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List of Raavan Movie Reviews
Ratings:1.5/5 Reviewer:Rajeev Masand Site:IBNLive
Alas, "Raavan" - despite a relatively modest running time of 2 hours and 10 minutes - is a crushing bore of a film, a disappointment on virtually every count. As it currently stands, "Raavan" is a predictable revenge drama that stays too safe to ever surprise you. Despite some eye-watering camerawork and a stunning action piece in the film's climax, the film -- especially its first half -- is a carelessly edited mess of long scenes that make little sense when strung together.Burdened with pedestrian dialogue and too conventional a screenplay, "Raavan" is painfully dull and fails to engage at any level. I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for Mani Ratnam's "Raavan". It's too simplistic a film from a director whose biggest strength used to be his multilayered relationships.Visit Site for More
Ratings:1.5/5 Reviewer:Taran Adarsh Site:BollywoodHungama
You've come to expect scintillating visuals in the master film-maker's films and RAAVAN is no exception. But RAAVAN falters in narrating the story with dexterity. In fact, this one's a game of see-saw, with a dull and lifeless first hour, an absorbing second half and a weak, lacklustre climax. Let's talk about the factors that pull this film down. First and foremost, when you've a title like RAAVAN, the demon king, who couldn't be vanquished by Gods, demons or spirits, you expect Raavan aka Beera to be equally powerful, who could send a chill down your spine, who spells terror and fear. But, in RAAVAN, Beera comes across as a psycho. The streak of madness in his character makes a mockery of the character itself. On the plus side, the track, which starts from Nikhil's kidnap to the entire flashback portion, is attention grabbing.On the whole, RAAVAN is a king-sized disappointment, in terms of content.Visit Site for More
Ratings:3.5/5 Reviewer:Nikhat Kazmi Site:TimesOfIndia
The high point of Mani Ratnam's film is primarily its visual opulence.It's revisionist tale of a Sita-like heroine flipping for a Raavan-like anti-hero, even as the traditional hero gets imbued in grey tones.... The anti-hero has always remained an alluring figure in cinema lore and Mani Ratnam carries his charisma forward with Raavan. The paper-thin plot in the first half, does get you somewhat restless.The second half of the film does get a semblance of story, with adequate twists and turns which reflect the Surpanakha legend (again revised), the Hanuman-Sita encounter, the Agni-pariksha demand (re-interpreted again as a polygraph test) and the film moves from sheer visual to visceral too. There are enough punches in the second half to keep the momentum going, but by and large, the film scores mostly on art and aesthete. But hey, Raavan is chicken soup for the senses. Go, indulge yourself.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2.5/5 Reviewer:Khalid Mohammed Site:Passionforcinema
Ratnam’s modern take on mythology dares to be politically incorrect. Mercifully, he doesn’t opt for a traditional, marshmallow denouement. Now revealing the finale would be that classic spoiler. To avoid the alert suffice it to say, that the mythology does get a smidgen of complexity and a subjective interpretation towards the end.But for that saving grace, the narrative is choppier than the monsoon sea, frequently disjointed, terribly repetitive, and as predictable as all the Ratnam-patented l’il smiley kids and cute grandmas dancing away in the shake-a-leg interludes. Alas there is no wow moment in Raavan, unless you count the ceaseless leaps off sylvan cliffs into swirling waters, or the predatory roar of waterfalls.So should you make a beeline for Raavan?.Toss a coin. Ten heads you win, tales you lose.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Raja Sen Site:Rediff
The film's first half is choppy and bewildering but tight, while the second sprawls all over the place, overlong and exhausting. Sivan's frames are indeed grand, but there isn't one great shot to take away from the film. Even the world-conquering A R Rahman can't save the day, and it's heartbreaking to see the legendary cinematographer-director-composer trio give us such forgettable song sequences.Raavan's deadliest sin, however, isn't in the clumsy dialogue, hammy acting or lame, oversimplified adaptation. All of that can be forgiven if the tale engages us, and we never watched Ramanand Sagar's endless television show for its subtlety. Where Raavan truly and tragically fails us is in taking one of our greatest epics, and making it unforgivably boring.It's profoundly sad to see a filmmaker of Ratnam's calibre reduced to this. Yet hope beats immortal. Perhaps we should just wait till he takes on Shiva.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Komal Nahata Site:KoiMoi
