The entire team deserves a standing ovation, for capturing in celluloid, such vivid images. The bar is now raised so high for Indian movies.
Maniratnam is known for his portrayal of characters that will trigger a variety of emotions from the viewer.
Ravan, failed to deliver that, even with the inclusion of such mights as Vikram and Aishwarya in the lead role.
Vikram, the robin hood of a village clan lives in a forest; for some reasons he kidnaps Aishwarya, the wife of a police SP (played by Keralas Prithviraj). The viewer is not told the reasons behind the kidnap and the reason for vikrams hatred against police and the wealthy in general. The unknown eludes us until after intermission.
Mani sir, if you had shown us the reason in the first 5 minutes, the next 60 minutes would have been a delightful journey for us. Instead we were watching the visuals with a wide open eye and a hollow heart, not knowing what the heck is going to unfold.
The scenery in every frame is captivating. The forest, the waterfall, the river, the mist, the green, the rain, vow! astounding. But, we couldnt enjoy the feast with Vikram, Aishwarya, Prithviraj, Priyamani, Prabhu and Rahmans beats, screaming in every other frame.
why did Ravan kidnap Aishwarya? well, we know it after the intermission. Ramas clan had kidnapped Ravans sister and raped her.
Ravan, lets go of Aishwarya in the end back to Rama, but Rama questions her honor. Aish comes back to live with Ravan. what happens next is the only good 5 mins in the movie.
Cinematographer, Choreographer and Set directors needs a big applause. They just moved the movie to a standard that has never been seen before in Indian cinemas.
Aish needs special mention for her hardwork in shooting in three languages in those exotic locations for more than a year.
Vikrams acting was fabulous. but, the dialogues were irritating in some situations. In the climax, Vikram and Aish doing the bak bak bak dialogue was silly. Suhasini needs a lesson on dialogue writing. Manis, usual, no dialogue style would have benefited this much better.
In all, a magical making, but unfit for a viewing in movie theater. Would be a roaring success as a live broadway theatrical show.
