Raavan - An opportunity wasted

(Film Review)

There is a Tamil version of Ramayana which portrays Raavan as a virtuous person. Such independent interpretations come as a whiff of fresh air in an otherwise monotonous world of good triumphs over evil stories. I am not suggesting that we should portray the traditional hero as a villain and change the villain to a hero. But we should be honest enough to accept that every human being is fallible and that includes the hero of the story! The villains can possess certain good qualities even in excess of what is present in the hero. The portrayal of the hero as a person who is perfect is suitable only for children's story books. We usually do not attribute any good qualities to villains so as not to confuse the children in their early years of reading. In such stories, most villains are ugly, dark and may even be one eyed monsters! But such portrayals can only insult the sensibilities of grown up readers/viewers. So when Maniratnam came up with a movie which promised to reinterpret the Ramayana story, the expectations were quite high. All intelligent people must have rejoiced at the prospect of Maniratnam delivering a bit of shock and awe. It was not for the first time that such an attempt was being made in Indian cinema. The famous Malayalam film, Oru vadakkan veera gatha directed by award winning director Hariharan had explained to the audience that it is highly improbable that Thacholi Chanthu, the cruel and treacherous villain as per popular myth, could have cheated Aromal Chekavar, the elder brother of Unni Archa, Chantus former lover. The film won several accolades and succeeded even to the extent of re-writing the myth in the minds of the present generation. Raavan comes nowhere near and has failed miserably. It is true that Hariharan had the support of a great script written by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Njanapeedom and Kendra Sahitya Academy award winner and the incomparable acting prowess of Mammootty, the three time National Award winner for Best Actor. In fact it was for his role as Chanthu in Oru vadakkan veera gatha that Mammootty won the National award in 1989.


Raavan was quite unconvincing and looked extremely artificial. Ramayana is a long story but Raavan starts with the kidnapping of Sita and ends after she has been rescued. In fact, nothing much happens in between and this has made the film boringly simple. There is no food for thought for the audience, no vacuum to be filled and the audience never gets truly involved in the movie. Abhishek Bachan was over the top and Mani Ratnam seemed to have gone back to the theory that villains and anti-heroes should have abnormal mannerisms and exaggerated gestures.


Even the much hyped cinematography fails the film. The videography should not stand apart, but it should blend well with the other dimensions of the film. It is not so in Raavan. Take for example, the repeated slow motion shot of Aishwarya Rai falling from a hill top to the water below. What purpose does it serve, apart from making people who are not familiar with computer graphics stare wide eyed in to the screen? Similarly, when we watch the song Kathal Rojave in Mani Ratnams Roja or the song sequences in Oru vadakkan veera gatha we get the feeling that the songs are for the sake of the characters in the movie. When you become sad you hum a sad tone. When you are ecstatic you dance. To that extent, the unnaturalness of a song or dance is being reduced. But the songs and the dance sequences in Raavan are definitely being played for the audience. The flimsy connections with the storyline apart, the songs are for the sake of songs and the dance is for the sake of dance. 


There was immense potential in the story, but with all due respect to Maniratnam, it has to be pointed out that he wasted an opportunity. Raavan has not brought in the moolah at the box office. Neither will it satisfy the serious movie viewer.