Raavanan – Movie Review

Raavanan – Muscle , wrestle and the spectacle!

Vikram once said that, as an aspiring actor he pledged to quit acting if once happened to be in a Maniratnam film. His dream has come true. Vikram plays the lead Veera in Raavanan, the most anticipated Maniratnam movie of this season. Aesthetic technicians and star performers deliver us a typical adventure action film with a lot of Indian sensibilities and a bag full of Rahmanic tunes. To bring in the plot of the movie would be a mere waste of time since Raavanan is Maniratnam’s reinterpretation of the Great Indian classic Ramayana. For those who haven’t seen the movie yet and curious about it, Raavanan is a post-modern retelling of the classic Ramayana with a twist.

Raavanan’s plot  unfurls around Vikram who plays Veera aka Raavanan the Robin hood of the Tirunelveli forest with a bunch of villagers including Prabhu. Aishwarya Rai Bacchan plays Ragini, the reincarnation of Sita and Prithviraj plays the tough cop Dev, who is the duty oriented Ram of this version of Ramayana. A simple online search would tell you the no mystery story line of Raavanan. More than  anything else, the locations and the ace cinematography make Raavanan a most important film in the history of Indian films. Kudos to the technical team of Raavanan. The exotic set designs in a misty forest surrounded by waterfalls allow the Director to convert even his most ordinary shots into bizarre and unblemished ones. Raavanan is an eye candy with a good story and a mediocre screenplay.

The narrative technique used by Maniratnam is an age-old way of telling a story, except for the few areas where he adapts the Martin Scorsese like non-linear intercuts in adjacent scenes. But at the end of the day, the screenplay stands out as something cliched but  well told. The next hurdle for Raavanan comes in the form of Suhasini‘s dialogues, which miserably fail to travel along the film’s sexy texture and tone. Too much of information and artificiality mar even the otherwise good exchanges. Though Veera’s  multi-faceted characterisation is an advantage to the plot, it stops at an intellectual level failing to connect with the audience.

Vikram stands out in the film with his killer looks and the dandanakka refrain. Hats off to his million dollar performance. Since the film falls back heavily on feminism for its interpretation, Mrs.Rai Bacchan occupies most of the screen space and time and does justice to her almost perfect character as the beautiful hostage. Prithviraj’s merciless and menacing demeanor flawlessly suits Dev, the Superintendent of police. Other than these three, no character makes an impact on screen. Karthik who plays a pointless forest guard equated to Hanuman, Prabhu, the Kumbakarnan like Singarasu and Munna as Vibeeshnan come and go like passing clouds. Priyamani in Surpanakai‘s shoes,  just treads the same path as Paruthi veeran’s Muthazhagu and fails to leave a mark. Also there are no strong scenes to develop the unusual relationship that blossoms between Ragini and Veera. Ill-developed characters and lack of innovative storytelling spoil an otherwise lovely film. Maniratnam who dazzled us with great storytelling in Ayutha Ezhuthu,  disappoints us in Raavanan’s narrative.

If watched without a critical eye, Raavanan provides more than two hours of solid, quality entertainment(But not for the lay men). The early shots which show us the boat crash from below, the camera swing when Veera speaks to Ragini standing in a parisal, Dev’s angry cigarette stubbing, the falling down and climbing up shots, the great bridge showdown and  the final entry of  cops from the misty veil hail Maniratnam as one of the greatest directors of India today. When Maniratnam, Santosh Sivan and A.R.Rahman combine, this is the output: A visual spectacle with breathtaking shots carried to great heights by wings of music. The camera takes us everywhere: Under the water, inside the caves, into the waterfalls,  and even above the sky. Further it has eyed the forests of Chalakkudi, Ooty and so many other places of India with high-art seriousness. Sreekar Prasad effectively uses a number of inter-cuts to the end of intensified emotions to keep us entertained in a clichéd screenplay. The combination of colors have been immaculate in any Maniratnam movie and in this one as well. The final moments of battle is a perfect mix of instinctual mystery and technical mastery.

Though Tamil cinema has been borrowing heavily from the Ram-Raavanan myth ever since characters started to speak onscreen, this is the first time we see a complete reinterpretation of the epic. This attempt by Maniratnam is similar to what Anurag Kashyap did to the story of Devdas. Unlike Dev-d, Raavanan uses  ’ deconstruction’ in comparatively smaller amounts. But Raavanan falls short of Dev-d in terms of the narrative. Maniratnam succeeds as a man of good taste and  as a director but fails as a writer in Raavanan. Raavanan is not a classic but at the same time it is not a bad movie to be missed. Maniratnam’s Raavanan says I may go down, but I’ll walk tall in the  memory of not my lady love, but the lady who loved me.

