What a tragedy!!

There have been 3 occasions in my life when these words have evoked more angst than customary - first when Princess Di died, second when I discovered Rupert Everett was gay (a colossal tragedy!) and now today after I watched Mani Rathnam's Raavan. (If I watched sports, there would be many more but I don't, so we shall make do with 3 for now)

Raavan is a tragedy in more ways than one - the tragedy of the protagonist's life is overshadowed far, far heavily by another, greater tragedy - that of a colossal waste of an opportunity to create ground breaking cinema!!

At the risk of committing blasphemy, I have never really enjoyed the original epic too much - its a far linear story with unidimensional characters as compared to the Mahabharata. Also it is far more dated as compared to Mahabharata which never loses its au courant status, no matter what day or age.

Mani Rathnam's story on the other hand, starts with a premise that has immense potential - a Ram who is not all "maryada purushottam", a Raavan with a heart of gold who is willing to sacrifice himself for his lady love and a Sita who is torn between her savior and her captor - a riveting tale of characters with depth and shades of grey, told in today's context - all the makings of a plot par excellence. However, what looks good on paper, doesn't translate into it on screen. The story is disjointed, the characters are not well fleshed out, leaving you hugely disappointed, irritable and at times plain sleepy!

Raavan, the protagonist, is the biggest disappointment - the king of Lanka, who inspired the role, was a powerful, learned man, feared by men and Gods alike, whose lust for Sita became his Achilles heel. Raavan the movie guy on the other hand, is part buffoon, part insane; perpetually covered in a mud pack of some sort, and who due to some speech impediment, breaks into gibberish every time he has to emote some powerful emotion!! In his role as Robin Hood meets Raavan, he does not evoke even a twitch, leave alone terror!!

Vikram on the other hand, is a smoking hot Ram - however let down by a weak role where all he is required to do is snort and glare furiously at Raavan - the real life one or his photo! Having said that, he has charisma and a formidable personality and will fit Raavan's shoes far better than AB Baby, in the Tamil version.

And poor Ash, our very own Desi Barbie - she really slums it out in this one - no make up, covered in some combination or other of blood, dirt, mud throughout the movie, gets pushed around, slapped, starved, cries and shrieks and yet she leaves you totally devoid of sympathy and feeling very very bored! (I fail to comprehend why otherwise brilliant men like Rituporno Ghosh or Mani Rathnam insist on casting her in roles that are light years away from her capability - her Binodini in Chokher Bali was a crime against cinema!!!)

The pivotal scenes where Raavan and Sita are drawn to each other are a joke - saying that the chemistry is nonexistent, would be charitable!!

The dialogues are so pathetically done, they end up being hilarious!! There is a moment when after her rescue, Sita asks Ram, "Why did you come, for him (Raavan) or me?" - it is supposed to be poignant and charged with emotion. However the dialogue and ( Ash's acting) turn it into a huge joke and you can hear the theatre break into guffaws!!!

On the other hand, the cinematography is sheer poetry - some of the shots are beyond breathtaking - for instance the scene where Raavan's boat capsizes Ash's petite canoe, the ruins in the forest, the stunning backdrop of the supposed romantic lunch dinner date between Ram and Sita, the waterfalls, the swamps... each one is more beautiful than the other. Infact there are times, you wish you had a giant duster and could wipe away the ineffectual characters and just focus on the breathtaking scenery!!

Finally for A.R.Rahman's music - the maestro seems to have watched one too many Ramleelas; thus we are inundated with songs every 5 minutes! Unfortunately the songs lack the magic of Roja, Bombay or even a Guru and are exceedingly forgettable.

So in the end, all you are left with is some absolutely stunning visions caught on camera, a feeling of regret about what might have been, a headache and a burning curiosity about why all the mud packs!!!

P.S
For those curious to know how it compares to the other remake of epic proportions, Rajneeti - here is my take on it - Jha's remake is quite the opposite of Mani Rathnam's - he tries to over simplify a complex epic while Mani Rathnam attempts exactly the opposite and that is commendable. However, the latter goes bust because of bad acting, worse dialogues and even more pathetic storyline which doesn't capitalise his intention and the potential of the movie to the fullest.

Plus Raavan is a tale of highs and lows - stunning visuals, bad acting, some poignant scenes etc... Rajneeti on the other hand, is dead throughout, much like a life support with the plug pulled out!!!