"A book is the reader's view of the author's narration whereas a movie is a directors view of the director's narration. Whether you like it or not. " - I used to keep debating with a friend of mine who loves reading books as much as I love watching movies. That is exactly what Raavannan ( the Tamil one) is. It would join the list of Avathaaram, by Naaser.
No marks for guessing that Mani excels as usual in his own department - Direction. Wonderful,way of using metaphors to show the 10 shades of the Raavanan. But you've gotto watch closely to observe these - for instance - Vaiyapuri, who plays an eunuch falls from a boat full of kids and Veera emerges in a flash replacing Vaiyapuri on top of it. This is when the softer and feminine shade of him is revealed for the first time.
I don't know if it was Peter Hein or Sham Kaushal who did the Sugar-in-diesel-tank action sequence, but that was the only action sequence which was interesting. The other chase and even the climax sequence were not impressive at all. But on retrospect why didn't the STF have any clever action while the Raavanan gang was working almost like a commando force? Ganesh Acharya (who also appears in just a quick flash) could have done some more research on the dance forms of the tribal people rather than doing ballad moves for the songs. That would have been more real.
Much has been written and talked about this being the most beautifully shot movie and so on, well I can't agree more with it. A couple of India's best cinematographers ( Santhosh Sivan and V Manikandan) are at work, so go and enjoy the six course visual feast. AR Rahman's music is good, but nothing was Wow !
Casting is perfect, the supporting characters gel nicely to the roles. And did you know the now famous Ranjitha plays a cameo in this movie ? To reveal a bit about the charecters, Vikram plays Veera the good guy (yes you read it right), Prithviraj plays Dev the bad guy and Aishwarya plays Ragaini who is typically the viewer you! Notice that Veera is never shown as a decision maker. He is always confused by the ten voices in his head. He often echoes and reflects the personality of the people around him. - a moment it is Ragini the devoted wife, at times it is Singarayan his elder brother, and in the police tent it is Dev and at times it is you the viewer ! when he questions who decides what is good and evil ! Where the ace director slips is developing the good or bad friction between these characters and the reasons for it. And I think that is what he admits in his synopsis here (The tension between the opposite is too electric that it isolates them from the rest of the world leaving just the two). Now, can you live with that explanation and forgive the absence of character sketches is the question.
Samir Chanda's effort in creating an adobe in the thick jungles deserves special kudos. I'm sure the set for Kodu potta is gonna be a trend setter for years to come. Production design in excellent, but I wouldn't agree the South Indian wedding sequence taking place in a North Indian temple. Unfortunately the special effects department (was it by PrimeFocus ?) is a big let down. It is high time India ncreative graphic artists turn their ship towards "hiding the art". C'mon, the composition of the climax ladder shots were a joke !
Coming to acting, what a performance by Vikram ? He speaks less and emotes a tonn. Prabhu ,Karthick , Priyamani and the supporting cast do a very neat job. Prithviraj is great in a negative role after a long time. Aishwarya fits the bill for the first half as the graceful woman whose charm spoils Veera's mind. But she is no where close to the changes the character goes through in the second half. Just crying wouldn't work !
Mani lets Vairamuthu's lyrics deliver a lot of backstory, so you'll have to listen carefully. Cheeyan kaatta thondi paaththa semmann oooththu raththam thaan - Wow ! Suhasini has taken charge of the dialogue department and I kept wondering throughout the movie if I'm in Tamzh Semmozhi Maanaadu. I don't know how a tribal would ask "Prayannam ellam sowgariyama irunthatha??" in forest.
Okay, this is NOT Mani Ratnam's Ramayan. There are as many deviations from the epic as there are similarities. To quote some, in Ramayana, Lakshman is not abducted and his head shaved, Raavanan is not single, Rama does not kill Vibeeshanan when he goes to him seeking asylum. And ofcourse, this Raavayanam does not end the way Ramayan does. Thalapathi was not Mani's Mahabharatha; Nayagan was not Mani's Godfather but we did enjoy them. So why complain now?
Among various things, Mani is most popular for his screenplay. He could make an interesting 2 and half hour movie out of a storyline that is as simple as - 2 terminally ill people falling in love - remember Idhyaththai Thirudaathey? In Raavannan, Mani yet again experiments a different narration and yet another dimension of drama. Whether is works for you or not is something else, as I said in the beginning, this is the director's view of his story. To me it did not work ! There are 2 reasons for it.
One - in spite of great performances, the "need" of the characters and the back stories were not defined clearly. For instance, the song did not convey the depth of love between Dev and Ragini and so I felt like why this all hungama ?
Two - Some great director's cleverly put the viewers in situations of their protagonist so that they can feel the pain and power of the character and connect to it. Remember Momento ? If I assume that Mani tried to do something similar, by keeping us in a jungle of mix and match emotional and action scenes, even then I feel there is too much confusion and too many unanswered questions for me to appreciate the clarity in Raavanan's mind in the climax. And I do feel that Sreekar Prasad's editing is part of the reason behind the damage.
No, I haven't watched Raavan (hindi)....yet !
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