-Spontic

Raavan – Muscle and wrestle.
Vikram once said that he would quit acting if he once acted in a Mani Ratnam film. His dream has come true. Vikram plays the

lead Veera in Raavanan, the most anticipated mani Ratnam movie of this season. Aesthetic technicians and star performers

deliver us a typical adventure action film with a lot of Indian sensibilities and with a bag full of Rahmanic music. To bring

in the plot of the movie would be a mere waste of time since it is Maniratnam’s reinterpretation of the Great indian classic

Ramayan. For those who haven’t seen the movie yet and curious about it, Raavan is a post-modern retelling of the classic

Ramayan with a twist.

Raavan’s plot  unfurls around Vikram who plays Veera aka Raavan the robinhood of the forest with a bunch of villagers and

including Prabhu. Aishwarya Rai Bacchan plays Ragini, the reincarnation of sita and Prithviraj plays the tough cop dev, who

is the duty oriented Ram of Maniratnam’s version of Ramayan. A simple online search would tell you the no mystery story line

of maniratnam’s Raavanan. More than  anything else, the locations and the ace cinematography make raavan a most important

film in the history of Indian films. Kudos to the technical team comprising Peter hein The exotic set designs in a misty

forest surrounded by waterfalls allow the Director to convert his most ordinary shoots into bizarre and unblemished ones.

Raavan is an eye candy with a good story and a mediocre screenplay.

The narrative technique used by Maniratnam is an age-old way of telling a story, except for the few areas where he adapts the

Martin Scorsese like non-linear intercuts in adjacent scenes. But at the end of the day, the screenplay stands out as

something cliched but  well told. The next hurdle for Raavanan comes in the form of Suhasini’s dialogues, which miserably

fail to travel along the film’s sexy texture and tone. Too much of information and artificiality mars even the otherwise good

exchanges. Sujatha sir, we badly miss you! Though Veera’s  multi-faceted character is an advantage to the plot, it stops with

an intellectual level failing to connect with the audience.

Vikram stands out in the film with his killer looks and the dandanakka refrain. Hats off to his million dollar performance.

Since the film falls back heavily on feminism for its interpretation, Mrs.Rai Bacchan occupies most of the screen space and

time and does justice to her almost perfect character as the beautiful hostage. Prithviraj’s merciless and menacing demeanor

flawlessly suits Dev, the superindent of police. Other than these three, no character makes an impact on screen. Kathik who

plays a pointless forest guard equated to Hanuman, Prabhu, the Kumbakarnan like singarasu and Munna asVibeeshnan come and go

like passing clouds. Priyamani in surpanakai’s seat just treads the same path as Paruthi veeran’s Muthazhagu and fails to

leave a mark. Also there are no strong scenes to develop the kinetic relationship that blossoms between Ragini and Veera.

Ill-developed characters and lack of innovative storytelling spoils an otherwise lovely film. Evidently Maniratnam needs to

update his storytelling software.

If watched without a critical eye, Raavan provides more than two hours of solid quality entertainment(But not for the lay

men). Right from the set of early shots which show us the boat crash from below the water surface, the camera swing when

Veera speaks to Ragini standing in a parisal, Dev’s angry cigarette stubbing on the criminals’ photo, the going down and

climbing up shots, the great bridge showdown till the final entry of the cops from the misty veil hail maniratnam as one of

the greatest directors of India today. When Maniratnam, Santosh Sivan and rahman combine, this is the output: A visual

spectacle with breathtaking shots carried to great heights by wings of music. The camera takes us everywhere: Under the

water, inside the caves, into the waterfalls,  and even above the sky. Sreekar Prasad effectively uses a number of intercuts

to the end of intensified emotions to keep us entertained in a cliched screenplay.The combination of colors have been

immaculate in any Maniratnam movie and in this one as well. The final monets of battle produce the intended effect with the

required momentum.

Though Tamil cinema is been borrowing heavily from the Ram-Raavanan myth ever since characters started to speak, this is the

first time we see an reinterpretation of the epic.  Maniratnam succeeds as a man of good taste, as a director but fails as a

writer in Raavanan. Raavan is not a classic but at the same time it is not a bad movie to be missed. Maniratnam’s Raavanan

says I may go down, but i’ll walk tall in the  memory of not my lady love but the lady who loved me.

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Sakkarakatti – Music Review

Sakkarakatti- Electrifying youth vibrancy!

