Well, of the obvious, you all know, I always wish to write something for my rabid readers; but, a lazy-bone like me hardly comes up with something interesting. However, I have got something to share with you from long time. I make it now. Here it goes.
10 months before:
Whilst I was running my eye through a local news paper, my eyes were struck to a report that unfolded the launch of a tri-lingual movie casting so & so by the Stalwart Maniratnam. No wonder, A.R Rahman`s music a must norm to maniratnam`s movie. There could be nothing much bigger than this to a fan like me that day J ; This was touted to be the most anticipated bollywood flick.
The name Maniratnam itself was enough for people to throng before theatres, adding decorum to this was the big names Abhishek Bachan,Aishwary Rai Bachan & Vikram. What else do people want more than this to go Gung-Ho.
3 Months before from now:
The sizzling music launch of Raavan. As expected, extra ordinary music it was, I felt or may be my predilection to Rahman`s previous tracks, made me like Raavan`s music too; any which ways you take it, I don`t mind. There were many expected stories for the movie that media took wind off. Ha Ha. Dunno, which speculation went right in the end.
A month before from now:
I exactly remember how much struggle it took us (Goutham Reddy & I) to reach the theatre, a few miles from our stay, as it was raining cats & dogs that evening. Heavy rain, wet & soggy evening dint stop us from the screening, we are such freaky friends you see he he.
We were very much anxious to watch the screening, our wet clothes dint bother us to the least, even if something was really grief giving, we just gave a damn to that.
Story line borrowed from the myth Raamayan was very well conceived, many would disagree with this statement, I know; anyway I take the liberty of saying.
I say, had sita succumb to the goodness in Raavan despite of her emotional bonding with raam, what would happen or on the second thoughtt would that happen at all, was the under lying thought that gave rise to this plot “Raavan” . Such a typical thought was neatly woven into the fabric of daily life movie story & screenplay where character Ram is portrayed as Dev(vikram), a dedicatedly sincere police officer, Raavan as Beera(Abhishek) (a local robinhood or to be more closer, veerappan). Sita as raagini(Aish).
I say, had sita succumb to the goodness in Raavan despite of her emotional bonding with raam, what would happen or on the second thoughtt would that happen at all, was the under lying thought that gave rise to this plot “Raavan” . Such a typical thought was neatly woven into the fabric of daily life movie story & screenplay where character Ram is portrayed as Dev(vikram), a dedicatedly sincere police officer, Raavan as Beera(Abhishek) (a local robinhood or to be more closer, veerappan). Sita as raagini(Aish).
Beera abducts Ragini to dense forest, and her husband who is a cop Dev Pratap Sharma is determined to catch Beera anyhow and rescue his wife. Beera had abducted cop’s wife Ragini just to revenge on his personal grudge.
The opening scene of Mr. Bachann junior jumping from a top cliff (shot in karnataka, I suppose) into the low lying river was one of the finely carved introductions, I fancy. Following were the scenes that reminded me of the beginning shots of the movie “Roja”. The similarity is both were shot in dense forest with police chases but with a little difference, the police were chased to death in the later (Raavan) he he. It is hard to leave our basic instincts aside, right. Top notch back ground music made it more appealing. There was a scene, where Aish tries to take her own life by jumping down a huge waterfall, there could be a complete jump shot, but she gets struck to tree midway & the stem of tree breaks meanwhile & then she falls into the river. This end part was ultimately picturized. Spell bound I was, What a spectacular sight it was to witness, splendiferous cinematography.
The most interesting part of the story, which is also the part of climax is, when Ragini seems to have sensitive and silent build up bond with Beera, where she found her self in dilemma whether she should be a loyal dogmatic Indian wife or if she should pursue her suppressed fantasy? Whereas Beera is amused by Ragini beauty and find himself in love with her, beera spells “Dhikaavo chidiyaa ko, kaun hai raam aur kaun hai raavan” & Dev kills Beera, we feel like, aahhh, dev shouldn`t have shot him, he is good. But it is a justified act, our ram/dev here is a police officer performing his duty, killing here is not a sinful act.
We just leave the theatre carrying forward a thought that says, who is ram & who is raavan in the play, though it is so crystal clear, climax I suppose gives us this feeling. He he
In words from Maniratnam:
Sinister, the way people’s minds work, isn`t it? When the mere thought of Ram in Raavan & sita liking the ram in raavan, itself is very hard to digest, no wonder manifestation of such thought would lead to a complete devastation. The same is the end result with Raavan.
Omnifarious behaviors’ we see in our regular day to day life. Impeccable back ground score, entrancing cinematography by santhosh shivan & manikandhan, Appealing Aish, Veracious Vikram, superlatively good acting from Bachann Jr, on a whole unparalleled achievement by Maniratnam couldn`t stop “Raavan/Villain” from being a box-office debacle.
P.S- I myself, loved the movie for its logical congruousness with the epic, outstanding background score & magnum-opus cinematography. Here I must mention, though we hardly find good progress in the story side of our Indian movies, there is a huge progress in the technical aspects like cinematography. Raavan is one solid proof.
