Manirathanm’s “Ravanan ” a perfect example of self-indulgence at it’s pinnacle. One is at loss of words when such a pathetic writing comes from one of the legends of Indian cinema.
It is a good idea to recreate an epic in it’s modern interpretation only if it is plausible to the situations &scenario the writer has in his mind. “Dalapathy” is a good example for that. But if the writer starts at making a movie with the one &only aim of doing a modern day adaptation of the epic & all the situation and scenarios are forced into for that end we get to see only such half backed & unpalatable attempts like this movie or for that matter the recently released & very over-rated “Raajneethi”.
The movie boasts of one of the best visuals that we have seen in Indian cinemas yet. It has first class acting from all the actors concerned.But the movie gets let down by a very average writing both script as well as dialogues.
Second half atleast had some semblance of sanity in it but the first half is as wretched as it may get.To make the matters worse Suhasini’s dialogues are horrible with people then & there mouthing different dialect as they wish. Prithviraj asking for a lie-detector test on Ashwarya Rai will go down as one of the most hilarious moment (howsoever unintended it may be ) in Indian cinema.
Ambience , attires as well as the backdrop all look alien to Tamil culture & ethos which reminds us of that misadventure Maniratham & Barathiraja ventured into , “Tajmahal”.
Vikram has done his part well but his role is shoddily written. Whether he is a normal person or a maniac with hallucinatory behaviour is anyone’s guess.
Ashwarya must have worked hard for the role with all those risky shots in such a unfriendly terrain but as far as acting goes she has nothing much to do with her wooden face to make the matters worse.
Prithviraj’s role is another example for the bad writing the movie plagued with.As far as others go Prabhu, Karthik & Priya Mani have done well.
The main attraction is the cinematography ,credits shared by Santosh Sivan & Manigandan. The manner in which they have captured not only the nature’s splendour but also the human vulnerabilities is a poetry on celluloid. If only they were backed up by a solid writing things would have been even better.
A.R.Rahman’s music is average .His music for Maniratnam’s movie seem to have fallen to a pattern which he must address in the future.
On the whole, “Raavanan” is a complete letdown.
Bottomline : Bad writing.
2/5
