Raavanan - Tamil movie review

Raavanan

Why I liked this movie?

1. It is directed by the renowned Tamil director, ManiRatnam who makes his movies interesting by his sheer direction . And I am such an ardent follower that once upon a time, had wanted to work with him as a film maker ( I had even spoken to him and he had advised I should first graduate from FTII (film and television institute of India); of course, interests changed - reality welcomed me back very soon and I had given up the dream forever.

2. Every frame was beautiful - you got to see it in the theater. Beautiful locations - I think athirapally/chalakkudi falls and even that place where the marriage takes place is super. It is commendable that in all his movies, he showcases the beautiful locations in India rather that choosing exotic locations that have becomes a common place through movies itself.

3. Casting could not have been better. Vikram was just super - he has matured into a seasoned actor through his long and diverse journey and that shows in every shot. The Hindi version counterpart - Abhishek barely matches ( Amir Khan would have been a better choice but may be fell short in height!) And Aishwarya is like the icon of flawless beauty since her Garden Vareli commercial though in a couple of shots, her face looks puffy. I hated her as an actress until she acted in 'Taal'. Could think of Meera Jasmine for the role- good acting would have complimented the natural looks but could not have matched Aishwarya's graceful dance in 'kalvare' song. For the role of Seetha, 'black' eyes would have been better. PrithviRaj also suits the role very well since he does not have a preconceived image. May be Prakash Raj would have been a good fit but he might seem too old for Aishwarya. Priyamani again with the bold, rustic looks has done a good job. Karthik and Prabhu also very good but see the great director that Maniratnam is that big people like them are happy to do the cameo roles.

4. It was entertaining - just like any other Mani Ratnam movie, the carefully chosen details add so much interest and stimulate our minds.

5. Suhasini's dialogues are nice - handling different flavors of Tamil -though the pandaya Tamil was a little unclear (where they try to show Veera knows poetic Tamil)- before you could understand, the dialogue was done.

6. Songs - Before watching the movie, I was familiar only with 'Kodu potta' through Jaya TV promos and hence the way ARR music is, the other songs did not make any impact right when I heard them in the movie. But when I heard them later on, that 'Usire Poguthey ' is just haunting and it is already by heart especially because you associate it to the situation in the movie. Nice lyrics by Vairamuthu with a lot of words in it - its more like a poem (The first 8 lines is just replaced with 2 words 'behene de' in Hindi). In the movie, no song was used as a typical song sequence except 'kodu potta' - Veera was the title and the rest were more like a background score. Beautiful choreography by Shobana for 'kalvare' - it was classical dance but very nicely blended into modern life.
Check out http://www.paadalvarigal.com/579/usurae-poguthey-usurae-poguthey-raavanan if you like to sing along - it has both the lyrics and the song.

7. The bridge fight is comparable to Hollywood movies and without the noise - Is the depth real or some illusion too? Whatever, too good!

What I did not quite like about the movie?

1. Agreed it is Ramayanam but making it so close was like watching an action song. To the extent of recreating 'Hanuman' climbing the trees and 14 days was just ridiculous. Something suggestive would have been good enough like 'Dalapathy' having been Mahabaratha inspired. But the analogy has been bulit so well. I was struggling hard to justify each of the characters towards the end - for eg. when Ragini leaves the train , I thought she is leaving Dev for Veera. But then that is contradicting Seetha! Oh! Got it she just went to ask him what Veera had in fact told Dev.

2. You get a little disappointed to see the movie end even before telling the premises that Veera becomes bad and is searched by the police. Then if you think about it, every movie has a story where the hero loses somebody close to him, which would have only been a cliche.

3. Bhauk Bhuk .....told by Aishwarya in the end - a little unnatural - they could have shown something else to say she was getting used to him/his life....

4. After all, it is modern Ramayanam - they could have made 'Raavanan' win. My 7 year old son loved the movie but wanted Vikram to win !

Best scenes :

1. Vikram twirls in the boat - Aishwarya is at the bank dressed like Vikram's folks - the dialogue by Vikram.
2. Bridge scene - the fight in the end; Vikram sliding along the rocks to save Aishwarya.
3. The long dialogue where Vikram says the chain of events should not have happened ...'neeng a kan muzhichathum en uyir thiruppi vanthirukka koodathu...something like that...'


BTW, it is pathetic that the whole movie is available on youtube under a different name uploaded as a playlist but the least I could do to the movie industry is not to put it here!

Technology is a blessing that it reaches the movies to more people through computers but it is really saddening that they do not give it even a week to be just on big screens!!

In all, Raavanan - good direction; good cast; good acting; some loose ends; no compelling(love) story.