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| RAAVANAN
- CINEMATIC MAGIC! |
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| By
Behindwoods Visitor K.ANANTH |
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views expressed in this column are that of the visitor.
Behindwoods.com doesn't hold responsible for its content. |
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Are
you not sick of being in awe of this man?
Can you ever get enough of his pure, unparalleled
genius and his immortal masterpieces?
Yes we are talking about Mani Ratnam,
probably the finest film maker this country
has ever produced and talking about masterpieces,
the man relentlessly adds another one
to his kitty with RAAVANAN.
Loosely based on the great Hindu epic,
The Ramayana, the film follows the events
happening over a period of 14 days where
Veeriah (Vikram), a Robin Hood like character
kidnaps Ragini (Aishwarya Rai), who happens
to be the wife of a street smart cop Dev
(Prithviraj) in revenge for the latter
having an indirect hand in the cruel fate
of his half sister Vennila (Priyamani).
Such eye popping locales, such visual
poetry, are probably a first for Indian
Cinema. The cinematography is quite simply,
out of this world! The way the camera
captures those tiniest of tiny things
like a droplet of water falling on a leaf
and breaking into pieces and the early
morning sunlight seeping through the little
holes in a palm leaf will make you fall
in love with the magic of this magnificent
art!
The greatest plus for this movie is that
it does not worry about morals or the
need for a quintessential lead man who
is all white at heart with no strings
attached. Indeed that is where the sheer
class of Mani Ratnam comes to the fore
as
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he
colors the two protagonists in equal shades of black
and white, not allowing you to pick sides or make judgments
for the best part of the movie's surprisingly short
runtime of 2 hours.
Having said that the film seldom lets up or sags, as
it sets a scorching pace right from the start with some
significant events from the Ramayana, beautifully yet
believably interwoven into the narrative. (Karthik's
character for example is straight out of the epic.)
Oh, what can you say about the performances! If Vikram
stuns you with a myriad of emotions crossing his face
in a matter of seconds, Aishwarya Rai mesmerizes you
with her portrayal of a brave, yet helpless woman starting
to doubt where her loyalty really lies. While Karthik
and Prabhu, especially the former are a sheer delight
to watch, Priyamani tugs at your heartstrings in the
shortest of cameos.
Rahman's music, especially the rich and powerful background
score goes a long way in helping the movie attain almost
cult status.
On the flip side, though there are so many positives,
2 hours seems too short a runtime to give proper character
sketches and the romance between Dev and Ragini seems
too half baked to make an impact.
So when the lights dim in the theatre, just sit back,
relax and let the master spin a magic web around you
and transport you on a wonderful, mouth watering, cinematic
journey that is going to take some forgetting!
VERDICT: - A SLICK, RIVETING THRILLER
OOZING WITH CLASS AND SHEER CINEMATIC MAGIC!
4/5.
REVIEW BY
K.ANANTH.
krishananth1990@gmail.com
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| Tags
: Raavanan,
Vikram,
Mani
Ratnam,
Aishwarya
Rai,
Prithviraj,
Priyamani |
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