Album name : Sakkarakatti
Release date : 11.7.08
Music Director : ARRahman
Number of Tracks : 6

Male harmony

Benny Dayal, Blaaze, ,Javed Ali, A R Rahman, Henry, Krish and Naresh Iyer

Female harmony

Chinmayi, Madhushree, Viviane Chaix and Indai Haza

The long awaited soundtrack of the movie Sakkarakatti has hit the stores yesterday. Rahman has scored half a dozen bright and colorful songs for this ‘Shanthanu’ starrer.

1. Taxi Taxi*****
Singers: Benny Dayal, Blaaze, Viviane Chaix and Javed Ali
Lyrics: Blaaze, Na Muthukumar, Viviane Chaix
Basically a friendship song like Mustafa, full of Blaaze’s Rap interludes, Vivian’s ooh laas and french chants. The rhythm of this song is pretty ordinary but the vocals and other additions take it to the next level. This song gives us the feel of a ‘Bollywood’ number. Lyrics bringout this ‘ipod’ age’s friends and their relationships with a bit of slapstick humour. Pals dont miss this!

2. Marudhani****
Singers: Madhushree, A R Rahman, Henry
Lyrics  : Vaali
Probably a heroine solo melody, with soft beats and chorus. Pleasant interludes and Rahman’s hummings complete this soft but quick number. This is the only song which contains ARR’s voice in this album. Dynamic Vaali’s lyrics are spoiled by Madhushree’s poor Tamil accent. So a kind request to Madhushree:’Please find a good tamil teacher before commiting your next Tamil song’.

3. I Miss You Da*****
Singers: Chinmayi, Indai Haza
Lyrics  : Na Muthukumar
Another solo female song in which ARR has experimented with converting different ordinary sounds into one sweet melody. Appears to be a fusion of pop music and dubstep genre. Chinmayi’s versatile voice realises ARR’s dream. Also the song progresses with ‘Adhiradikkaran’ kind of beats now and then. The chorus and beats are avant-garde. May demand a lot of listening before you love it. Muthukumar’s lyrics are very ordinary and fails to impress. The feel produced by this song is similar to the effect produced by ‘Maja Maja'(SOK) and ‘Kettena'(Desam). A song for the world!

4.Chinnamma****
Singers: Benny Dayal, Chinmayi
Lyrics  : Pa Vijay
A Tamil version of the song ‘Chinnamma Chilakkamma’ from Rahman’s soundtrack for the Hindi movie Meenaxi(2004). Though a repetitive seranade from ARR, not disappointing. Benny sings very similar to Sukhwinder, the singer of the original Chinnamma. But Benny beats Sukhwinder with his proper Tamil pronounciation. We could hear Sukhwinder’s humming at the end point of this song!. Benny’s adaptable voice eeks out his best at the high pitch areas. Chinmayi in this song sounds very different from ‘I miss you da’. Both the singers have given their maximum effort in this song. Pa Vijay’s lyrics have perfectly fit this Andhra folk song. The song begins like an old Telugu song played in an old philips radio. Fantastic! One of ARR’s best folk numbers. The Andhra feel reminds us ‘Errani Kurrani'(Kadhalan) song. With the usage of folk instruments and a few western equipment Rahman has challenged the kuthu song world!

5.Elay*****
Singers: Krish ,Naresh Iyer
Lyrics  : Na Muthukumar
Seems to be the ‘soul’ song of this movie. Full of guitar sounds, violin pieces and quick beats. Though the music is of the Rock genre, the lyrics and violin gives us ‘at home’ feeling. A positive and pleasant song which bridges east and west. Though a number of instruments are used, nothing goes haywire. Wonderful orchestration and coordination by ARR. In this song Muthukumar gains what he lost in ‘I Miss you da’ song. The song ends by providing us a jazz feel. Krish and Naresh sing exactly with the feel of south Indian boys. At times this song reminds us ‘Roobaaroo'(Rang De Basanti). But the utilisation of other instruments makes this song different.

6.Naan Epodhu****
Singers: Reena Bharadwaj
Lyrics  : Pa Vijay
Another reiteration from Meenaxi. The Same singer is called back. A wonderful North Indian style song, with a lovely tune and guitar interludes. Beautiful addition of effects at right times. Right choice of voice. Totally an awesome song. But, this awesome song is stained by the awkward pronounciation(Pen or pin??!!) of the singer. This is the third female solo song of this album and the shortest one. Pa Vijay’s romantic lyrics along with excellent instrumentation doesn’t fail to create the intended swooning effect. A sweet song!

-Spontic

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