Mani's modern day take on Ramayana lacks the usual punch associated with his regular movies, but is still a commendable effort. Brilliant cinematography, capturing the pristine beauty of the unexplored areas of Kerala, is simply too beautiful for words. Rahman's music plays in nicely with the movie tones, still won't consider it among some of his best works. The song "Thok de killi" really seemed out of place and unnecessary. Among the cast, Aishwarya shines in the role of 'Ragini' efficiently portraying a wide range of emotions that her role offers. The other roles, I felt really didn't have much to offer to the characters. Abhishek gives an average performance as 'Beera', not withstanding the in-between schizophrenic antics. Usually Mani's male actors have much more stronger persona and presence. Vikram & Govinda give good performance in their 'cameo' like roles. Priyamani does a good job as well. Ash is too ravishing for words and her moods, and movements are beautifully captured. Coming to the story line, I think the key point Mani was trying to portray is how the ancient epic plays out in the modern day world. Most of the story elements try to adhere to the different events from the actual 'Ramayana'. The action sequences are mostly well choreographed, the fighting sequence on the rope-bridge being the key one to look out for. Mani has tried to highlight the more controversial elements in the Ramayana, most of which is not talked about usually with preponderance, the key events here being (1) Surpanakha's treatment (2) Sita's Agnipareeksha. The story lacks though in certain fronts, mainly Vikram's actions against 'Beera' are not well justified as 'Beera's' anti-social activities are not explained well enough. All in all a good one time watch, for ash at least!
Review of Raavan
