Raavanan is the Tamil Version of Raavan directed by Mani Ratnam. It was released with huge expectations as a tri-lingual on 18th June. Pre-media hype attributed the movie to be loosely based on Ramayan with an explosive climax. It has a formidable cast with Vikram playing Ravan, Aishwarya Rai playing Sita, Prithviraj playing Ram, Karthik playing Hanuman. Prabhu and Ranjita are brother and SIL of Vikram. Priyamani plays their younger sister i.e. Surpanaka. Like every other Mani movie, there was huge expectations surrounding the movie, given the formidable cast he had assembled, and the top-notch technical support crew associated with the movie. For all the inputs that have gone in, the output isn't unfortunately upto the mark. :(
The movie is set in a fictitious Tribal area called Vikramsingapuram off the Western Ghats in Tirunelveli District. Prabhu and Vikram rule the roost in those lawless jungles and they are seen as goondas and terrorists by the urban citizens and governmental forces. They proclaim themselves to the protectors of the interests of the tribals. The movie starts with the kidnap of Aishwarya Rai by Vikram, Prabhu & company, and a massive police hunt launched to nab the abductors. John Vijay (plays Lakshman) who is the DSP along with Prithviraj, SP of Tirunelveli district enter the forest in search of the kidnappers with a commando force. Karthik a forest guard familiar with the forest helps them get to the top of the hills (called meghamalai) in their attempt to find Sita. Aishwarya Rai pretends to be fearless and Vikram falls in love with her. What then follows is a cat & mouse game between Vikram and Prithvi, while Aishwarya goes through a discovery process that all is not black & white as it seems to be.
Mani, the brilliant story-teller who tried a novelty in story-telling in Yuva @ Aayutha ezuththu by narrating 3 flashbacks that lead to the same point, this time adopts a different technique. The movie is told in 2 layers, one which is whom the characters are on the screen at face value, and the other is a hidden layer which is Mani's take on the original Ramayana. He wants to give us adequate clues to link up the 2 layers and hence makes the characters talk/do something to resemble the original. The climax is Mani's take on Ramayana if the same thing happened in today's world. It is also figuratively supposed to open our eyes to the plight of the tribals in all the anti-naxal media diatribe we get to hear. So much for the good concept and design, this is where the entire story-telling starts going terribly wrong.
The outer layer is too shallow, too slow and rather uneventful. The first half was just a set of picture postcards, with far too much emphasis for the audience to identify with the characters in the inner layer. An average movie going audience is never going to get this concept and appreciate the story-told in the inner layer. So what does Mani gain by over-emphasizing to the layman level on each of the characters like make Karthik jump up the trees to prove he is a hanuman, or John Vijay threatening to cut the nose of priyamani to prove she is Surpanaka etc. It makes a mockery of the whole thing. In Guru, he left it to the intelligent people to figure out, who Ambani was, and who Wadia was and who Goenka was. Why couldnt he leave it to the intelligence of the top-strata audience to identify with the 2nd level story, and instead justify and give adequate focus on the screenplay for the outer layer story so that the general audience go home happy ?. This is where the entire movie goes wrong.