The first half is very slow and boring after the initial couple of reels. Revealing the reasons for Beera’s revenge in flashbacks after interval may add to the intrigue value of the drama but it would also put off a section of the audience as it, in a way, confuses them till the flashback comes, and tests their patience. The post-interval portion is far more fast-paced than the first part but again, the writers trying to justify Beera’s action of kidnapping Ragini while also showing Dev Pratap Sharma in good light and trying to justify Ragini’s softening attitude towards Beera while still loving husband Dev is not the most intelligent thing to do – at least not when trying to appeal to the traditional audience. Dialogues (Vijay Krishna Acharya) are alright. The climax is, perhaps, the weakest part of the drama for the reasons cited above.On the whole, Raavan will remain a film for the classes mainly. It will do well in select multiplexes of big cities but not at many other places and in single-screen cinemas. Its weird climax is its biggest minus point and that will spell doom for the film.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Gaurav Malani Site:Indiatimes
Mani Ratnam’s modern adaptation of Hindu mythological epic Ramayana with a twist, is a film made with good intention, beautiful music and mind blowing cinematography but unfortunately lacking everything else!.To start with, the story of the film as if on a long pause, just doesn’t move ahead for a good one hour after the film begins. The filmmaker seems inspired by so many things at a time that he forgets to retain his own USP. There is no punch in the script which doesn’t rise above clichés, no tenderness in the love between Dev and Ragini and no depth to Ragini or Dev’s character as they come across as silent spectators to Beera’s eccentric antics. The ten facets of Beera’s personality too doesn’t stand out.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Shubhra Gupta Site:IndianExpress
Ratnam takes his time with his desultory first half, creating stunning scenery but listless characters.It’s only well into the second half that Ratnam breaks out of his stupor, and starts giving us a film. This is when the cast is allowed to play on a level field, and not compete with gorgeous waterfalls and steep cliffs and twisting vines, the fruit of Santosh Sivan’s customary magic.The two men come face to face, with their prize in between, and finally we have a taste of Ratnam’s brand of cinema, which at it’s best is about well crafted characters and strong drama and sweeping emotions, not just overwhelmingly lovely scenery. But by this time, it’s too little, too late. Do yourself a favour. Watch `Raavan’ only if you must. Choose `Raavanan’, which is subtitled in English, instead: It is infinitely more rewarding.Visit Site for More
Ratings:2/5 Reviewer:Aniruddha Guha Site:DNA
Mani Ratnam's take on the epic, in fact, is not just courageous, but interesting too. An adaptation is always more enjoyable when a maker gives an oft-repeated story a novel spin, and in that respect Mani Ratnam has taken an initiative worth lauding.The film, though, is unable to grip the audience. Once you get over the brilliance of all the technical departments involved - Santosh Sivan and V Manikandan's combined work as cinematographers is among Indian cinema's most inspired efforts - you yearn for a narrative that would keep you hooked, which never happens.In the end though, Raavan is this year's biggest disappointment so far. The sad part is that it's not outrageously bad as some other recent films, but it's unbelievably boring. Coming from Mani Ratnam, that's a bummerVisit Site for More
Ratings:1.5/5 Reviewer:Mayank Shekar Site:HindustanTimes
for a film centred and named after the villain itself. There’s nothing that you eventually learn or realise. Allegory ‘n’ all is fine. Lonely conjectures can take you only that far, when an entire movie’s merely in the moviemaker’s mind, and a plot so thin. Sometimes the camera circles so much in nothingness, your head spins. And you wonder if a film about this film would be a better idea.The reference to Ravan’s ‘deca-head’ and decadence may be unclear. Yet, the allusion to the mythological Ramayan is complete. There’s a ‘Hanuman’ (Govinda), a local forest officer with monkey-like qualities, who helps ‘Ram’, the district’s superintendent of police (Vikram) trace his wife (Aishwarya) back. She’s been abducted by the ‘Ravan’, or Beera, and hidden deep within the jungles. The reason for this abduction, from what I could tell, is to avenge the rape of the anti-hero’s ‘sister’. It’s an old core of Bollywood’s B movies. It tells you a lot of the quality of this script.Visit Site for More
