Mani's best

I had high expectations from Raavanan. Now having watched it, obviously since the final product does not meet the expectation set I feel slightly letdown. But surprised by wide spread criticism of the movie, I began wondering if this movie would be judged differently by future audiences if released say 5 years down the line. Would the reaction be more favorable? How would it compare to all Mani's other works.

There is no doubt Mani Ratnam is a pathbreaking director. He has an uncanny knack of understanding the pulse of the audience and delivers accordingly. But if you look closely, you'll notice that not many of his movies stand the test of time.

Here is my ranking of all Mani Ratnam movies till date-

1. Iruvar
2. Thalapathy
3. Nayakan
4. Roja
5. Agni Nakshatram
6. Alai Payuthey
7. Bombay
8. Mouna Raagam
9. Guru & Raavanan/ Raavan (Tied)
11. Geethanjali
12. Thiruda Thiruda
13. Pagal Nilavu
14. Ayudha Ezhuthu / Yuva
15. Kannathil Muthamittal
16. Anjali

I dont think too many would disagree with the top 4 movies, although Iruvar could be questionable choice to some. And maybe the rankings would differ. But by and large, the top 4 define the essence of Mani Ratnam school of filmaking.

The rest if seen hindsight are quite topical in nature. For e.g I must have watched Agni Natchataram probably 10-15 times and at one considered it to be one of the best Tamil movies produced.
But watching it the other day on youtube, it just seemed so poorly directed with its jerky editing, its none too subtle camera work which distracted me from the story. And mind you, this was pioneering work from P.C.Sreeram

So that being said, it could be possible the reverse maybe true for Raavanan and that once the dust is settled and people have forgotten all the immense hype surrounding it, maybe, just maybe it could be judged for what is really worth.

Nav

P.S. I think the same could be said for any filmaker. Indian or non-Indian. Think any Subhash Ghai movie could fall into the above category. Just imagine how his blockbusters like Ram Lakhan, Saudagar and Hero etc would fare with today's audiences.

Quick Reviews - Raavanan

Raavanan released worldwide on June 18. 5 watched Raavanan on the 19th and Raavan on 21st.

Some of the thoughts I've penned below were written soon after on a word document.

Today I finally found the time to publish it here.

Raavanan

One of the few Indian movies which I’ve eagerly awaited in a long time. And for good reason(s) – Well for one, any Mani Ratnam production is an event in itself, but this had the added bonus of featuring Vikram in a challenging role.

The presence of A R Rahman didn’t hurt either. The premise looked interesting. Ratnam’s re-telling of the Ramayan and specifically focusing on Raavan’s side of the story. The previews were just right and kept me hooked on for more. Pains me to say I checked Sify.com religiously (almost every other day) to track the latest news related to this movie. Ahem.That being said..

Having watched both versions, the Hindi version twice, my personal and hopefully objective opinion is that this a noble effort.

Mani Ratnam experiments with the presentation, heavy emphasis on conceptualizing and creating beautiful images, ably supported in his efforts by Santosh Sivan and Sreekar Prasad. This could arguably be the finest technical product to come out of India in a long time.

I won’t go into too much detail about the story which is threadbare at best. Ratnam takes an interesting concept and tries to weave some semblance of a narrative around it but falters. It is as if he visioned a high level road map in terms of plot structure and scene creation but just couldnt translate it to character development and dialogues. And this would rile even the most ardent Ratnam fan boys since the generic, card board cut out characterization and cliched dialogue makes it difficult for the audience to establish any sort of emotional rapport with the characters.

It is only the individual brilliance of Vikram and Prithviraj, who despite being let down by Mani’s script, who carry the movie. It seems as if they had to dig deep into their thinly sketched caricatures and add layers and emotional resonance into their characters.

Vikram scores in most scenes where he gets to display his softer, understated acting. Take all his interactions with Aishwarya Rai, especially the scene next to the Statue of God in the forest and the climax. A True genius.
Prithvi has comparatively lesser screen time than Vikram and Aishwarya Rai but shines as the suave, cool super cop modeling his Ray-Ban aviators. His characterization allows a dynamic counterpoint to Vikram more rustic, roguish portrayal.

Aishwarya does a credible job in physically and emotionally demanding role although post intermission her role reduces significantly which is a pity since her character was shaping up quite well – A woman caught in between the war of men.

You need only look at Vikram’s performance to understand the wave of negative reviews and comments about the Hindi version and Abhishek’s performance in particular.

AB Jr is best suited to limited type of roles and this movie requires him to improvise and perform outside of his comfort zone. And he fails to connect with his character.

While Vikram channels an un-educated, backward person, AB Jr brings a more manic, off-kilter energy to the screen which seems inconsistent and just a little off the mark.

On the music department A.R Rahman’s back ground score is haunting. And I mention haunting in its most positive way. You can read more my thoughts on the back ground score here

But the songs themselves are mostly situational based and save for the Raavanan's theme song 'Beera Beera' and perhaps 'Usire Poguthey' (Behne de in Hindi) none of the others hold up on repeat listening.

Karthik, Prabhu and PriyaMani have minor roles. Karthik makes the most of it, despite Mani Ratnam having him jump around like a monkey to nail in the Hanuman comparison. Unnecessary but Karthik shows glimpses of his old self.
Govinda is wasted in the Hindi version of Hanuman.

Raavanan - Mani's version of a masala movie. Worth a watch. But don't take it too seriously.

Nav