Raavan Release Date 18-Jun-2010

Producer Mani Ratnam
Director Mani Ratnam
Music A. R. Rahman
Writer Rensil D
Lyrics Gulzar
Release Date 18-Jun-2010

“Raavan” is a modern-day replication of the mythological epic Ramayana. Director Mani Ratnam has beautified the character of Raavana from Ramayana and illustrated his personality from a different angle. Though Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) is depicted as Raavan who is expected to be the villain of the story but, effort has been made to show a different image of the Raavan. While hubby Abhishek Bachchan plays the Raavan, Aishwarya Rai plays the beautiful Sita with South actor Chiyaan Vikram as the good soul Sri Ram.

Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) is a criminal who hides in thick forests of Lal Maati from where he executes his criminal activities. He is a menace to the police and he has thorough knowledge of the jungle with hunting skills and he kills policemen and seizes all their weapons. Everybody is scared of him except SP Dev (Vikram) who is the husband of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).

Beera kidnapped his pretty wife Ragini to revenge Dev’s dare and to settle his enmity with him. During Dev’s fight to get back his wife, he meets a forest guard (Govinda) who helps him in his search for Beera. Govinda is depicted as a modern-day, Hanumaan though he is not able to do justice to his role. Ragini is a brave girl who is not scared of Beera but, tries her best to escape.

Dev who couldn’t trust Raavan after Sita’s abduction and so demands an Agni-pariksha of Ragini in the form of a polygraph test. There comes a twist in the plot, Ragini is a modern woman and he could accept her husband’s distrust on her and falls for the goodness in Raavan whom she previously hates and loathes. She realizes the good side of the bad man and vice-versa.

The first one hour of the movie is quite slow which would in one way test the patience of the audience. However, Ash was just too good in her facial expressions which reflected her fortitude and determination in the various attempts she makes to run away. Mani Ratnam has tactfully humanized Raavan and showed the demon in otherwise good guy, Ram. Beera, although plays a negative role but he is not heartless like Dev. Beera never misbehaves with captive Ragini.

The movie has a simple plot but what makes the movie beautiful is the acting of the crew and their expressions. Excellent photography by Santosh Sivan gives the movie a special touch and feel. He has captured the beauty of the forests, springs and the mountains. The songs of the movie are by AR Rahman and it’s very rhythmic as expected. Though, it is nothing exceptional.

The acting of all the main characters is worth mentioning, Abhishek Bachchan has effectively brought live to his character and from a villain becomes the hero of the movie. Ash is looking very beautiful with minimum or no makeup. Chiyaan Vikram is also quite good with more actions and less dialogues.

Ek Second...Jo Zindagi Badal De? Release Date : 11,Jun 2010

Producer Rachna Sunil Singh, Agastyaa Singh
Director Partho Ghosh
Music Arvinder Singh, Sawan Kumar
Writer Amit Khan
Lyrics Pradeep Choudhary, Anand Raj Anand
Release Date 11-Jun-2010

June 11, 2010: Having missed the press show of the film, it was a tough job on my part to convince the multiplex staff to play this film which had no audience but just myself because I had to review this film. While they almost decided to cancel the show, they finally kept it on as two couples came in for the show, confident of seeking solace in the empty hall. Now if that, my dear friends, hasn’t given you any idea of how the film is! Well! Read on.

The film narrates the tale, rather the tales of Rashi (Manisha Koirala) who is engaged to the famous novelist Shantanu Rai (Moammar Rana). She is unaware of all the girls who were present in Shantanu’s life before. Then destiny plays a game bringing Rashi face to face with a situation when she loses her job and misses her train, the very same day. Here on, the narrative structure suggests two parts. One where she is unable to catch the train and what follows thereafter and second one where she manages to catch a train and meet Yuvraj (Jackie Shroff) – who is a fun loving and kind hearted person.

With a plot, that is blatantly copied from Gwyneth Paltrow starrer Sliding Doors (1998) which incidentally wasn’t much of a box office success, ESJZBD is a total bore. Though the bottom line of the plot suggests that whatever is destined to happen, do happen but if we fight against it and turn around the incident it will occur accordingly. But nowhere does the screenplay matches up to that. Badly written, and badly directed the film is a total waste of your time.

Director Partho Ghosh ,who had once delivered super hits like 100 Days, Agnisakshi and Dalaal has lost his form and this one shows that he has completely lost his technical finesse as well. One wonders who the target audience of this film is. Manisha Koirala may be making her comeback but audiences have lost interest in her already.

Manisha Koirala, in an author backed role, fails to evoke any interest due to her laid back style of acting. Jackie Shroff ,appears disinterested too. Pakistani actor Moammar Rana is mechanical. Nikita Anand looks hot and indulges in an uninhibited body display but displays very little of her acting talent. Rozza Catalano is just about okay but dances well in the item song. The producer of the film Suniel makes a blunder by casting himself in the film.

