Movie review: Raavan

THIS 'RAAVAN' IS NOT BAD. BUT SADLY THE MOVIE IS.

RAAVAN

*ing Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Govinda

Directed by: Mani Rathnam

Music: A R Rahman

Lyrics: Gulzar

Mani Rathnam has a problem.

He does not speak Hindi. Nor does he get the subtleties that go with knowing the language and so its just my guess, but I think Raavana (Tamil) is going to be far better than this stilted snooze fest that is Raavan.

I remember while studying in Bangalore we stood in line outside a theatre (this was before the multiplexes came in) and almost got lathi charged just because some friends of mine wanted to watch Bombay: first day first show.

And being a huge Manisha fan I tagged along even though it was in Tamil.

I did watch the hindi version later and even though I don’t understand Tamil, it seemed a far superior version.

In Raavan the characters seem to spew ‘dialogue’ and hardly ever talk.

I have no idea about Vikram’s body of work (he is allegedly a National Award winner) but seeing that this was made for a north Indian audience, a fitter body would have been better. Unlike the south, Bollywood prefers its matinee idols a lil less rotund.

Seeing Vikram running in slow motion with his paunch jiggling (with shirt tucked into jeans no less) was not a pretty sight and no amount of Ray Bans could compensate for it. The worse part was that his role was half baked too. What a start to Bollywood. There's no way he is ever going to make it here.

And Abhishek Bachchan hams away to glory with not a single nod to subtlety. His “Jhig-jhig-jhig” and “Bak Bak Bak” dialogues were comic when they weren’t supposed to be and towards the end in a crucial scene when Ash repeats the same (Bak Bak) back to him the whole theatre was left giggling.

I think when Mani conceived the film, the character Beera was supposed to kidnap Ragini with an intention of killing her and taking revenge on her husband. The evil towards Ragini should have slowly given way to grudging Respect and Confusion followed by a something resembling Love.

AB Jr. makes such a mess of this role that you never fear his character so then finally when love blossoms it is not interesting at all. He seemed to be making eyes at her all along.

Except for the last 5 minutes, he never really becomes Beera.

He is always Abhishek Bachchan. Of the movie’s 2hr 20 min running time, Abhi’s Beera is always a caricature never a character.

For Aishwarya this is possibly her best performance to date. She is consistent and even though the dialogues given to her are mostly screeches and wails she does remain in character throughout even though her makeup seems to do the same too.

Sometimes shot in extreme close-up, its quite distracting to notice fine mascara after 14 days in the jungle in the rain. The villages where Beera takes her, seem to be the poor adivasi type and yet when Ash is given a change of clothes in the jungle she gets a nice Fab-India type of sari. Ethnic chic??

But boy oh boy is she looking fabulous. You cant take your eyes off the screen when she is on and as much as Abhi may try to distract you with his odd eye makeup she is luminous and shot like a dream by Santosh Sivan and V Manikandan.

Talking of which, the cinematography is the only thing about this movie that is world class. Breathtaking is an understatement as the 2 veteran’s cameras captures every detail of the forest and infact some of the shots (if you are interested in photography) will blow your mind. Some of the swooping camera work would definitely not be possible without cranes and seeing the location you wonder where they put them in the first place.

The music however is a major disappointment with the best song (Ranhja Ranhja) used only fleetingly for Beera’s sisters marriage. The other great song Jaare Udd Jaa (not on album) is performed by A.R Rahman himself and comes in parts during the movie and then in its entirety during the end credits (Ab iss shareer ke sirey khol dey / Aur goongi aatma ko bol dey.)

Rahman drops the ball on this one and almost recovers it with the haunting Jaare, but its too little too late.

Govinda (quite aptly) is given the role of Hanuman and unlike the loyal & heroic character of the epic he is more of a comic here. A fat bloated side kick. But he does the best he can with this one.

All in all Raavan is a beautiful and sad film.

Sad because it comes from a director who is india’s most talented and experienced story teller.

What a sad day. Maybe he should just go back to telling his stories in the language he knows best.

