Raavanan is in Heavy Green. But gives colourblindness to some.

Let me start it straight.

After reading so many negative reviews and after hearing many say that the film is not good. I basically went to the theatre thinking the movie is bad. But to my surprise Maniratnam did not let down the trust I had on him. I liked the movie from the start till the end. And did not feel bored at all.

Although the story is very predictable. I enjoyed the characters and also cherished the on screen similarity between the real Ramaya and Mani’s Raavana. It is always difficult to modernize any epic. And Maniratnam has faithfully stuck to the old Ramaya’s story line. The screen play runs at a moderate speed with Mani’s trademark dialogues and scene shuffling coming in here and there.

Vikram has done a neat job as rustic Veera. And Aishwarya Rai is so beautiful that you can capture her on any shot of the movie and put that picture, as such on a Post card. The only issue I had with Aishwarya was her voice which was irritating at the beginning but became used to towards the end. But she has braved the difficult locations which the story throws at her. Pritiviraj looked super smart and I thought he was working hard on his muscles for this movie. But there weren’t any scene where he flaunts his body. Now I am thinking why he developed that extra toned body. Karthik and Prabhu were good. Others have very small roles.

Cinematography:

You will be amazed by the number of green shades the camera lens has captured. Water as mist, rain, and river just entice your eyes.

Music:

Amazing work by A R Rahman. The background score gels with the story and the scenes where Dev and Verra meet, the score just electrifies. “Usure Poguthey” and “Kattu Sirukki” are my favorites.

Song Picturisation:

I was disappointed here. Mani who simply captures the raw beauty which even Shankar’s 10,000 dancers or Rs. 100 Crore set can’t capture. That raw but simple beauty which is Mani’s distinct talent is not shown in this movie.

Art:

Broken Statue in the middle of the river. Living colonies in the middle of jungle are some of the achievements from the art department. Art department should have done many many things which will go unnoticed because of its closeness to nature. That is Awesome. 

Directors' touch:

Mani teases us with violent scenes without really showing us violence. And the slow change which Raagini (Aishwarya) has towards Veera is dealt with finesse. Of course it’s what the director’s eyes see, which is captured with extra beauty on Camera.

One negative point about the movie is the graphics which Mani has used to capture Aishwarya’s fall in the beginning. This scene clearly shows the trick which they have used.

The movie ends with good prevailing over evil. But we are left with a dilema “Is Rama really a good person? Or is Ravana really a bad person?

My rating for this movie is a 4/5 and watch this movie in a theatre irrespective of what you see in reviews or hear from your friends. Because chances are that you may not be colourblind.

Tomorrow, planning to see Raavan in Hindi. Will update this blog and try to make interesting comparisons.