For those who are yet unaware of what the entire concept is, Mani Ratnam has drawn wonderful parallels from the Ramayan in creating his latest offering. The Story revolves around Beera (or Veera in the Tamil version) who is a modern day Robin Hood in a manner of speaking working for the betterment of his community and believes in an eye for an eye. He is the most feared and respected person in the village. A series of unfortunate events leads to him masterminding a kidnapping of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who is the wife of Dev Pratap Sharma (Vikram) the new SP of the territory. The idea was to kill her in 14 hours (parallels drawn to 14 years from the Ramayan) but unfortunately Ragini turns out to be a spunky one who refuses to be killed by a vagabond and promptly jumps off the cliff. The rest of the movie revolves around how Beera develops an immense sense of respect / love or whatever one would like to call it and the 14 hours manages to extend to 14 days eventually.

The search for the abducted lass sees the entry of Sanjeevani (Govinda / Karthik) who has been a notorious forest gaurd for the past 28 years and knows the forest inside out. Parallels drawn here again to Hanuman. After 8 days of searching for Ragini and several killings, Sanjeevani tries to broker peace between Beera and SP Dev which unfortunately results in the killing of Beera's younger brother by SP Dev and the pre climax sequence between the SP and Beera on a suspension bridge over a deep ravine.

Eventually, Beera's love for Ragini overcomes his desire to seek revenge and he releases her no questions asked. SP Dev, however does not trust Ragini to be pure anymore and offends her on the train journey back home prompting her to leave him and go back to Beera to clear the air in a manner of speaking. Yet again a parallel to the Agni Pariksha if people are unaware of the Ramayana.

However, the character of Raavan (Beera) just does not come alive. AB Jr just cannot manage it. Vikram however does a good job of it in the Tamil Version

Coming to the scores
1. Start - 7 on 10
2. End - 7 on 10
3. Story - 8 on 10
4. Lead Actors
AB Jr. - 5 on 10 / vikram - 7 on 10 - shows why he is popular in the south.
Ash - no comment
5. Support Cast
Govinda - 7 on 10 / Kartik 7 on 10
Ravi Kishen - 6 on 10 / Prabhu - 7 on 10
No one else worth writing home about.
6. Screenplay / Dialogues - 6 on 10 nothing much in the Hindi version. 8 on 10 for the Tamil version. gets the concept very alive.
7. Cinematography - 9 on 10 - really really good. one of the saving graces of the movie
8. Editing - falls sorely short. several gaffes - for e.g. how in the blazes did Ash get changed into a freshly white salwar after getting saved. Surely SP Dev had the time and the inclination to pack one up for the wife when he releases her from the clutches of the evil rakshas :)))) - 3 on 10
9. Direction - Mani Sir tries his best but i guess this is as much one can achieve with the cast that he had. one of his lesser movies - 6 on 10
10. Music - Brilliant. one of Rahman's best. 9 on 10

GRAND TOTAL - 5 on 10 for Hindi / 6 on 10 for Tamil