All in all, this is one of those films which shall be forgotten past its release day. Just avoid it!

Raajneeti Release Date : 04,Jun 2010

Producer Prakash Jha
Director Prakash Jha
Music Wayne Sharpe
Writer Prakash Jha
Lyrics Gulzar, Sameer, Swanand Kirkire
Release Date 04-Jun-2010

One of the most powerful and pertinent political parables in India undoubtedly happens to be Mahabharat where brothers fought against each other to gain ultimate power. Prakash Jha employs the same politics of power in his contemporary adaptation of Mahabharat, deriving its primary plot and central characters from the epic.

Amidst continual character introductions, technical political procedures and several subplots, it takes a while for you to grasp the scheme of things in the initial reels. Here’s an attempt to summarize the multilayered story in the most elementary manner. Cousins Veerendra Pratap Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) and Prithvi Pratap Singh (Arjun Rampal) are heirs of a powerful political party. When Prithvi gets to take the lead, Veerendra teams up with a backward class leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan) to plot against Prithvi and evict him from the party.

Prithvi’s younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) who is studying abroad and has no political aspirations gets sucked into the political rivalry between the families. Under the mentoring of senior party and family member Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar), Samar takes charge of the conniving affairs of state to start their own political party, gather funds and get Prithvi contest against Veerendra.

Those acquainted with Mahabharat will certainly comprehend the character analogy. Veerendra (Bajpayee) is derived from Duryodhan and Sooraj (Devgan) from Karan. Samar (Ranbir) corresponds to Arjun who fought the battle under the guidance of Krishna equivalent to Brij Gopal (Nana) – the passive participant in the war. The characters are effectively recreated and the core concept and conflicts are ably redrafted in the modern milieu.

The screenplay by Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali is crisp and has a dynamic flow with the drama building up through the political one-upmanship between opponents in every passing act. With the premise that politics corrupts every soul, almost every central character in the film is sketched with shades of grey. So much so that till a point you are puzzled on who’s the protagonist and who’s the antagonist. But by the second half the two are distinctly demarcated with Ranbir’s character coming to forefront. Other than Mahabharat, there’s also a hint of Godfather in the writing when Ranbir stays back in India to win over his father’s lost empire. And here’s where the film shifts track from a political saga to being a regular revenge drama. The formulaic climax adds to the vengeance plot but at the same time complements the original essence of Mahabharat.

Samar’s entire quest to find his father’s murderer seems frail since the assassin’s identity is obvious with no other character left to gain the benefit of doubt. Arjun Rampal’s arrest in the first half seems as much forced as much as Naseeruddin Shah’s presence in the film’s prologue. The firebrand leftist leader suddenly disappears into oblivion. However the minor loose ends in the narrative are overshadowed by it’s brisk pace and deft direction.

Prakash Jha is the best in business when it comes to handling political drama. While his Hindi heart-belt dialogues and political jargons add authenticity to the film, at times it may be difficult for the audience to appreciate the proceedings. Nevertheless his storytelling is simple, effective and gripping never letting you lose the film for any moment. The hypocrisy of the two-faced politicians that he brings out through the film, as they smile externally and scheme internally is admirable. Also while having a star-studded cast, at no point does he exploit the heroism of his stars but focuses only on the performance of his actors. There are no snazzy entries, starry songs or heroic action sequences. The script gets the better of the actors.

Raajneeti is an absolutely performance driven film and Jha not only extracts excellent performances from his cast but also balances each role so that no actor overshadows the other. Ranbir Kapoor as the protagonist who is willing to go to any extent to win the political race stands out from the towering cast with the most poised performance of his career so far. Manoj Bajpayee is theatrical but since his character demands that, he doesn’t end up hamming like he has been doing in recent roles. In fact he is in superb form and delivers a vicious negative act. Nana Patekar as the silent spectator and guide is so effective that despite taking a backseat his screen-presence is never diluted. Ajay Devgan, once again, speaks through the intensity of his eyes and is remarkable. Arjun Rampal is amazingly confident, playing a character divergent to the roles he has done so far. Katrina Kaif adds dignity to her role and also speaks fairly decent Hindi. Nikhila Tirkha as Ranbir’s mother is impressive. Shruti Seth is effective in her two-scene slattern act.

The epic tale of Mahabharat has been repeatedly adapted on the small screen ever since B.R.Chopra first did it more than two decades back. But barring Chopra’s version, all other direct derivatives have been shoddy and forgettable. All those losers and other aspirants can take a lesson or two from Prakash Jha about the politics of the trade. Raajneeti is the most effective cinematic interpretation of the Mahabharat since Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug (1981).

Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti is a politically correct tribute to Mahabharat. Absolutely recommended!