Raavan – Review…( By Nina Rothe )

 

Undeniably, we live in times where things are seen as black and white, no grey areas allowed. Take the case of the gushing oil in our Gulf: BP is bad, President Obama is good – unless he’s also bad and that’s depending on the day – the environmentalists are good, the people who are trying to fix the problem bad, since they have yet to succeed. It is increasingly more rare to find a film, a TV series or a book which does not depict the battle of good vs. evil while leaning grotesquely on the side of good, making evil appear… well, evil. The Hero is always pure and good – and incredibly attractive – while the Villain is hideous, mean and plain hard to root for.

In this world of black and white, Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ is an exhilarating breath of fresh grey air. I found myself rooting for the bad guy time after time, and the last occasion I remember doing any such thing was during a Hitchcock film… Which wasn’t nearly as much fun visually as Ratnam’s film is!

‘Raavan’ is one of the few, rare films out of India that actually gets better after Intermission. While most Indian filmmakers only see the second half of their films as a prolonged segue to their ending, ‘Raavan’ actually gains momentum, and nuances, in its last hour. It is in its second act that ‘Raavan’ becomes a riveting story – with strong social and gender messages – beyond its visually stunning cinematography and great performances. When people say that no one showcases Aishwarya Rai like Mani Ratnam, they are right! She is superbly beautiful and absolutely perfect in his films.

After a sepia-colored title sequence, the film begins, immediately blending basic elements of the Sita and Rama story, with class and caste issues – the haves vs. the have nots – and the idea of ownership. Is love truly about what we feel or what we can possess? Are good and evil really that easy to tell apart? What happens when the villain isn’t who we think he should be and the god/hero isn’t perfect after all? Right in that fabulously provocative grey area lies the story of ‘Raavan’.

The main characters are Dev – played by Vikram – the police commander, who’s described in the director’s notes as an “encounter specialist”; Beera – played by Abhishek Bachchan – the voice of the underdog, a man described at once as good and evil; Ragini – played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Dev’s wife, a feisty, strong woman who is at once fearless and vulnerable; and Sanjeevani – played by Govinda – an alcoholic Forest Guard who knows both Beera and Dev for the men they truly are, basically two sides of the same coin. In the Tamil version ‘Raavanan’, Vikram – the actor who plays Dev in the Hindi version – actually plays the Beera (Veeraiya) character and indeed, the two actors are even meant to look similar in body type, hairdos, facial hair and demeanor. It makes the lines even more blurry for the viewer…

At the very beginning of the film, the question is asked whether Beera is a ten-headed demon or a Robin Hood. It’s an answer you’ll have to work out for yourself. Although, most of the story does takes place in an apocalyptic Sherwood Forest of sorts, damp, muddy and soaked with water through ninety-five percent of the film. It’s a spectacle of wonderful cinematography – courtesy of Santosh Sivan – and keeps the viewer entertained through those moments when the action may move a bit too slowly. I did find myself getting lost in the beauty of the photography for the better part of the first half, since the guts of the story – with its themes of courage, true honor and objectification – really do start after Intermission. If I could offer a negative comment in my otherwise gushing review, it’s that the story takes a while to take off. And it tries to deal with too many themes at once, in the first half of the film.

A friend made me privy to some insider’s info, which is that those who worked on ‘Raavan’ spent most of their time filming in waist-deep water. All this under the super-disciplined watchful eye of Mr. Ratnam, who is known to be quite a perfectionist, hence a bit of a despot on the set. That combination is true filmi commitment right there. Whatever it took, the effort was well worth it in the end.

The dramatic effect of the film is accented by the stunning costumes courtesy of Sabyasachi – at his best in this South Indian setting of vegetable-dyed cottons and gold brocade borders – as well as the haunting soundtrack by A. R. Rahman. Could there ever be a Ratnam film without Maestro Rahman’s sound taking it to new heights? I think we all know the answer to that question. And the lyrics by Gulzar are divinely poetic, even to a not-so-good Hindi speaker like me.

Mani Ratnam will be awarded the Jaeger- LeCoultre, Glory to the Filmmaker award at the 67th Venice Film Festival this year. It is an honor that sums up the international appeal of a man who has never really cared that much about it. While most other filmmakers are scrambling to put together the next crossover hit, Ratnam’s been contently and extraordinarily making films for the Indian market, albeit in a variety of Indian languages, for the past 25 years. And yet, while I watched ‘Raavan’ I realized that within its human message, star performances and impeccable cinematography lies the most worldly of films I have seen in a long time.

In the words of Mani Ratnam himself: “Raavan is not a story, it is a world.” Indeed, a world we want to explore, learn more about and live, deep inside our hearts.

The film opens in theaters worldwide this Friday, June 18, in North America, India, UK, UAE, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and other countries. It will be shown in some markets in the Telugu version titled ‘Villain’ and the Tamil version titled ‘Raavanan’.