Mani wants all the characters to be Grey. He wants to stay neutral and does not want to side with Rama or Ravana. Fair enough !. But what he ends up with is a half-cooked broth in the first half, with audience not appreciating or empathazing with any of the characters. Take for example, Peraanmai, SP Jananathan intelligently uses the first half to build a good case of awareness on the plight of the tribals and why they do what they do. Or take an example of Renigunta where Pannerselvam builds a beautiful knot on the criminal boys. At the end of first half, if an average moviegoer does not support the hero or the villain, there is going to be no question of having an emotional climax. You can have a Naanayam type thriller in the 2nd half, or a Panjathantram type comedy in the 2nd half. He closes doors for having an emotional climax, by not letting audience identify with one of the characters. Where is the Mani who made us fall deeply in love with Madhubala in Roja in first half, or who made us feel the pain of the baby in search of her biological mother in KM ?. You dont feel what you felt for Madhubala post the kidnap in Roja. There is no real build-up to justify this. The Aishwarya-Prithvi sequences of french gourmet cooking and half-hearted romance doesnt move you at all. So you dont pity Aishwarya really. Prithviraj doesnt seem to be too upset about the loss and hence you dont feel sorry for him as well. I am not saying he has to do a Vijayakanth in vaidehi kathirunthaal to make us feel the pain of the loss of his wife, he doesnt even feel as much as Virumandi does after losing the girl he loved. So how can an average person feel the pain of the kidnap ?. Similarly Why Vikram falls in love with Aishwarya is beyond me seriously. The reason he says that I couldnt see fear in her eyes, and when she jumped off the cliff, my heart longed to get her back etc. doesnt explain what he is going through. This is a major let down from such a senior director !.
Finally, there is simply no creativity or suspense in the way the flashback of Priyamani unfolds in the 2nd half. The timing is bad and you know by then what exactly has happened to her. I bet TP Gajendran would have handled it better. Was priyamani gang raped ?. Who were the police who did that ? Was John Vijay one of the rapists ?. Why she is all smiles when she sees Vikram post the ordeal ?. Is that suppose to be a sign of a brave tribal girl ?. If so, why then she suddenly commits suicide ?. First of all, i dont think the brave tribal women give so much importance to a rape incident. The natural reaction you expect from them is to be angry and rebellious and retaliate back on the police. They may get killed by the police. and I would have preferred Mani to have done this and we would have empathized better with that Surpanaka character. The brothers seem to love their younger sister, then why make her a half-sister and say she was brought up in the urban area ?. Is that the reason for her humiliating suicide decision ? The climax was guessable. I was wondering why Ravan hasnt got killed yet. There we go !.
Okay, enough of cribbing. Some good things to say about about the movie.
* Aishwarya looks much better and beautiful than Guru where she was very lean. So Aishwarya lovers can get to see her as உலக அழகி ;)
* Santosh Sivan's camera work is mind blowing. The Jungle feels so real and you can virtually smell the greenery. In every casual shot you can see a thumbi or a aranai or a bee (english-ல என்ன பா இதுக்கு ?) and it is fabulous. The broken Vishnu in the middle of the river is one of the best locations I have seen. Is that a real one or a set ? Any idea ?.
* Mani realized that ARRs music doesnt fit the movie and has made most of the songs montages or just fillers, barring couple of them. If songs had also been shot the traditional way, the agony would have been even more.
* The wooden bridge in the climax is a beauty. The action is spine-chilling. Dont know how they shot that whole sequence. Peter Hain, Santosh Sivan and everyone in the crew need a big round of applause for that.
Suhasini liked the concept very much (in her movie review on Jaya TV) in the Movie called Eeram which said, in Aadhiyugam everyone was good, in Thretheyugam the good & bad existed but were physically separated, in Dwaparayugam the good & bad existed together in the same family and in Kaliyugam there is nothing really good or bad. Everyone has both within themselves and it is just a perception thing. I wonder if this is the same concept that inspired Mani to do this movie in the way it is told ?. But what a poor delivery !.
Over-all I would still call the movie a mixed bag because there are some places where you get to see the good old Mani. Not very often though. Some may like this movie partially, and some may hate it totally. Dont think anyone would come out with a fulfilled mind. The best part of the movie was, every scene when Ranjita appeared casually in the frame, the theatre was rocked with whistles and wolf-calls. Oh Man !. it felt like she was the real heroine of the movie, more popular than anyone else on the screen !. அவங்களோட போன படத்தோட clippings கொஞ்சம் சேர்த்து விட்டா, படம் பிச்சுக்கும் ;)
Mani sir, இப்படி செஞ்சா தான் படம் ஓடும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன் ;)