Tamil.

Till then we’ll just have to make do with Kaminey’s like Vishal Bhardwaj.

Movie Review: Paa

THIS Paa NEEDS A Maa

PAA

*ing Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan & Vidya Balan

Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire

Music: Illiyaraja

Writer & Director: R Balki

There are 2 great performances in Paa and no, it is not Amitabh or Abhishek I’m talking about here. But more on that later.

As most of you may already know this movie is about Progeria, which after dyslexia & tsunami should be the new word for eager middle class Indians to drop at parties with that familiar propensity to be a Mr. know-it-all.

Anyway the director Balki in only his second film (after the underrated Cheeni Kum) shows that he is a very very good writer above all else. The wit and humour he is able to extract from everyday conversation in very reminiscent of Cheeni Kum. Remember the scene where after being wooed by an older man, Tabu asks him to run across a park and run back. And when a panting Amitabh asks the reason behind it she smilingly says “I just wanted to be sure you still have the energy for sex.”

And sex (pre-marital and un-protected) is what the couple in Paa have, which leads to a demand for an abortion + anger = single motherhood and all that jazz...

Anyway Paa also has some very funny lines which are woven so well into the conversation that you can only wish directors like Priyadarshan and David Dhawan would pay attention and pick up a few tips. Comedy without being silly or corny or slap-stick or crude. What a bloody relief.

But then Balki does have his drawbacks too. There is a completely unnecessary and high-pitched rant at the media involving Abhishek as the yuppie M.P. with a segment at Doordarshan that looks so amateur and silly that you wonder how this fool ever got elected in the first place. His look seems to have been modeled on Rahul Gandhi but his maturity and behaviour on Laloo Yadav. Such a waste.

Performance wise, Abhishek doesn’t have much to do in the movie and what little is required of him he delivers.

Now while the Indian media have been going gaga over Amitabh’s performance it should be worth noting that while it is certainly very very good, it isn’t great by any standard. In Bollywood we are cursed with so much of crap that Mediocrity sometimes gets mistaken for Genius.

The boy, Auro is supposed to be about 12 and while he acts like one, he sometimes talks like a much older man. It maybe to get the story moving or to inject some humour but clearly some things he says and does are not what a normal 12 year old would say or do. Progeria I checked (googled) accelerates the physical ageing of the person but certainly not his mental maturity.

But like always we do tend to favour any kind of work which involves a physical handicap. Hollywood stars have known it for years and Bollywood seems to be catching up too. It’s to Amitabh’s credit that Auro stops just short of being gimmicky but as far as portrayals of children go, I’d give higher marks to Hrithik in Koi Mil Gaya.

Now coming to the 2 best performances I spoke about in the beginning.

First of all its Vidya Balan in what must be her best performance since Parineeta. Infact I’d rate it even higher coz there the script was tailor made for her. Here her character graph is sketchy at best. She essentially has a 2 dimensional role to play. Jilted Lover & Doting Mother.
So it is to her entire credit that she fleshes out the character so well that instead of the Father-Son movie that this movie’s tag line suggests it is, it instead becomes more of a warm and touching mother-son story. Whenever she is with Auro you can literally feel the maternal love coming out of every pore. And she is supported here by the very touchingly real portrayal of an adoring grandmother by the lady called BUM (I didn’t get her name) who I last remember seeing in Dil Se.

The other great performance is by Jaya Bachchan. Clearly a doting mother and for Abhishek’s first movie as producer, she comes on screen for about 2 minutes and does nothing but sit down and read out the credits. So it’s like..... “Costume Designer. Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Music Director. Illayaraja. Lyrics. Swanand Kirkire”..... and so on but then again it is to her immense talent as an actress that she makes that interesting with just that little smile here and a nod there. What a great actress.

And just for her and Vidya, this movie would have been so much better off being call Maa instead.

The Paa is a bumbling fool. But Maa, as always is all heart.

Afterall, Tujhe Sab Hai Pata Hai Na Maa…..

Certainly worth a watch.


Luv

Vishal